Background
James was born on August 31, 1766, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest son of Abel and Rebecca (Chalkley) James, and a grandson of the Quaker preacher Thomas Chalkley.
James was born on August 31, 1766, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest son of Abel and Rebecca (Chalkley) James, and a grandson of the Quaker preacher Thomas Chalkley.
James was educated in a Quaker school under Robert Proud, the historian. His early religious education had a persistent influence on his character. He studied the Bible continually, not only in English, but in the original Hebrew and Greek. He studied medicine at the University of the State of Pennsylvania under Dr. Adam Kuhn, receiving his bachelor's diploma in 1787, and became doctor of medicine in 1811. After a voyage, 1788-1790, as ship's surgeon, to the Cape of Good Hope and Canton, he went to London and became a pupil of Dr. John Hunter, through the friendship of a fellow countryman, Dr. Philip Syng Physick. As Physick was the connecting link in medicine between English training and American practice so was James in obstetrics. In London, at the Story Street Lying In Hospital, he spent a winter under Doctors Osborne and John Clark, two famous obstetricians, continued his studies in Edinburgh, but took no degree there, and in 1793 returned to Philadelphia, shortly before the city's appalling epidemic of yellow fever.
In November 1802, in connection with Dr. Church, James began the first regular course of lectures on obstetrics. In 1810, these lectures were given at the University of Pennsylvania, the first time that such a course was offered. James was appointed physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1807, but in 1810, at his own request, he was transferred to the post of obstetrician, the duties of which position he discharged punctiliously until 1832. Two of his papers, read before the Philadelphia College of Surgeons, had especial significance. One was a description (1810) of the first successful case of premature labor artificially induced at the end of the seventh month on account of contracted pelvis. The other (1827) dealt with extra-uterine pregnancy, proving that so-called abdominal pregnancy is a myth and that when the fetus is found in the peritoneal cavity, it has reached that position from the ruptured tube or uterus in which it was originally conceived.
James was also for eleven years an editor of the Eclectic Repertory. Before he was sixty he began to develop an impairment of speech and a muscular tremor which interfered greatly with his teaching. He resigned in 1834, but was still president of the Philadelphia College of Surgeons when he died on July 5, 1835. His knowledge of the classics, of medical history, and of modern languages was unusual for his time. He published anonymously, verses and essays; also a versified translation of the Idyls of Solomon Gessner. He is especially noteworthy for his service to obstetrics.
James served as President of the Philadelphia College of Surgeons.
James was greater as teacher than as scientist or practitioner. His morbid sensitiveness and dread of responsibility kept him from succeeding in his general practice. Physically, he was dignified, well proportioned, and possessed unusual beauty of facial expression. From a mental standpoint he had an unusual intelligence, kindly and generous emotions, but was constantly inhibited by his distrust in himself and in all human relations. James had a definite feminine streak in his character, and his delicacy and modesty made it possible for him to break down gradually the antagonism of pregnant women. He was fitted by temperament for the work that he was called to do.
James's marriage in 1802 to Hannah Morris was fortunate. His wife gave him social position, and her decided character formed a useful complement to his own shyness and lack of self-confidence.
