Response By
Josh Lambier
Dr. Richard M. Bucke’s Prosthetic Leg, 1890s
various materials Gift from St. Joseph's Health Care, London, 2008Response
Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke (1837-1902), Superintendent of London’s Insane Asylum, is one of Canada’s most remarkable nineteenth-century figures: a distinguished Victorian psychiatrist; the author of the international bestseller, Cosmic Consciousness; and the intimate friend of poet Walt Whitman. And yet, Bucke’s storied life nearly ended, at age 20, while prospecting for silver in the wild American west. Narrowly escaping a voyage through snowbound mountains in the Sierra Nevada, Bucke had a frostbitten foot and several toes crudely amputated to save his life.
Joshua Lambier is a PhD candidate in the Department of English and Writing Studies, and the Founding Director of the Public Humanities at Western University. As an active member of the London community, Josh is also the Artistic Director of the Words Literary and Creative Arts Festival.