172 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



14. 



Eeturning to Canada early in 1864, where liis elder brother, Dr. 

 Edward Horatio Bucke had died but a few months before, he settled 

 down to the practice of his profession in Sarnia. But almost simultan- 

 eously, he was urgently requested to go to California in the interest of 

 the Gould & Curry Silver Mining Company. It would appear that there 

 was litigation with reference to mining claims in or near Gold Canon, 

 and it may be surmised that Maurice's knowledge of Groslf s discoveries 

 was an important factor in the case. The year he spent on the Pacific 

 slope was equivalent to a second post-graduate course in business and 

 knowledge of men. He was amply remunerated for his time and 

 services, and returned to Sarnia in 1865, not only enriched in experi- 

 ence, but with a substantial sum of money. Here he married, on the 

 7th September, Miss Jessie Maria Gurd. There were bom to them 

 eight children, of whom six survive, together with their mother. Set- 

 tling down to the practice of his chosen profession, he met with success 

 from the start, and had more than a local reputation. The Honorable 

 Alexander Mackenzie was his first patient and frequently sounded his 

 praises.^ Sarnia was the home of the late Plon. Timothy Blair Pardee, 

 M.P.P. for the county of Lambton from Confederation, and a distin- 

 guished Minister of the Crown for the Province of Ontario from the 

 Tear 1872 until his decease in 1889. Mr. Pardee and Dr. Bucke recog- 

 nized in each other congenial spirits, and became intimate friends. 

 Their friendship had doubtless somewhat to do with the appointment 

 of Dr. Bucke, in Januacy, 1876, to the Superin tendency of the Asylum 

 for the Insane at Hamilton, on its first establishment. In the follow- 

 ing February, on the death of Dr. Landor of the London Asylum, 

 Dr. Bucke was promoted to the headship of the larger institution, a 

 position he was to fill until his death. Had he lived a few days 

 longer, he would have occupied this important post for a full quarter 

 of a century. Only a few rods distant from the asylum lay the home 

 of his childhood, the old Creek Farm, the scene of his earliest recol- 

 lections. 



It is not too much to say of him that as Superintendent of the 

 London Asylum he did not fall behind the expectations which his 

 university career and his professional reputation had led his friends 

 to form respecting him. 



To the literature of alienism he devoted his attention, with the 

 same persistent determination that had carried him through the perils 

 and labours of the earlier years. "With the natural scientific bent 



^ This fact was mentioned by Dr. Bucke to Dr. Hugh A. McCallum. 



