88 BUCHANAN. BUCKINGHAM. this time he gave many experimental illus- trations of the science of psychometry, which he discovered in 1842. Its princi- ples are fully set forth in his " Manual of Psychometry," published in 1885, and now in its third edition. In 1846 Dr. Buchanan, finding the med- ical profession averse to his investigations, joined with the liberal physicians in Cin- cinnati in establishing a new school, the Eclectic Medical Institute, which origi- nated the independent eclectic party in the profession. Dr. Buchanan was made dean of the faculty, and his new physiology was the most striking novelty of the insti- tution. In 1857 he left Cincinnati to attend to the interests of his family estate in Kentucky, and during the war and the year succeeding was chosen chairman of the Democratic state central committee, and originated the measures which pro- duced tranquillity and harmony between the conflicting parties. His policy was so highly appreciated that he was nominated by eminent citizens as a candidate for the office of governor, but declined the nomi- nation. In 1877 he took a position as professor in the Eclectic Medical College of New York, which he held for four years, during which time the growth of the college was phenomenal. He is widely known as a medical re- former, and was the first to procure the admission of female students to a medical college. In 1882 he published "The New Education," now in its fourth edition, which proposes a complete revolution in educational methods. Of this work an able author, Rev. 1!. F. Barrett, says: "I regard it as by far the most valuable work on education ever published." He has also published " Therapeutic Sarcognomy," exhibiting the relations of the soul, brain, and body, and the new system of practice based upon its principles, which he teaches in his Boston "College of Therapeutics." Professor Winterburn and others who have attended his lectures recognize him as " the highest living authority on the psy- chic functions of the brain." The aim of Dr. Buchanan's "Journal of Man" is to give the world the results of his labors, and to apply to social progress the theo- ries of his philosophy. In 1883 he was chosen president of the proposed "Ameri- can University," to be located in Boston, and has since proposed the establishment of a medio. il college of high order to em- body the most recent developments of advanced science. In the winter of 1841 he married Anne, daughter of Judge Rowan of Louisville, who had represented Kentucky in the United States Senate. Three sons and a daughter are living from this union. In 1 88 1 he married, for his second wife, Mrs. C. H. Decker, who has be- come distinguished in the practice of psychometry. BUCKINGHAM, SAMUEL GILES, son of Deacon Samuel and Joanna Matson Buckingham, was born in Lebanon, New London county, Conn., November 18, 1812. His great-ancestor in this country was Thomas Buckingham, one of the original members of the New Haven colony, and he comes down by direct descent from " Minister Buckingham " of Saybrook, Conn., one of the two moderators of the Saybrook Synod of 1S08, and one of the two rectors of Yale College during the sixteen years it was located at Say- brook. Governor Buckingham, the "war governor " of the state of Connecticut, was his brother. After the usual course in the public schools, he entered the academy at Plain- field, Conn., where he fitted for college and was graduated at Yale in the class of 1833. He immediately entered the Yale Theologi- cal Seminary, graduated in 1837, and was ordained and settled over the Second church in Millbury, in May of the same year, where he remained for ten years. In May, 1847, he was installed pastor of the South Congregational church, Spring- field, Mass., where he still remains senior pastor, after forty years of ministerial ser- vice to this church, and after fifty years of service in the Christian ministry. On the 10th of May, 1837, Mr. Buck- ingham was married to Harriet, daugh- ter of Rev. Dr. Nathaniel W. Taylor, pro- fessor of theology in the Yale theological school. His wife died in 1863, leaving him one child : Harriet Taylor Buckingham. He had also an adopted daughter : Maria Robeson, the wife of Rollin H. Loomis. Mrs. Loomis died in 188S, leaving four sons. Dr. Buckingham has been for many years one of the trustees of Williston Classical Seminary ; is a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for For- eign Missions, and holds office in various other religious and charitable organizations, and throughout the fifty-one years of his ministry has been earnestly devoted to his work as pastor of the two churches that have been under his charge.
