First Presbyterian church for ten years, and is now the president of the board. Many good causes that have plead their needs and wants before the Cleveland public during the past twenty-five years, have found in Mr. Herrick a helping and encouraging friend. All his influence is on the side of morality, temperance and good government, obedi ence to law, the elevation of the masses, and the proper guardianship of those who cannot aid themselves. There have been many who have attracted a larger share of public attention than he, but few there are who have exerted a more helpful and manly influence on those met in the busy walks of business and social life. SYLVESTER FREDERICK MIXER, M. D. DR. SYLVESTER FREDERICK MIXER must be assigned a place of honor and usefulness when any account is taken of the men who have made Buffalo and given it a standing in the professional world. For many years he labored with all the strength of a great nature, and all the earnestness of a true heart, for the bettering of the world about him, and when he was called to the rest and reward of the higher world, his best monument was found in the love and respect of the community in which he lived for so many years. The life and labor of even the most successful physician and surgeon afford little of note for the biographer, made up as they are of daily rounds of duty, a constant stream of doing good, and an ever ready purpose of help for the suffering, without any strong and salient points of interest to which the attention can be drawn. And the more closely he has attached himself to his profession, and the less he has had to do with outside affairs or pursuits, the less can there be said of him beyond this grand epitaph-that he spent his life in the service of others, and, like the Greatest of all Physicians, went about doing good." Dr. Mixer essentially gave himself to the line of his prófession, and lived up to the most exacting requirements, although he was in full sympathy with all the great movements of the world about him, and watched the progress of events with the keenest interest. He was born in Morrisville, Madison county, New York, on December 27, 1815, and was the descendant of an English family that came to New England in the early days. His father, Judge Nathan Mixer, was a man of mark in his day, serving for a term or so in the New York assembly, and having as one of his colleagues Millard Fillmore, who afterwards became President of the United States. The son received a liberal education, and graduated from the medical department of Yale college in 1841. In a few months thereafter he established himself in Buffalo in the practice of his profes- a man of simple goodness, but so sion, and continued steadily therein to the close of his life. His success was marked from the first, and was continuous to the close. In 1847 he received the degree of M. D. from the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1852 he was elected president of the Buffalo Medical society, and was for years one of the leading members of the Erie County Medical society. He belonged to the American Medical association. From 1858 to 1874, he was one of the attending physicians of the Buffalo General hospital, and from the date last named until his death, was a member of its consulting board. The many opportunities that opened before Dr. Mixer by which he might have won distinction in public life, were all declined that he might give himself to the profession he loved so well. He lived in it and for it, and many are the tributes that have been recorded in honor of his usefulness therein. As a prominent Buffalo journal has well said, "A citizen so well known and so highly respected as Dr. Mixer might easily have taken a conspicuous part in public affairs, but he had no ambition outside of his profession, which yielded him a handsome income and enabled him to accumulate for the loved ones left a comfortable competency. He was an earnest Republican, but naturally a thorough reformer, and habitually took a lively interest in all political and other movements having the public good in view." "Take him all in all," adds one appreciative writer, "he was an excellent type of the ideal American citizen modest and unassuming withal, that his biography could not have much eulogy in it without doing violence to his own wishes, as known to those who knew him best, and they are those who loved him best." It is but proper to add that the public estimate of his character and ability was of no higher form than that held by his brethren in the profession. It has been truthfully said that there never was a member who lived more closely to the ethics of his calling. It was always regarded safe for a younger man to call upon him in consultation, and his advice when given being universally taken as the best authority that could be had, he was very often called upon in the most delicate and dangerous branches of practice. He kept his reading up to the last, and was fully acquainted with the medical and surgical advance of the world. It has ever been a source of regret to the profession that he never placed any of his own experiences or observations in print, as there were lost thereby many valuable and remarkable things. Perhaps no more competent, just and