The Biographical Dictionary of America/Bailey, Jacob Whitman

BAILEY, Jacob Whitman, naturalist, was born at Auburn, Mass., April 29, 1811. His early education was attained at Providence, R. I., and he received a cadetship to West Point where he was graduated in 1832. He was assigned to active duty in the army as 2d lieutenant in the artillery service, where for six years he served in the forts of Virginia and South Carolina. In 1834 he returned to West Point as assistant professor of chemistry, geology and mineralogy. Of these branches he was soon made full professor, and in the course of his work became greatly interested in microscopy. In this study he made many important investigations, which have given him a wide reputation as a naturalist. The "Bailey indicator," so largely used among scientists, was invented by him. He was chosen president of the American association for the advancement of science in 1856, and his writings relating to his line of work are numerous and valuable. Among the journals to which he contributed are: Transactions of the Association of Geologists and Naturalists, the American Journal of Science and Art, The Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, and Journal of Microscopic Science. His microscopic objects, embracing over three thousand slides and about forty-five hundred specimens of algae, with his books and papers, he bequeathed to the Boston society of natural history. He died at the Military academy, West Point, N. Y., Feb. 26, 1857.