In 1874, he entered the medical school at the University of Edinburgh and remained for one year before he emigrated to the United States.
He completed his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and graduated in 1879.
The Commission of two lay members and a chief psychiatrist began to follow the legislature’s charge but encountered opposition from the state hospital superintendents who, until then, exercised total control of their institutions.
The journal had been established and edited by Amariah Brigham, the first superintendent at Utica and was owned by the hospital.
As editor of the American Journal of Insanity, Blumer influenced the psychiatric community.
In 1899, he accepted the post of Superintendent of the private Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island where he remained until his retirement in 1921.
Blumer remained in Providence after retirement and was named Superintendent Emeritus of Butler.
Blumer received honorary degrees from Brown University (L.H.D., 1905) and from Hamilton College (L.H.D.
He was named an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1921 by Brown University.
"A Case of Perverted Sexual Instinct (conträre Sexualempfindung)," American Journal of Insanity (1882): 22-35.
"The Medical and Material Aspects of Industrial Employment for the Insane," Proceedings of the American Medico-Psychological Association (1897): 230-238.
"Addresses Delivered at the Opening of the Pathological Laboratory of the Rhode Island Hospital, 10 May 1900," The Providence Medical Journal (1900): 83-85.