Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-04-08
Medical Mission Work in Ningpo, China

Medical Mission Work in Ningpo, China.
Near the Baptist mission house at the
North Gate of Ningpo outside the city wall
on the western bank of the river, stands a
small two story building about which on
certain days of the week motley crowd
of Chinese NAV be seen. Within are the
dispensary and the opium hospital. At
the door and entering one by one are ''the
lame, the halt and the blind" There Id q
lad with his elbow dislocated and badly
bruised by a cruel master,-a very PAIN
full case, the wound having been neglect
ed several weeks Here comes 4 woman
bent with rheumatism. The girl entering
next is nearly blind owing to scrofular
Sad cases are very numerous. The man
ON the cot Wonder has Just had an arm
amputated. And now comes one III rags,
with pallid face, a prodigal seeking ad-
mission to the opium hospital. The
friend with him WAS cured here n year
ago. This friend brings the three dol
lars entrance fee, for the inebriate could
not he trusted with it. This is the whole
charge for medicine. attendance and
board. After the patient has been dis
charged and has entirely abstained for
three months, one dollar may he returned
To him, if he desires. This man Will suf-
fer keenly for some days. Those bars
across the windows are to prevent escape
in order TO satisfy the terrible craving;
for treatment here is not that of ''tapor
ing Of or of curing the opium habit
with opiates. If the patient remains n
few weeks. the cure is almost certain.
The appetite will be removed. But will
the man continue 10 abstain? As n mat
ter of fact, of the patients discharged
about eighty per cent. hare rcDiainod
Si,ddj0St thus far Tie first year seven
ty-five opium smokers were cured the
next year, 20d and last year 225. This
opium hospital WAS opened in 1877, when
the building, originally erected. and used
by DR. knowlton ms n school, WAS retitteJ
at about six hundred dollars expense,
which was borne by friends i'll England
and i'll China.
Entrance to the diSpcHsdrG costs eigh-
teen cash, less than two cents. No pay
is asked for medicine, most of the patients
being very poor Yet so many come that
these entrance fees have netted in n sin
gle year more than two hundred dollars.
The rest of the expense has been met by
private contributions and by the physl-
cian in charge Dy. .S. r. BarchCp. who
has practiced his profession among the
foreign residents 10 obtain money for the
support of the medical work Beside
bearing these burdens. this brother has
done well the usual work of a missionary,
training native preachers, experimenting
schools, preaching at two stations III
Ningpo and over seeing several fields i'll
the country. DIR. Barchet, by the favor
ofGod is SO reverenced by the natives and
SO much esteemed by all others here, is a
German, of less that forty years, physi-
cally slender, nervous, active,-of cheer
full ceuntenance and modest demeanor.
Becoming Christian while young man
in England, he came to China IN 1860 and
was a missionary at Ningpo and at Nyihg
k ang- gyiao in this province, supported by
the Baptist chorch in London of which he
was a member. Eight years later he re-
turned with his family to Europe and
thence TO America, where he received his
medical degree He then returned to
China at his own expense and in 1875 was
appointed a missionary of the American
Baptist Miss Union. 1t is to be re-
Pretted that the doctor needed rest and
other reasons require him TO visit the
United States this spring QSS1.) His
absence will Of course cripple the medical
work But two natives whom DIR. Bar
chet has partially trained will be able
with the help of Mr. Goddard, to do
something both in the dispensary and in
the hospital. But who Will pay for the
medicines now that there is no generous
physicians private practice TO depend
upon? We trust that God will carry on
this werk by means Of the hberality
of his people. Some one will shll pray
and pay.
Mark well the following considerations
regarding medical missions in general
and his one at Ningpo in particular
l. Healing the body was prc-enincm-
y Christ's method of reaching the soul
DIR. Barchet's work has been one of
the mercy on n large scale at small cost.
Think of %. 600 cases prescribed for and
two hundred and twenty-five victims of
opium cured in a year at an expense of
only about one Thousand dollars Many
of the patients are wretchedly poor, md
those not poor are almost helpless, for
the native doctors know little of medicine
and nothing of surgery
;. This work affords iITgc OpportUni-
~ for G0sl,ei tcachi.g. Native preach
ers speak of Christ To those waiting to en-
ter the dispensary. Many thus hear
who would not otherwise The hospital
patients are required to attend morning
prayers i'll the Doctors family, service
by no means dry and formal. Some Of
the reformed smokers have become Chris
tians and others are regular attendants ut
the mission chapels.
4. Medical work il n,tc Of tie tuugibts.
JJracficd "ecidences of fhriy'junity,"
ON unanswerable argument
5. Scientific medical work disJ,cis stt-
pcrstifi0H nut 1IrcIGrcs he tody for
GOsJ,d h'afh
6 The missionaries of all demunina-
iivns seft IA Nlngl,n, regard this work na
di'ct, c"ofpHiicoi, and S"ccfs%t"I
moGnscf bnihiing up The ch1Tch ~
Christ
7. The opium hospital helps 10 conrincc
Mc pcoptc TINT christianity is hosfiic 10
TIE opiHH h0hH dtd The opi,Ua h-aDic,
and is therefore worthy Of respect The
average Chinaman finds it hard to believe
that Christians really seek his welfare,
when a professedly Christian government
british lndiaD has net annual revenue
of thirty-iive million dollars though its
monopoly Of the sale of opium, Il very
large share OF which comes To China, the
Chinese government being ut the same
time mfricndly TO the importation but
being unable to resist so strong power as
England.
Christian friends Of America, let ns not
restrain prayer nor withhold the Lord'H
money and thus lose the great advantage
afforded by medical missions. viii not
the reader of these lines pray the
the Lord Of the harvest to send to the
hundreds Of millions in China, not only
preachers, but many more ''beloyed ply
siciaus, well trained and "full Of faitl
and Of the Holy Ghost p
q. l.. mason.
Nmgpo, Che kinag Province, China.
Feb 1881
drunk again, eh p said the magis
trate, contracting his brows and looking
severely at the prisoner. 'Yis. yer hon
or" candidly returned Pat. 81 WAS afthel