flC>ct)ical Morfi in Japan. 
 
 BY DR. JOHN C. BERRY 
 For twenty-one years Medical Missionary of the A. B. C. F. M. 
 
 ® EDICAL Missions originated with our 
 Lord. The miracles of healing which 
 followed his Sermon on the Mount 
 became rapidly known throughout Capernaum, 
 and “when even was come” the sick of the 
 city were carried to him. Parents with chil- 
 dren, friend with friend, “ all they that had sick 
 with aivers diseases brought them unto him,” 
 filling the yard and street about the house. 
 The great heart of the Saviour was touched, 
 divine authority went out in human sympathy, 
 and he graciously “ laid his hand on every one 
 of them and healed them.” In companies they 
 returned to their homes, and a city of forty 
 thousand souls rejoiced in the restoration of its 
 sick to health. The work was done, rest 
 secured, and the Great Physician himself then 
 sought the stillness and seclusion of Nature, 
 and held communion with his Father. 
 
 Such was the first Christian dispensary ser- 
 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 vice. Luke follows this account with the 
 record, “ Jesus went about all Galilee teaching 
 in their synagogues and preaching the Gospel 
 of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sick- 
 ness and all manner of disease among the 
 people” — a record of the first Medical Mis- 
 sionary tour. Indeed, during all the active life 
 of our Lord he made prominent this service of 
 healing, and in his final instructions to his 
 disciples said, “ Into whatsoever city ye enter 
 and they receive you heal the sick that are 
 therein and say unto them. The kingdom of 
 God is come nigh unto you 
 
 The apostles and early disciples to whom 
 was thus committed power over disease, were 
 faithful in heeding their Lord’s command, and 
 the Acts of the Apostles stand as the report of 
 the first Medical Missionary Society. “ By the 
 hands of the apostles were many signs and 
 wonders wrought among the people,” and, “then 
 came multitudes out of the cities round about 
 Jerusalem bringing sick folk and them that 
 were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were 
 healed, every one.” * 
 
 This Christ method of bringing salvation to 
 the entire man continued in the early church 
 until it became evident that the gift of healing 
 nad been withheld, when the founding of Chris- 
 tian hospitals assumed prominence, several of 
 such institutions being in existence at the time 
 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 of the Council of Nicea — one of the articles 
 of that conference enumerating the necessary 
 qualifications of a Christian hospital steward. 
 
 Such has been the origin of medical missions, 
 such the spirit in which they are conducted 
 today ; and the noble results of such work in 
 Japan show them to be as applicable now as a 
 means of revealing God’s love to men as when 
 Christ was on earth. Wherever men sin and 
 suffer, a practical application to their needs of 
 the teaching of the parable of the Good Samari- 
 tan is sure to touch the heart, allay prejudice, 
 win confidence, and awaken a warm spirit of 
 personal gratitude ; and this especially in the 
 mission field. Oriental peoples generally regard 
 the cause of disease as some distinct entity — 
 a malignant spirit sent into the individual as a 
 punishment for his sins, the severity of his 
 suffering being in proportion to the extent of 
 his previous wrong doing. One of the popular 
 names of leprosy in Japan is Ten-kei-byo — 
 Heaven’s punishment disease. This theory of 
 the origin of disease too frequently alienates from 
 the sufferer the sympathy of relatives and friends, 
 and leads to neglect and censorious criticism. 
 This discourages the patient and hardens his 
 character. To all this the spirit of Christ is in 
 striking contrast ; hence the tremendous strength 
 of the medical missionary in the community, 
 and the far-reaching influence of the mission 
 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 hospital, in preparing the way for the Gospel 
 and in exemplifying its teachings. Indeed, the 
 experience of Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, 
 when priest and people sought to offer sacrifice, 
 is being re-enacted today in the experience of 
 many medical missionaries. The writer pain- 
 fully recalls such an attempt at worship when 
 engaged in medical work at Kakugawa, and 
 again later at Ogaki, when at the head of the 
 Surgical Relief Corps of the Doshisha Hospi- 
 tal for the relief of earthquake sufferers. 
 
