at New York. Following this he completed his medical studies in Europe.

On his return to the United States, in the winter of 1859-60, Dr. Buist took up his residence in Nashville, and entered here into the practice of his profession. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted as a private in the famous Rock City Guards. When Maney's First Tennessee Regiment was organized, with Col. George Maney at its head, Dr. Buist was chosen as assistant surgeon, and was promoted to the rank of Surgeon in the spring of 1862. He remained with the famous regiment throughout the war, facing the leaden hail of the messengers of death on the battlefield of Perryville and other famous fields. Most of his time was devoted to active field duty; some of it in hospital service. As brigade surgeon he passed through some of the most arduous campaigns of the war, and was called on to do most of the operating for Cheatham's Division.

While in charge of a part of the wounded of Hood's army, after the battle of Nashville, in December, 1864, he was captured. Two months later he was released and rejoined the Confederate army in North Carolina. He was under Gen. Joseph E. John

ston when the latter surrendered at Greensboro, N. C.

He was married in 1867 to Laura, daughter of Gen. W. W. Woodfolk, who died about fifteen years ago. Three children resulted from the union, but two died in early infancy. He is now survived by his son, Dr. William E. Buist, of Nashville, Tenn.

In the death of Dr. Buist, Nashville and the community at large will suffer a distinct loss. For many years the deceased had been one of the foremost practitioners of his chosen profession in this section of the country, and his able and generous service to the municipality as a member of the City Board of Health, his earnest, painstaking, and conscientious labors for the advancement of the public weal and health, made him invaluable, and one to whom the public could well lay claim as its benefactor.

Dr. Buist was an active member of Frank Cheatham Bivouac. and during the last reunion here was Chairman of the Parade Committee, which responsibility he filled in a most efficient man

ner.

He was a general practitioner, including in his branches surgery, gynecology, and obstetrics. For a while he was Professor of Surgery at Sewanee. He was a member of the Edinburgh Medical Society, of the American Medical Association, the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association, the Medical Association of Tennessee, the Nashville Academy of Medicine, being at one time its President, and the Alumni Association of Bellevue Hospital.

The funeral services were held at Christ Church, Rev. F. F. Reese, the Rector, officiating, a large congregation, embracing a number of the leading citizens and a few of his old comrades, being present. The Ritual of the Bivouac was read by the Commander, and responses were made by the members of Frank Cheatham Bivouac, standing around the bier, at the close of the beautiful Episcopal funeral services, and the remains were interred at Mt. Olivet on the afternoon following his death.

DR. JOHN A. OCHTERLONY, of Louisville, Ky., died on October 9, at the age of sixty-seven years. He was graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1861. Dr. Ochterlony was Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the University of Louisville, and was knighted several years ago by King Oscar of Sweden and by Pope Leo XIII.

DR. P. EDWARD ANDERSON, of Rodophil, Va., died July 24, aged sixty-seven years, in Richmond, where, owing to ill health, he had resided during the past few months for the purpose of treatment. Dr. Anderson graduated at the Jefferson Medical College in 1859. During the first years of the Civil War he served as a trooper in the Third Virginia Cavalry, though later he was given duty in the Medical Department. He practiced medicine the greater portion of his life in Amelia County, where he was highly esteemed. He joined the Medical Society of Virginia at its last session. Three daughters, one of whom is married, survive him.- Va. Med. Semi-Monthly, Aug. 11, 1905.

DR. O. B. HICKLIN died at his home in New London, Mo., on June 28. He was born near Madisonville, Mo., Sept. 24, 1833, and was educated in the common schools of his native State. He was graduated in medicine from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Keokuk, Iowa, in 1876, and practiced in Missouri during his entire professional life. During the Civil War he served in the Confederate army under General Price.-N. Y. Med. Record, August, 1905.

Editorial.

THERE ARE MORE THINGS

TWIXT HEAVEN AND EARTH

THAN DREAMED OF IN THY PHILOSOPHY, HORATIO!

THE leading editorial in our most valued exchange, the N. Y. Medical Record, Oct. 21, 1905, on "The Therapeutics of Sunlight" is of more than passing interest in these days of new remedies and new developments in medicine and surgery, and suggests a return to, or a revival of, some of the very old but most valuable remedial measures that have been permitted to pass into "innocuous desuetude". - so long relegated to the past and laid aside that the memory of man, or his delving in the ashes and dust of the centuries, will find it difficult to bring them again to light. We give in full the editorial, which is as follows:

"Physical methods have come to occupy an important position in therapeutics, and perhaps the most notable development in this field during the last decade is concerned with the application of light for the cure of a variety of pathological processes. It is really important that the physician keep in touch with the advances in this field, for some of them have already been exploited and it must be admitted with considerable success, by the nature healers and other irregular practitioners. Various sources of light have been employed, but it has been found that sunlight is the most intense of all. Its efficiency is affected, however, by the state of the atmosphere, particularly by its humidity, for the latter greatly retards the chemical rays, though it has little effect on those of a thermal nature. It is quite evident, therefore, that a high altitude and a clear, dry climate constitute very important factors in the application of heliotherapy.

