The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-08-03 00:00:00

MEETING OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION OF
THE TOWN, ON THE STATE OF MEDICAL
SCIENCE, &c., IN CHINA.

Yesterday, at one o'clock, a meeting of medical and sur-
gical gentlemen of the town, and others, was held at the
Medical Institution, Mount-pleasant, in purimince of invi-
tation from Dr. Parker, who has recently returned from a
successful missionary campaign in Cbhui, and who proposed
to submit a brief statement of the present state of medicine
and surgery in China, and the establiShment of hospitals in

that country

The meeting, almost solely of professional men, was nu-
merously attended. The whole of the seats in the lecture-
room were occupied, there being present from fifty to sixty
individuals. Dr. FORMBY was called to the chair.
Dr. PARKER, in his exordium, dwelt upon the importance
of the objects he had in view, which were—first, to enlighten
the empire of China in the sciences of physic and surgery ;
and, secondly, having opened the way, by their means to
spread amongst the vast popujation of that country the
blessings of Christianity. He went on to show the defective
and erroneous state of medical science in that country. He
then proceeded to adduce a number of cases that had fallen
within his own experience, showing the great value of hospi-
tals in that country, not only in the advancement of science
amongst the natives, and in the practical benevolent effects,
but in conciliating the good feelings of the natives, and thereby
clearing the way for the introduction of Christian principles
amongst them, and, by removing the jealousy of foreigners,
entertained by that extraordinary people, tending in a high
degree to promote between them and Europeans an amicable
and profitable system of commerce. He instanced a case of
treatment for suspended animation, from immersion in the
water, and a variety of others, showing the extreme igno-
rance of the Chinese faculty ; and detailed his success in
many of them, to the astonishment of the Chinese, whose
gratitude was unbounded. He next noticed the labours of
many British practitioners in China, who had there established
hospitals. Amongst these was Dr. Pearson, formerly of
this town, who was the first to introduce vaccination,
now extensively practiced there, a native doctor, named
Longhead, (from the extraordinary length of his head,)
being now the principal practitioner in Canton. The
latter, during a practice of thirty years, had vaccinated
upwards of a million of persons. Drs. Livingston, Mor-
rison, and Colledge had also been highly successful ; and in
treating cases of ophthalmia, having restored to the dark
eye-balls of hundreds the blessed light of day. He himself
had embarked for China in 1834, attached to the Medical
Missionary Society ; and the scene of his labours had chiefly
been at the opthalmic hospital at Canton. Another was also
established at Macao. He had also gone to Singapore, where
he established an infirmary, and soon became known and
sought after as " the foreign physician." The patients who
were cured or relieved were, he added, very generally induced
to read the society's books, and he related several affecting
instances of their conversion to Christianity. During the
recent political commotions his labours, and those who acted
with hini were nearly arrested ; but he attended to patients
at his own house. At first he received but slight encourage-
ment, but eventually one patient brought another, until the
street was frequently crowded with applicants for relief. Be-
fore he left Canton, in June last year, the number of
patients had been not less than six thousand. Many
of the chief officers of the empire (including Imperial
Commissioner Lin) had sought and obtained relief, and their
expressions of gratitude were unbounded. The institution
was opened for cases of opthalmia alone ; but some surgical
cases forced themselves upon his attention, which it was im-
possible not to attend to, and, though the original name of
the institution was retained, it had now become a general
hospital. He noticed several cases of the cure of cataract—
and in particular of an old woman of 78. The treatment of
the native doctors in these and other cases was most unsci-
entific. A case of cure of a young woman who fell from the
roof of a house during a thunder storm, and was severely
wounded, excited much interest. He next noticed a variety
of successful operations on parties afflicted with enormous
tumours. The gratitude of the parties in these and other
cases was excessive, and demonstrated in some instances in
affecting pieces of poetry, or in that poetical language pecu-
liar to eastern countries. Amongst others, the father of a
little girl who was brought and cured, afterwards brought a
tablet on which was inscribed, "You have removed the
flaw from the gem, and my beloved child is again a perfect
pearl." He concluded by a strong appeal in behalf of the
Medical Missionary Society, in carrying on the hospital,
which was peculiarly desirable in prosecuting the object in
view. The principal immediate object was to encourage gen-
tlemen of the medical profession to go and practise gratuitously
among the Chinese, by affording the usual aid of hospitals,
medicine, and attendants ; but the support or remuneration
of such medical gentlemen was not at present within its con-
templation. The foreign residents of Canton and Macao
were prepared to sustain the objects of the hospital. From
the peculiar character of the people and their government it
was requisite that the missionary should, in addition to a
thirst for the propagation of Christianity, the capabilities of
the physician and surgeon. He enumerated many friends of
the institution in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and other
towns, including Sir Geo. Stanton, the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw,
the Rev. Baptist Noel, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the
Duke of Wellington, Sir R. Peel, and many others. The
medical profession, who had ever been the foremost to en-
counter plague and pestilence for the relief of their fellow-
creatures would, he trusted, not be backward in assisting to
give enlightened practice to a country containing 360,000,000
of inhabitants. Great success had already attended the cir-
cumscribed operations of the society, and if the English and
Americans (the latter of whom had already come forward
most humanely in the cause), only put their shoulders to the
wheel, christianity, combined with the healing heart, would
take root in China. In regard to commerce, too, Sir George
Robinson had well remarked of the society, that the surgeon's
knife was better calculated to conciliate the Chinese than any
weapons of war. The Royal College of Surgeons in this
country had, he was happy to say, agreed to .educate three
Chinese youths, to promote the objects in view, and when
he returned to China it would be his object to select three
promising young men for that purpose. After a warm eulo-
gium on Dr. Lockhart for his labours in the cause, he con-
cluded by stating, that if the medical men here would forward
the objects stated, in behalf of the millione in China, their
benevolence would meet with the heartfelt gratitude of all
who were attached to the cause which he had the pleasure tc
advocate.

After a vote of thanks being passed to Dr. Parker for the
interesting information he had afforded, a medical committee
was named and appointed to carry out his views. Amongst
them were:—Dr. Formby, Mr. Bickersteth, Mr. Blackburn,
Dr. Dickens, Dr. Ramsay, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Blower, Dr.
Sutherland, Mr. Batty, Mr. Eden, Mr. Neill, Dr. Robert-
son, and Dr. Moffatt. _ . .

(A further committee of non-professional gentlemen re
mains to be formed at a subsequent meeting.)
The meeting then separated.