 The origin of disease being thus intimately 
 associated with sin in the heathen mind, the 
 treatment becomes a religious rite, and the 
 priest frequently controls the ceremony. This, 
 therefore, gives increased religious significance 
 to the work of the medical missionary, and when 
 accompanied by instruction which enables the 
 patients and their friends to know that the kind- 
 ness received is but the application to human 
 needs of the wonderful act of redemption, the 
 feeling of profound gratitude to the physician 
 becomes transmuted into profounder love to 
 God. Idols, temples, heathen ceremonies and 
 means of gratifying unbridled passions await the 
 restored patient as he returns to old associa- 
 tions, and the true medical missionary never 
 allows his patient to pass beyond his influence 
 without giving him a knowledge of God’s com- 
 mands and of a Saviour’s love. 
 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 Thus in the dignity and grandeur of his 
 mission the medical missionary is strong in his 
 work as he seeks to render his service in 
 Christ’s spirit, in Christ’s name, and by Christ’s 
 authority. 
 
 American Christians were the first to restore 
 medical work to its place in modern missionary 
 operations. In 1819 Dr. John Scudder was 
 sent to Ceylon. So apparent was the benefit 
 of his work to the mission that medical men 
 were soon added to the working force of the 
 American Board. Dr. Asa Dodge was sent to 
 the Syrian field in 1832, Dr. Nathan Ward to 
 Ceylon in 1833, Dr. Peter Parker to China in 
 1834, and Drs. Adams and Wilson to South 
 Africa, and Dr. Grant to Persia in 1835. These 
 were the pioneers of a long line of medical 
 missionaries — the American Board alone hav- 
 ing sent out since then one hundred and four- 
 teen physicians, twenty of them women. The 
 first lady physician sent out by Congregation- 
 alists was, I believe, (Miss) M. L. Wadsworth, 
 M. D., who went to Turkey in 1871. 
 
 Dr. James C. Hepburn, now living at East 
 Orange, New Jersey, in his ninetieth year, was 
 the first medical missionary to Japan. He had 
 labored at Singapore in 1840, and at Amoy 
 from 1841 to 1846, laying the foundation of a 
 work that has since spread over the entire 
 Fokien province. Compelled to return to this 
 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 country by the ill health of Mrs. Hepburn, he 
 settled in New York, where he soon built up a 
 lucrative practice, which he conducted for thir- 
 teen years. With this thorough preparation 
 for effective work, he reached Kanagawa in 
 October, 1859, representative of the 
 
 Presbyterian church. A Buddhist temple was 
 secured for residence, the idols removed, and 
 the building converted into a Christian home. 
 The rigid edicts against Christianity made it a 
 prohibited faith, but Dr. Hepburn began at 
 once a religious service in his house, to which 
 foreign residents were invited. Unable, how; 
 ever, because of the opposition of the Japanese 
 authorities, to establish a hospital and dispen- 
 sary at Kanagawa he purchased property in 
 Yokohama in 1862. Here, on the foreign con- 
 cession, he was able to conduct his work with- 
 out opposition. 
 
 In 1863, at the earnest request of a Japanese 
 physician, who wished an education for his 
 grand-daughter, Mrs. Hepburn began a school 
 for girls — “ the mustard seed of education for 
 women and girls in Japan.” “ Japanese women 
 are without understanding,” said the emperor 
 in 1871. “A stupid woman is less troublesome 
 in the family than one that is wise,” was the 
 sentiment of Confucius. And yet, within 
 twenty-five years from the beginning of Mrs. 
 Hepburn’s school, a million and a half Japanese 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 girls were under school instruction. Today 
 the aim of the government is, “ no village with 
 an ignorant family, and no family with an 
 ignorant member." 
 
