Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/191

NAME BULLER 169 BULLER "The International Text Book of Surgery," 1900. He married Marie, widow of James G. Blaine, Jr., daughter of Col. Richard Nevins. She had suffered from acute rheumatism, and, in spite of a crippled life predicted by her doctors, became well while under Dr. Bull's care. Ill for several months with cancer of the neck he made a brave fight for life, using all the methods of treatment known to science, but without avail. On January 29 he started for Georgia in the hope of being benefited by the milder climate, but improvement was only temporary and he gradually failed and died at Wymberly, Isle of Hope, near Savannah, Georgia, February 22, 1909. As a memorial to Dr. Bull a fund was raised for conducting research in the surgical de- partment of Columbia and to place a bronze bust in the Academy of Medicine. Jour, of Amer. Med. Asso., Feb., 1909. New York daily journals, Feb., 23, 1909. Hist. Coll. of Phys. & Surgs., J. Shrady, New York, 1912. Portrait. Buller, Francis (1844-1905) Francis Buller, ophthalmologist, was one of the most eminent specialists Canada has pro- duced in virtue of his work in ophthalmology, his extensive writings, his large practice, his strong personality, and the attractiveness of his character. He was the son of Charles G. Buller and Frances Elizabeth Boucher. Born at Camp- bellford, Ontario, on May 4, 1844, he was edu- cated at Peterborough High School and Vic- toria College, where he graduated in medi- cine, 1869. Subsequently, in Europe, he spe- cially studied diseases of the eye, ear and throat, imder Helmholtz and von Graefe. Dur- ing the Franco-Prussian War he served as surgeon in the German military hospitals and afterwards occupied a position on the staff of the Graefe-Ewers Hospital in Berlin. In 1872 he went to London, and was for four years connected with the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital — for the last two years as chief house surgeon. He was the first to introduce in London the procedure of ophthalmoscopic ex- amination by the "direct method." He became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, England, and in 1876 returned to Canada where he lived till his death from pernicious anemia October 11, 1905. He married Lillie Langlois, daughter of Peter Langlois of Que- bec, and they had two children. Dr. Buller was the first to give ophthalmol- ogy an independent status in Canada when he was appointed to the Montreal General Hos- pital in 1877. After seventeen years' service there he accepted the same post in the Royal Victoria Hospital and upon the foundation of the chair of ophthalmology and otology in Mc- Gill University, in 1883, he was appointed and for twenty-two years his learning and experi- ence were freely given. He was also presi- dent of the Montreal Medico-Chirurgical So- ciety 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 describe* the shield for the protection of the sound eye in gonorrheal ophthalmia, which has always been associated with his name. His modifica- tion 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 developments in bac- teriology. 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 suturing 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 expression 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 Surgery," mark him as one of the first exponents on this continent of the newer school of ophthalmology which origin- ated with Helmholtz, Donders, and von Graefe. In his operations and after-treatments he had infinite patience, and would frequently 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