"The beneficial effects of sunlight have been known to the peoples of the earth from very early times, and we find repeated references to its

use in the writings of the old Greek physicians. The subject was again rejuvenated during the last century, and has received considerable scientific attention more recently. The favorable effects of general sun-baths may be traced to the factors of increased perspiration, with a corresponding increase in the excretion of deleterious substances; a prolonged hyperemia of the skin, resulting in a derivation of the blood from the internal organs to the surface of the body; a stimulation of the metabolic processes; a direct and peculiar action on the blood and the vessels; and finally a bactericidal effect in the superficial layers of the skin. The indications for the use of sun-baths may be found in diseases of metabolism (diabetes, gout, etc.,) in congestions in the internal organs (cardiac defects, asthma), and in anemia, chlorosis, general weakness or protracted convalescence, skin diseases, scrofula, and rickets.

"The modern system of local light therapy owes its development largely to the efforts of the late Prof. Finsen of Copenhagen. He based his theories of treatment on the bactericidal properties of sunlight, but later also employed the rays from an electric arc, as being more convenient. The splendid results he obtained in lupus and other parasitic dermatoses are well known. The extension of the method to other surgical affections has been greatly developed by Bernhard, of Switzerland, who has also been favored with very satisfactory results. In a recent contribution to the Zeitschrift fur diatetische und physikalische Therapie, August, 1905, he describes his observations made at a sanatorium in the Engadin, at an elevation of over 5,000 feet, with a southerly exposure. This location was favorable not only because the rare atmosphere allowed the chemical rays full play, but also because the general temperature was low enough to permit sun-bathing without any discomfort being produced by the heat. Bernhard reports successful cures in lupus from exposure during a considerable period to the rays of the sun alone without the use of any accessories. Furuncles, phlegmonous processes, and all streptococcus infections were greatly improved, and the results in tuberculosis of the superficial glands and joints were very favorable. In addition to bactericidal powers, the sun's rays also possess other therapeutic properties. Epithelial formation is visibly promoted by exposure to the sunlight, and flabby granulations are stimulated to renewed and healthy growth. The same author, in another paper, in the Zeitschrift fur Chirurgie, July, 1905, also notes the favorable action of sunlight in cases where a transplantation of skin flaps has been performed, the adhesion of the flaps and their final attachment being markedly hastened.

"The suggestions contained in these are interesting and timely, and among other things may exert an influence upon our present methods of wound treatment. Occlusive dressings have been quite universally employed for both primary and secondary wounds, although there is apparently no reason why, after the danger of infection is once past, factors

with such well marked healing tendencies as have been proved to be associated with sunlight and fresh air, should be entirely excluded. Sunlight is an agency which is easily obtained and readily applied, and as a therapeutic factor in surgical procedures, it is deserving of more extended attention and study."

In the neighborhood of two decades ago a young friend of ours in whom we had a warm interest as a devoted, earnest, and untiring student, then an assistant surgeon in the U. S. Navy, subsequently promoted to surgeon, and now on the retired list by reason of disability, having almost entirely lost the God-given gift of vision by too earnest a devotion to science, Dr. W. L. Arnold, a Tennessean, and a graduate of the Medical Department of the University of Tennessee, afforded us the pleasure and opportunity of publishing an original communication in the pages of this journal, in which he called attention to certain therapeutic properties of sunlight. He gave some very interesting views, including a clinical report of removing a wine mark," that so dreadfully mars the "human face divine," by the use of concentrated sunlight, his method of concentration being quite simple, using only an ordinary magnifying glass with a handle, familiarly known as a "sun-glass," with which we have seen many a schoolboy amusing himself and companions more than half a century ago. The cosmetic result was very gratifying.

66

"Solar rays (sunlight)," says Joseph McFarland, of Philadelphia, in "Cohen's System of Physiologic Therapeutics," vol. V, p. 46, "have a marked influence on the general nutrition, increasing tissue oxidation and the elimination of carbon dioxide. Locally they alter the accumulation of pigment in the skin, causing freckles and tan. If the action be more intense or prolonged, erythema, desquamation, vesiculation, and even superficial eschars may result, except in the habituated."

Light is not always needed for, and in many instances it is detrimental to, bacterial growth. Exposure to the direct rays of the sun, and even diffused sunlight, not only inhibits the growth and development of, but often destroys many bacterial forms; and even the most virulent forms are attenuated thereby. And most important of all, according to Koch, the tubercle bacilli are quickly killed by direct exposure to solar rays, the time varying, according to circumstances, from a few minutes to several hours; while the diffuse rays alone will kill these organisms in five, six, or seven days, their virulence gradually diminishing prior to their death.

From an experience of more than forty years in active practice, I, as well as many others, have observed that nothing in the whole armamentarium of medicine has done as much good in arresting the ravages of the "Great White Plague" as life in the open air, and in a locality in which we find an excess or abundance of sunlight. Yes, "kitchen physic" and sunlight has given me far more satisfactory results than