Camden
May 1 '891
Well the N Y show2 goes over to-day in a blaze of glory, & Barnum's great circus comes
in here at noon & exhibits to night—(Ed3 goes—I am favorable)—& besides Dr Baker4
"graduates" this afternoon—you know he is my first nurse—last June—& Osler5 makes
the address—indeed I believe two of 'em—things ab't same as before with me—
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Dr R M Bucke | Asylum | London | Ontario | Canada. It is postmarked: Camden,
N.J. | May 1 | 8 PM | 89. [back]
- 2. Whitman is referring to the
three-day celebration of the centennial commemorating the inauguration of George
Washington. [back]
- 3. Edward "Ned" Wilkins
(1865–1936) was one of Whitman's nurses during his Camden years; he was
sent to Camden from London, Ontario, by Dr. Richard M. Bucke, and he began
caring for Whitman on November 5, 1888. He stayed for a year before returning to
Canada to attend the Ontario Veterinary School. Wilkins graduated on March 24,
1893, and then he returned to the United States to commence his practice in
Alexandria, Indiana. For more information, see Bert A. Thompson, "Edward
Wilkins: Male Nurse to Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman Review
15 (September 1969), 194–195. [back]
- 4. Frank Baker (1841–1918) was
an American anatomist from New York. Before his illustrious medical career, he
served in the 37th New York Volunteers (1861–1863) and then transferred to
Washington, D.C., for government service, where he became intimately familiar
with Walt Whitman and John Burroughs. After receiving a medical degree from
Columbia University, he served as professor of anatomy at Georgetown University,
assistant superintendent of the United States Life Saving Service, and president
of numerous biological and medical societies, among them the Anthropological
Society of Washington. He also edited American
Anthopologist and authored several medical monographs, including two
papers on President Garfield's assassination and several articles on the history
of medicine and anatomy. For more on Baker, see Howard Atwood Kelly and Walter
L. Burrage, A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography
(Baltimore: The Norman Remington Company, 1920). [back]
- 5. Sir William Osler (1849–1919)
was a Canadian physician and one of the four founding staff members of Johns
Hopkins Hospital, where he served as the first Chief of Medicine. Richard
Maurice Bucke introduced Osler to Whitman in 1885 in order to care for the aging
poet. Osler wrote a manuscript about his personal and professional relationship
with Whitman in 1919; see Philip W. Leon, Walt Whitman and Sir
William Osler: A Poet and His Physician [Toronto: ECW Press, 1995]).
For more on Osler, see Philip W. Leon, "Osler, Dr. William (1849–1919)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). For more on the relationship of Osler and
Whitman, see Michael Bliss, William Osler: A Life in
Medicine (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999). [back]