Dr. J. Lyman Bulkley was born at Sandy Creek, New York, in 1879. He studied medicine from 1896 to 1900 and was graduated with the latter year's class from the medical school of Syracuse University. That year, or the next, he went to Alaska, where, after vicissitudes, he settled down to the practice of medicine at Valdez for some ten years, his last known address there being on McKinley Street. In 1927 he was associate editor of the New York City journal Cancer, under chief editor Dr. L. Duncan Bulkley. To the July issue of 1927 Dr. J. Lyman Bulkley contributed an article, “Cancer among Primitive Tribes,” in which he wrote:

“The observations, which the author of this article has used, principally ... are the result of the experiences of others ... His own personal observations on the subject were gathered during a sojourn of about twelve years among several of the different tribes of Alaskan natives, during which time he never discovered among them a single true case of carcinosis ...

“In the nearly twelve years which the writer of this article spent in Alaska, during which he came into contact with many of the different tribes of the natives living there (although not all), he never found a true case of cancer among the full-bloods and but very few among those of mixed blood. The food of these people consists almost exclusively of fish and some shell fish, with cereals, berries and some vegetables ...

“... the writer feels that the conclusion can be safely drawn that to civilization and all its influences may be attributed in a very large measure ... the increase in frequency of malignancy among primitive races.”