BULLER i:
otology in McGill University, in 1883, he was appointed and for twenty-two years his learning and experience were freely given. He was also president of the Montreal Medico-Chirurgieal Society and a member of the Ophthalmological Societies of Great Britain and of America. The writings of Dr. Buller number some seventy-six and extend over a period of thirty years. They deal rather with the art than the theory of surgery. Most are a record of his unceasing efforts to overcome obstacles in ophthalmic practice. His first article describes the shield for the protection of the sound eye in gonorrheal ophthalmia, which has always been associated with his name. His modification of Critchett's idea of slitting the outer canthus in gonorrheal ophthalmia to apply strong solutions of nitrate of silver to the everted conjunctiva is another proof of his quickness to grasp newer develop- ments in bacteriology. His alteration of Mule's operation was of the greatest value, as he saw that its failure was due to suppuration brought about by the pyogenic organisms of the conjunctival sac entering the interior of the sclerotic along the sutures passed through the sclerotic and the conjunctiva. By sutur- ing first the scleral wound in the vertical direction, Dr. Buller made it impossible for organisms to produce suppuration within the sclerotic. His idea of tying the canaliculi to prevent the regurgita- tion of septic material from the lacrimal sac in chronic dacryocystitis was new, and his trial frame was another expres- sion of his ingenuity in meeting certain well-known deficiencies.
His writings, especially "Anomalies in the Functions of the Extrinsic Ocular Muscles," " Blindness Caused by Wood Alcohol," which he was the first to notice, and "Skin-grafting in Ophthalmic Sur- gery," mark him as one of the first ex- ponents on this continent of the newer school of ophthalmology which originated with Helmholz, Donders, and von Graefe. In his operations and after-treatments he had infinite patience, and would fre-
BULLITT
quently remain all night in the hospital observing the results of his work. For many years he was the only specialist in Canada of recognized standing, and his practice was enormous; but he took a whimsical pleasure in giving to his hospital patients his first consideration. He was a man of plain speech and frankness to rich and poor alike and so conscious was he of his good intentions that he would hear with amazement that anyone could possibly have been offended. With his patients he was affectionately gentle, though when occasion demanded he would not refrain from offering an opin- ion upon their conduct for the amend- ment of their ways. Dr. Buller had a singular instinct for diagnosis, which was quite apart from the usual process of reasoning; and in treatment he frequently obtained good results by methods which were inexplicable even to himself.
A. M.
Bullitt, Henry Massie (1817-18S0).
Henry Massie Bullitt, founder of Louis- ville Medical College and son of Cuthbert and Harriet Willit Bullitt, was born in Shelby County, Kentucky on February 28, 1817.
His father was a direct descendant of Benjamin Bullitt, the founder of the family in this country, who, refusing to surrender his religious views after the edict of Nantes, came with his wife in 1685 from the Province of Languedoc, France, and settled in Maryland.
Originally the name was spelled " Bul- let" but, owing to the existence of an English law in this country by which alienists were prohibited acquiring landed property, Benjamin Bullet changed his name to Bullitt in order to hold the land which had been granted him in America.
At the age of seventeen he studied medicine with Dr. Coleman Rogers, Sr., and pursued his studies with rare devo- tion, entering the University of Penn- sylvania, from which institution he graduated in 1838 with high honors. From Philadelphia he returned to Louis- ville and entered upon active practice.