concise estimate of Dr. Mixer's character as a man, and standing as a physician, can be discovered than that found in the resolutions adopted by the physicians of Buffalo, in which they said: This society feels that in the death of Dr. Mixer it has lost one of the best, truest, and most respected members; that we desire to testify our appreciation of his many noble qualities of mind and heart, his integrity in the profession as well as non-professional, his uniform kindness, sympathy and courtesy-always regardful of the rights and feelings of others; one of whom it may be said in truth that he was just and faithful in all the relations of life-to his profession, his country and his God. Personally Dr. Mixer was of fine presence, tall, handsome, and a conversationalist of rare quality. He was married on February 23, 1853, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Knowlton, daughter of Perrin Knowlton of Cincinnati. Their life together was a happy one, as Dr. Mixer loved his home with a rare affection, and found therein a refuge and a rest from the toils and exactions of the outside world. Four children were born to them, one dying in infancy, and two sons still living. A beloved daughter was called out of the brightness and promise of her youth by the awful railroad wreck at Ashtabula that sent over one hundred to a sudden death and filled the land with gloom. The blow to Dr. Mixer was one of especial severity, and from which he never fully recovered. Dr. Mixer experienced his first severe illness in 1862. He never regained his full strength thereafter, but was able to fulfill the usual round of his duties until the winter before his death, when he gave up work and went to California for the benefit of his health. Little good resulted, and he returned to Buffalo in June. He sank gradually, and needed no one to tell him that the end was near. He had watched the approach of the destroying angel in so many homes, that he knew the sound of the footfall as it came down the highway of his own life-but he had no fear. He had lived a pure and useful life; he had long since committed his heart to the keeping of One higher than the greatest of earth, and his home had long since been set in order. On Sunday morning, September 16, 1883, he sank, in perfect peace, to the eternal sleep. There were very many, not only in Buffalo but in places far from there, who mourned his loss in deep sincerity of soul, and felt that indeed a good man had been called to his reward. He had been an honored and useful member of Trinity Episcopal church, and his funeral was held therein on the Tuesday following his death. These words, spoken on that occasion, fittingly describes his closing hours-" He had no fear of death-no anxious thoughts. He knew that his course was run, and with calmness he moved on toward the prize of his high calling in Christ Jesus.” The stricken wife and family were given such solace as can come from sympathy that carries the evidence of its own sincerity. Letters came from all parts of the country that those who had admired Dr. Mixer as a physician had also loved him as a friend. And he was worthy of it. Said one in writing of his character: His benevolence was marked in all his professional dealings, numerous instances being recalled in which he had gone out on winter nights to attend patients so poor in purse that it was certain he would never be paid for his trouble. He had no enemies. He could be trusted at all times and in all places with the professional reputation of his associates. He had a righteous scorn of all trickery, and was in all respects a true, high-minded, Christian gentleman. No words in higher praise can be spoken of any man; and of no man could they be more truthfully said. A rounded and complete life like that of which we have written carries its own force and lesson during the years through which it runs, and then lives long after in the fragrant example of a blessed memory. PROFESSOR JAMES PLATT WHITE, M. D. DR. JAMES PLATT WHITE, who for years filled a conspicuous place among the professional men of Buffalo, departed from this life on the evening of September 28, 1881. That he stood at the head of his profession was understood not only by the public, but was conceded by his fellow physicians, who delighted to do him honor, and took pride in his fame. There was much in his life and record that could be profitably commented on at length, but only a reference to the salient points of his character and record is possible here.* has been said by one of the leading journals of Buffalo, "an ample sketch. of his life would be a history of the medical profession in Buffalo for the last half century-nay, almost a history of the city itself, for there have been but few important public questions or enterprises, since the corporation was established, in which he did not become more or less interested." Dr. White's lineage was Puritan, his ancestry in this country extending to Peregrine White, As Free use has been made herein of an address delivered in memory of Dr. White, by Austin Flint, M. D., before the Medical society of the state of New York, in 1882. The acquaintance between Dr. White and Dr. Flint was of an intimate and cordial char acter. the first male child born in the Plymouth |