J THE DAY MISSIONS LIB^A^Y PILGRIMAGE TO THE WONDER-WORKING VIRGIN OF ANDACOLLO, CHILE. PHOTOGRAPH BY REV. EDSON a. LOWE. OPPORTUNITIES In the Path of the Great Physician By VALERIA FULLERTON PENROSE And they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those wliich were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those thai had the palsy ; and he healed them. Matthew 4 : 24. 7Uf PHILADELPHIA THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 1902 Copyright, 1902, by the Trustees of he Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbat School Work. Dedicated to the inspiring memory of E. L. L. with the ardent hope that it may raise a memorial medical work to her in the scenes of her deepest interest. P r e f a c e "For a long while, eggshells were carefully saved as ointment boxes and empty milk cans for liquid medicine; the latter selling at a few cash each." This sentence, revealing such painful economy, in the latest mission report of a certain station, has touched hearts to make tangible response wherever heard. "If they only knew ! " — the opportunities in the path of the great Physician would have greater response from his name-bearers here. Ten years of study and telling the needs have proved this. May this little book increase interested prayer. May it be the means of starting medical auxiliaries where the many willing- hearted will interest many others in making hospital supplies. This has been the custom in England for some years, old and young having circles for making bandages and other articles for the foreign medical needs. Physicians in the Church of England have had the oversight of the medical mission work for several years. As they could appreciate the necessi ties, they have especially appealed for funds, and interested many more at home, securing better hos pitals and dispensaries with better sanitary arrange ments and supplies. The growth of their work in the last three years has been remarkable. vi Preface The work is for our King. Should it be so in adequate ? In preparing this book invaluable help has been given by the following missionaries who revised the chapters of their respective countries. Thanks are most gratefully made to : — Dr. O. R. Avison of Korea, Dr. E. C. Machle and the Rev. Courtenay H. Fenn of China, Dr. W. A. Briggs of Laos, Rev. J. B. Ely of India, Dr. J. P. Cochran of Persia, Rev. Wm. Jessup of Syria, Rev. R. H. Nassau, M. D., D. D., of Africa. The Boards of Home and Foreign Missions have supplied the necessary information, maps, and pictures. The Foreign Missions Library supplied reports of other societies at home and abroad. The Rev. James S. Dennis, D. D., sent me much statistical matter, his incomparable Centennial Survey of Foreign Mis sions being the final reference. The Rev. J. F. Dripps, D. D., very kindly acted as critic of the whole. With the many changes that occur perpetually, there must be mistakes and disappointments in the book. If only the reading of this slight outline of vast oppor tunity and scant response will but lead the reader to this conclusion : " Let us not sit down and wait for miracle. Up and be doing and the Lord be with thee. Prayer and pains through faith in Jesus Christ will do anything." Contents In the Children's Hospital — Tennyson . . CHAPTER I COMPARISONS The First Medical Missionary — The Witness to John the Baptist — The Commission of the Twelve Disciples The Commission of the Seventy — Medical Missions in the Nineteenth Century — The Class of Men Who are Medical Missionaries (Dr. J. G. Kerr) — Results of Critical Operations — Our Efforts Inadequate — An Eskimo's Opin ion of the Value of Medical Missions — Change in Face — Opinions of the Work, the Doctor, the Dispensary, the Hospital, Itinerating, and Results — The Training of the Medical Missionary — The Largest Medical Work of All — Comparison of Hospitals Here and in Mission Lands — Our Annual Waste — The War with Spain — A Medical Missionary's Opinion . CHAPTER II KOREA Horrors in Korea — Sources of Disease — Cholera — The Mu-tang — Smallpox — Devil-posts — Angwangi — Con tagion Unthought of — Favorite Remedies — Confidence in Our Medical Missionaries — Opening of Korea — Dr. N. H. Allen— First Hospital— Character of the Work- Beginnings of a Medical Missionary's Work — The Royal Korean Hospital — Other Medical Centres — Itinerating — Language. Study — Food and Climate — Poverty of Natives — A Dark Figure — A Korean Interpreter of the Bible — The Value of Native Workers — General Medi cal Mission Statistics . . vii Contents CHAPTER III CHINA Area and Medical Provision— The Need— The Materia Medica—" The Rhythm of the Pulse "—Qualifications of Chinese Doctor — Diseases in China — Charms, Supersti tions—The Awful Sights— Vaccination Introduced— First Medical Work — First Medical Mission Work— Dr. Peter Parker— The Canton Hospital— Dr. Kerr — The Only Refuge for the Insane in China — Work at Canton— Our Support Illustrated by Sam Kong Dispen sary — Lien Chow Hospital — At Hainan — Work in Cen tral China— Dr. D. B. McCartee— The Tooker Memorial Hospital — North China Work — At Peking — Paotingfu— Reconstruction— Tungchow, Chinanfu, Mr. Ma — The Training of Students — Chinese Hindrances — Chinese Good Qualities — " Wrath-matter, Ch'i " — Early Days in China — The Tien Tsu Hui — Reason for not Becoming a. Christian — Mrs. Ding Ai-nyok on " Results of Un binding my Feet " — Opium — Three Native Prescrip tions — General Medical Mission Statistics . ... 