 For fifteen years Dr. Hepburn continued 
 in active medical work, performing many 
 surgical operations till then unknown in Japan. 
 As an oculist he attained a high degree of 
 skill, while his gentle manner and kindly 
 sympathy made him a most valuable worker 
 in those early days of strong anti-foreign 
 prejudice and bitter hatred of Christianity. 
 He had the full confidence of the foreign com- 
 munity, who contributed liberally toward the 
 support of his dispensary. He would never 
 take any renumeration for his work, holding, 
 wisely, that this was given in Christ’s name as 
 a ministry of service to the people, and was 
 above pecuniary reward. At the age of sixty 
 years he withdrew from active medical practice 
 and devoted his time to literary and evangel- 
 istic work. He prepared the first English- 
 Japanese dictionary, a work of superior excel- 
 lence, took a leading part in the translation of 
 the New Testament scriptures, and prepared a 
 Japanese Bible Dictionary. For forty years 
 he labored as physician, evangelist, translator 
 and lexicographer. His eminent service for 
 Japan has been highly esteemed by her people, 
 but she still remains immensely his debtor. 
 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 Some day may there be a monument erected to 
 the memory of Japan’s first Medical Missionary. 
 
 In November of 1859 the Reformed Church 
 of America (Dutch) sent to Kanagawa Dr. 
 D. B. Simmons, the second medical missionary 
 to reach Japan. After a year of effort Dr. 
 Simmons resigned from the service of his 
 Board and engaged in private practice. He 
 was a most agreeable and lovable character, 
 and exerted a refining influence among the 
 Japanese, by whom he was greatly loved and 
 respected. 
 
 In May, 1872 the writer was sent by the 
 American Board as its first medical missionary 
 to Japan. He was cordially welcomed by the 
 Mission, who, during all the years of his ser- 
 vice, loyally co-operated with him in every 
 possible way to make his work a success. A 
 few months after reaching Kobe, he accepted, 
 with the advice of the Mission, the position of 
 Director of the International Hospital, where 
 he was also permitted to have a dispensary for 
 the Japanese and wards for in-patients. A 
 year later he resigned and accepted the appoint- 
 ment of Foreign Director of the Prefectural 
 Hospital, in connection with which service, and 
 with the co-operation of Japanese physicians, 
 he established dispensaries in Akashi, Kaku- 
 gawa, Himegi, Sanda, Arima and Hiogo. In 
 these dispensary buildings Christian services 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 were held, thus constituting the beginnings of 
 Christian interest and of Christian organization 
 in these localities. Christian physicians con- 
 nected with these medical services became 
 officers and leading members of the churches 
 later organized. About this time a government 
 regulation provided that no licenses should be 
 granted to physicians to practice after the 
 Chinese system of medicine, but that all new 
 applicants for medical practice would be 
 required to pass an examination in western 
 medical science. This popularized at once our 
 system of medicine, and sent to the hospitals 
 and dispensaries throngs of men, young and 
 old, eager to learn, and who, at every dispensary 
 service, wonld bring their difficult cases for 
 consultation and treatment. 
 
 Five years later the writer became similarly 
 connected with the Okayama Prefectural Hos- 
 pital, and there established, as at Kobe, and 
 with like results, dispensary stations in the 
 surrounding towns, and five years later stOl, 
 established the Doshisha Hospital and Train- 
 ing School for Nurses at Kyoto. The first five 
 thousand dollars for the founding of this latter 
 work was contributed by ladies, and annual 
 appropriations were regularly made by the 
 Woman’s Board of Missions, Boston. Miss 
 Linda Richards, now of the Training School of 
 the Worcester Insane Hospital, was the first 
 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 superintendent, and Dr. Saia Buckley medical 
 associate. This was the first nurse’s school 
 proposed for Japan, and the first established 
 under missionary auspices. It is one of the 
 highest and most productive forms of mission- 
 ary service, and should have a place in every 
 mission where there is medical work. 
 
 Of this medical work and its influence during 
 the “ seventies ” and early “ eighties ” Rev. Dr. 
 John H. De Forest writes; “ It is like a dream 
 in these days of absolute freedom of travel and 
 work to look back only thirty years and see how 
 medcal men were in the vanguard of the mission- 
 aries, going before them, allaying the appre- 
 hensions, and changing the prejudices of the 
 people, and thus preparing the way for the wide 
 proclamation of the Gospel. They were the 
 ones who made it possible to hire houses and 
 open preaching places, where otherwise it would 
 not have been done for long years.” The 
 founding of the hospital and training school at 
 Kyoto was a powerful factor in removing local 
 prejudice against our Christian college there. 
 
