BUCHAN, William, Scottish physician: b. Ancrum, Roxburgshire, 1729; d. 1805. He commenced practice at Edinburgh, and having for a considerable time directed his attention to a digest of popular medical knowledge, pub lished in 1769 his work entitled 'Domestic Medicine; or, the Family Physician,'— an at tempt to render the medical art more generally useful by showing people what is in their own power, both with respect to the prevention and cure of diseases. It is constructed on a plan similar to that adopted by Tissot on his 'Avis au Peuple.' It appealed to the wants and wishes of so large a class of the community, that, considering it to have been the first work of the kind published in Britain, there is no wonder that it should have attained success. Before the death of the author 19 large editions had been sold. Duplanil of Paris, physician to the Count d'Artois (Charles X), published a translation in five volumes, with notes, which rendered the work so popular on the Continent that in a short time no language in Christendom wanted its translation. It would almost appear
that the work met with more undivided applause on the Continent than in Britain. While many English and Scottish physicians conceived that it was as apt to generate as to cure or prevent diseases, by inspiring the minds of readers with hypochondriacal notions, those of other coun tries entertained no such suspicions. Among the testimonies of approbation which Dr. Buchan received from abroad was a huge gold medal lion, sent by the Empress Catherine of Russia, with a complimentary letter. The work became more popular in America and the West Indies than in the older hemisphere. Buchan pub lished two other works, 'A Treatise on Gon orrhoea' ; 'An Advice to Mothers oil the Sub ject of their own Health, and on the Means of Promoting the Health, Strength and Beauty of Their Offspring.' He was buried in Westmin ster Abbey.