James Johnson (also Johnston; February 1777 — 10 October 1845) was an influential British writer on diseases of tropical climates in the first half of the nineteenth century. Born in February, 1777, in Derry, Ireland, at the early age of 15 he became an apprentice to a surgeon-apothecary in Antrim for 2 years. After spending further 2 years at Belfast, he moved to London for the surgeon's examination, which he passed in 1798. Immediately afterwards, he was appointed surgeons's mate on a naval vessel, on which he sailed to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. In 1800 he took part in an expedition to Egypt and, in 1803, sailed for India. In 1814, Johnson attended the Duke of Clarence (afterward William IV of the United Kingdom), and when Clarence became king was appointed as his physician extraordinary. He also wrote popular medical books in this period, including:
- The influence of tropical climates on European constitutions
- Change of air, or, The philosophy of travelling
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