CRAFTS, James Mason, chemist, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 8 March, 1839. He was graduated at Lawrence scientific school of Harvard in 1858, after which he spent seven years abroad, studying chemistry and kindred sciences at the Freiberg mining-school, at the University in Heidelberg, and at the Ecole des mines in Paris. On his return to the United States, he was in 1868-'70 professor of chemistry at Cornell, and from 1870 till 1880 a member of the faculty in the Massachusetts institute of technology in Boston, although from 1874 till 1880 a non-resident professor. He is a member of many scientific societies both in the United States and abroad, is a fellow of the chemical society, London, and in 1872 was elected a member of the National academy of sciences. Besides several honors received from the French academy of sciences, he was made chevalier of the legion of honor by the French government in 1885. Most of his chemical investigations were made in Paris, largely in connection with Prof. Charles Friedel. They have been presented before the French academy of sciences, and include researches on silicon and its combinations with compound radicals, and investigations on the vapor densities of halogen compounds, principally iodine. He has published "A Short Course of Qualitative Analysis" (New York, 1869).