 Dr. Henry Banning was the next medical 
 missionary to reach Japan, coming under the 
 auspices of the American Episcopal church, 
 July 4, 1873. After three months he secured 
 rooms in a Japanese house near the Foreign 
 Concession, Osaka, for a dispensary, where his 
 work was carried on until the spring of 1880, 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 when the St. Barnabas Hospital was built and 
 occupied. He is still connected with this 
 hospital, which, under his skill and manage- 
 ment, has become self-supporting. The statis- 
 tics for the year ending June 30, 1904, are as 
 follows : Visits by out-patients, 9,390, of which 
 2,815 were charity cases. New cases, 3,420; 
 visits made to patients at their homes, 480 ; 
 treated in the wards, 81 ; number of days of 
 treatment of in-patients, 2,100. The salutary 
 influence of this noble work has gone to the 
 remotest regions of Central Japan. 
 
 Dr. R. B. Teusler, a later appointment under 
 the same Board, is in charge of St. Luke’s 
 Hospital, in Tokyo. This is one of the largest 
 of the present mission hospitals in Japan. 
 Located at the capital, it has a large field of 
 operations, and does a most acceptable work 
 for both Japanese and foreigners. The Episco- 
 pal church gives increasing attention to medical 
 work, having seven dispensaries and hospitals 
 out of a total of fourteen now in the country. 
 
 Dr. Wallace Taylor, of Oberlin, was the 
 second physician to reach the field under the 
 American Board. He came both as an or- 
 dained clergyman and graduate in medicine, 
 and was ready, therefore, to take up either 
 branch of service. On reaching Kobe, he 
 accompanied the writer on a medical tour to 
 Akashi, Kakugawa, and Himeji. On the third 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 day of this service, being recalled to Osaka on 
 account of illness in the Mission, he remained 
 to carry on the service, Mrs. Berry acting as 
 interpreter. So impressed was he with the 
 opportunities for medical work at that stage of 
 missionary effort, that he decided to devote his 
 time wholly to this line of service. He is still 
 on the field (Osaka) where for thirty years he 
 has, with signal ability as a surgeon, conducted 
 a work of magnitude. He also visits Hiogo 
 once a week, and, in company with Japanese 
 physicians, carries on the work at the Hiogo 
 dispensary. 
 
 Dr. Arthur H. Adams, of Sandusky, Ohio, 
 reached Japan, under the American Board, 
 November, 1874. A graduate of Wesleyan 
 University, of Yale College (1867) of Yale 
 Seminary (1872) and of Yale Medical School 
 (1874), he brought to his work rare gifts and 
 accomplishments. Tactful in his co-operation 
 with the Japanese, magnanimous and self-sacri- 
 ficing, he soon won a place in the hearts of his 
 friends, who cherish for him still the highest 
 regard and fondest recollection. In connection 
 with Japanese physicians in Osaka, he estab- 
 lished there a well-organized medical work, 
 which is now carried on by Dr. Taylor. He 
 died of typhoid fever Nov. 23, 1879. He was 
 greatly beloved. 
 
 Shortly after this the United Presbyterian 
 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 Church of Scotland sent to the field Dr. H. 
 Faulds, to be located at Tokyo. He was the first 
 physician sent out from Great Britain. He 
 was a man of exceptional ability, an easy 
 writer, a good speaker, and of scientific attain- 
 ments. He established a promising work, but 
 soon retired from the field. 
 
 The Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society 
 now sent out Dr. Palm. He was an ideal mis- 
 sionary. Of exceptional ability both as a 
 physician and as a surgeon, he established, and 
 for about ten years conducted, a large work at 
 Niigata. He was a forceful speaker, and his 
 large capacity for work enabled him to do 
 much to carry forward both the religious and 
 medical work of his station. He needed help, 
 however, and in its absence he was forced to 
 retire from the field, when the station passed 
 under the care of the American Board. An 
 active and consecrated body of Christians, and 
 a wide-spread influence for good was the result 
 of Dr. Palm’s successful work in the populous 
 and wealthy province of Niigata. 
 
