BUCK 163 BUCKS state he quietly passed away on March 6, 1877. As a surgeon, Dr. Buck was remarkable for boldness in operating, and thoroughness of de- tail in after-treatment. His patient study of his cases was one of his peculiar traits. He was particularly attentive to cases of frac- tures and not infrequently devoted the greater part of the day to these cases in the wards of the New York Hospital. As a re- sult of such painstaking care he was enabled to revolutionize the prevailing system of treat- ment. The improvements which he made in the then existing apparatus are matters of sur- gical history. His method of treating frac- tures of the thigh by the weight and pulley was at once recognized by surgeons through- out the civilized world as the establishment of an original principle of great value and to this day it is known as "Buck's Exten- sion." His investigations with regard to the pelvic fasciae are to be found in the first volume of the "Transactions of the American Medical Association." His joint surgery was especially noteworthy in a preantiseptic era ; he excised the elbow joint (New York Journal of Medicine and Surgery, 1841), and the knee joint (American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 1845). He was successful in treating edema of the glot- tis, wrote much about abscesses in the right iliac fossa but never learned their cause, and was deeply interested in rhinoplastic, stomato- plastic and other reparative operations, pub- lishing a work of some 237 pages in 1876. As a man Dr. Buck was noted for his ster- ling integrity of character, his high sense of professional honor, his consistent Christianity, his charity to the poor, and his quiet devotion to his family. He left a widow and five chil- dren, three sons and two daughters. Two of the sons became physicians. Med. Rec, New York, 1877. Med. and Surg. Rep., Phila., 1865. Tr. Med. Soc. of New York, 1877. Distinguished Living New York Surgeons, S. W. Francis, 1866. Buck, Jirah Dewey (1838-1916) Jirah D. Buck, a leading Homeopathic teach- er and writer, born in Fredonia, New York, Nov. 20, 1838, was the son of Reuben and Fanny Buck; his early education was obtained at Belvidere Academy, Belvidere, Illinois, and at the Janesville Academy, Wisconsin. At the early death of his father he left school and as- sumed the responsibility of breadwinner for the family. His work at bookkeeping stopped at the age of seventeen, through failing health, and fear of lung trouble ; he then took to the Michigan woods and swung an axe in stm- mer, and in winter taught school. At twenty-three he enlisted, at the call for civil war volunteers, in Merrill's Horse, Com- pany H., a regiment recruited at Battle Creek, Michigan. His health failed again, and after three months in the hospital at Camp Benton, Mo., he was honorably discharged and sent home. On regaining his health, he taught school in winter, and worked as a master carpenter in summer, and so aided in supporting his mother, and began to study medicine with Dr. Smith Rogers at Battle Creek, Mich. ; he later attended the Hahnemann Medical College at Chicago, and graduated in 1864 from the Cleveland Medical College. He married Melissa M. Clough at 'his old home in Fredonia, N. Y., in 1865. Buck was made instructor in physiology and histology in his alma mater at Cleveland in 1866. While teaching medicine the demands of private practice grew until he became a widely known consultant. He removed to Cincinnati in August, 1870. In 1872 he called a meeting of physicians at Dr. Pulte's (q.v.) office which resulted in the founding of Pulte Medical College, in which Dr. Bucl< was registrar and professor of physi- ology from its organization until 1880. He was then made dean and professor of the theory and practice of medicine, and held this posi- tion almost up to the time when the Pulte Medical College was absorbed by the Ohio State University. He took up the study of psychology as a basis for his work in medicine in nervous and mental diseases, and was then made professor in this branch. He wrote on ethics and eco- nomics. Dr. Buck was a member of the Cincinnati Literary Club for 44 years ; he was a presi- dent of the frheosophical Society in America. Some of his writings were : "The Study of Man," "Mystic Masonry," "The Nature and Aim of Theosophy," "Constructive Psycholo- gy," "The Genius of Freemasonry," "Brown- ing's Paracelsus," and "The Riddle of Rid- dles." He died Dec. 13, 1916. A. G. Drury. Bucke, Richard Maurice (1837-1902) Richard Maurice Bucke was born March 18, 1837, at Methwald, Suffolk, England. In 1838 his family emigrated to Canada and settled on a farm in London Township, County of Middlesex. Here he remained until he was 16 years of age.