 Dr. McDonald, of Canada, next came, under 
 the auspices of the Canadian Methodist Board 
 of Missions. For several years he resided at 
 Shidzuoka, and later in Tokyo. He has an 
 impressive personality, is a physician of unusual 
 ability, renders a most acceptable service to 
 missionaries and others, and has the full confi- 
 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 dence of all who know him. He is highly 
 respected by the Japanese. 
 
 I cannot close this personal reference to the 
 medical missionary force of Japan without 
 mentioning another who in unconnected with 
 any mission board — Dr. W. Norton Whitney. 
 Inheriting from his sainted mother a strong 
 love for the Japanese people, he sought and 
 obtained from Washington an appointment as 
 interpreter to the United States Legation at 
 Tokyo. He early established a Chrisrian hos- 
 pital and dispensary for the Japanese, and 
 invited to his aid native Christian associates. 
 It was soon found that the hospital work would 
 not permit a divided strength, and so, in a 
 spirit of heroic self-sacrifice, he resigned his 
 official position at the Legation, and gave him- 
 self entirely to this medical service. From his 
 work in Tokyo an influence has radiated to the 
 most distant portions of the realm. For seven- 
 teen years this work has been carried on, dur- 
 ing which time about twenty thousand people 
 have received medical help, and learned as well 
 of the preciousness of the Gospel of Christ. 
 Dr. Whitney is widely recognized as an oculist 
 of ability, and he is a most devout Bible stu- 
 dent. In this noble work of consecration Dr. 
 Whitney is ably supported by his wife, an Eng- 
 lish lady of refinement and great intelligence. 
 His work is chiefly supported by friends in 
 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 England and America, and by gifts in Japan. 
 
 Reference to the work for lepers in Tokyo at 
 Miss Youngman’s asylum, and to that at 
 Koyama under the care of the Roman Catholic 
 Church must not be omitted from the list. 
 Leprosy is a great scourge among the Japanese, 
 and one of the most pathetic sights to be seen 
 in that fair land is the mendicant leper wander- 
 ing fiom shrine to shrine and from temple to 
 temple in the vain hope of receiving miraculous 
 relief. The mistaken idea that the disease is 
 transmitted by heredity still prevails, and social 
 ostracism is therefore sternly applied to every 
 member of a family containing a leper. Con- 
 cealment of their misfortune is the first instinct 
 in the minds of these unfortunates, and by con- 
 finement within the family circle its members 
 are constantly exposed to the dangers of this 
 communicable disease. No remedy for its 
 successful treatment has yet been discovered, 
 and the removal of these unfortunates from 
 families and communities to asylums is a great 
 blessing. No form of Christian charity is more 
 appreciated than this. 
 
 Among missionary workers in the Farther 
 East — Japan, Korea and China — there is a 
 firm conviction that they are about to witness the 
 greatest victories of the Cross yet realized by 
 the church. In Japan is already seen a nation 
 bom in a day. Within the active life of a 
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MEDICAL WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 single missionary worker has been seen the 
 evolution of the soldier from one bearing spear 
 and bow to the irresistible hero of Liaoyang; 
 from gross darkness and prejudice of her people 
 to intelligent, open-minded receptivity; from 
 revolting idolatry, to exalted spiritual concep- 
 tions of God. In her departments of govern- 
 ment law, education, diplomacy, and in a con- 
 siderable proportion of her family life, she is 
 essentially Christian. In her great struggle 
 now with Russia her victory means an exten- 
 sion of the Christian ideals of religious and 
 political liberty among aU the peoples of the 
 East. The present is a crisis among the 
 nations there. It is a time for the preparation 
 of which the provid.ences of God have long been 
 active, one for which these nations have long 
 waited. In their weakness and need, they are 
 looking to the Christian nations of the West 
 for instruction, protection and spiritual leader- 
 ship. In this hour of unparalleled opportunity. 
 Medical Missions — the highest form of applied 
 Christian charity — will, in co-operation with 
 the church, perform for Korea and China the 
 work so successfully accomplished for Japan.