39 CHAPTER IV SIAM AND LAOS The Siamese Twins — Beginnings — Dr. Bradley — Dr. House — The Pestilence of 1849; Superstitions — First Zenana Teaching in the East 185 1 — Touring — Journey to Laos — Theory and Practice of Medicine — The Father of Medicine — Fees — Work in Bangkok, Petchaburee, Ratburee — Rev. Eugene P. Dunlap's Tours — The New " Kalamazoo " — Hon. Hamilton King's Visit to Laos — The First Laos Hospital — Laotian Doctors — Supersti tions — Letter from Dr. Denman — Cheung Mai Hospital — Ai Keo — Dr. Peoples — Dr. Briggs — Pre — Cheung Rai— Effects of Itinerating on Spirits — Nan — Medical Statistics of Siam, and Malay Peninsula . . . . 83 Contents CHAPTER V INDIA Beginning of English Rule — First Medical Missions — First Woman Medical Missionary — First Medical Class for Women — Statistics — The Death-rate in India — Reasons Therefor — Cholera — Traditions in Southern India — Vil lage Practitioners — Health of Foreigners — Women Suf ferers — Infanticide — A Daughter-in-law — Boys and Girls — Seclusion of Women — Native Practice — Government Aid — Need of Patience in Dispensary Work — Liquid Medicines — The Largest Medical Mission in the World — The Sara Seward Memorial, Allahabad — Dr. Wanless and Miraj — Famine Relief Work — Ambala — Lahore — Leper Work — Sabathu — Ferozepore — Opium — Plague, Pestilence, Famine — Retrenchment as Viewed by Dr. Chamberlain — Medical Mission Statistics of India . 117 CHAPTER VI PERSIA The First Medical Missionary — Needs of Persia — Practice — Sufferings of Women and Children — Sixty Years of Medical Work— Sheik Obeidullah— Dr. J. P. Cochran— Mr. Robert E. Speer's Testimony — Westminster Hos pital — The Howard Annex — A Day's Work — Tabriz — Teheran — Itinerating — Payment — Medical Students — After Teheran — Medical Mission Statistics 145 CHAPTER VII SYRIA, TURKEY, ARABIA Christmas at Beirut— Dr. Post— Dr. C. V. A. Van Dyck— A Mohammedan Mufti — Ideas Concerning Women; and the Women — Necessity of Women Physicians — Native Cures — No Fear of Contagion — Fatalism — Hospital for the Insane — Medical Helps of Syria — Illness among Missionaries — Tripoli — No Physicians and the Result — ix Contents Tours — The Bishop of Tripoli — Dr. Mary Pierson Eddy — Contrasts in America and Syria — Emoluments — A Bedouin Woman's Love— Rev. Cyrus Hamlin's Cures for Cholera and Malaria — Statistics of Syria, Turkey, Arabia. . ... . 165 CHAPTER VIII AFRICA Dr. Wanless's Opinion of the Needs — Dr. Moffatt's Opinion — Livingstone — Treatment of the Sick — Belief in Evil Spirits — Witchcraft — Treatment of Dying African Woman — A Plea for a Woman Physician — Dr. Nassau's Description of African Medicine and Needs — The One Person Free from Suspicion of Witchcraft — The Dark ness of Africa — Guarded from Harm — The Comfort of American Letters — Dr. Nassau — " Rules for the Preser vation of Health in the Tropics " — The Success of the Work — Statistics of Africa and Madagascar . . 204 CHAPTER IX WHERE LITTLE IS DONE Mexico, Central America, South America — Mission to the Deep-Sea Fishermen — Alaska — Dr. Lerrigo's Re port — Porto Rico — Japan — Dr. Hepburn — The Philip pines — Medical Statistics of Mexico, Central America, South America, Canada and Labrador, Alaska, Islands . 228 Dr. Dennis's Summary of Statistics of Hospitals, Dispen saries, and Patients treated annually, from " Centennial Survey of Foreign Missions " .... . . 262 Field of Operation of Mission to Lepers in India and the East. ... ... .... . 263 Maps 265 IN THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL Our doctor had called in another, I never had seen him before, But he sent a chill to my heart when I saw him come in at the door, Fresh from the surgery-schools of France and of other lands — Harsh red hair, big voice, big chest, big merciless hands ! Wonderful cures he had done, O yes, but they said too of him He was happier using the knife than in trying to save the limb, And that I can well believe, for he look'd so coarse and so red, I could think he was one of those who would break their jests on the dead, And mangle the living dog that had loved him and fawned at his knee — Drenched with the hellish oorali — that even such things should be ! There was a boy — I am sure that some of our children would die But for the voice of Love, and the smile, and the comforting eye — Here was a boy in the ward, every bone seemed out of its place — Caught in a mill and crushed — it was all but a hope less case : I In the Children's Hospital And he handled him gently enough ; but his voice and his face were not kind, And it was but a hopeless case, he had seen it and made up his mind, And he said to me roughly, " The lad will need little more of your care." "All the more need," I told him, "to seek the Lord Jesus in prayer ; They are all his children here, and I pray for them all as my own : " But he turned to me, "Ay, good woman, can prayer set a broken bone ? " Then he muttered half to himself, but I know that I heard him say "All very well — but the good Lord Jesus has had his day." Had ? has it come ? It has only dawn'd. It will come by and by. O how could I serve in the wards if the hope of the world were a lie ? How could I bear the sights and the loathsome smells of disease, But that he said, " Ye do it to me, when ye do it to these " ? — Tennyson. CHAPTER I COMPARISONS Dr. Livingstone said : " God had only one Son and he gave him to be a medical missionary." How did this only Son bear witness to his power ? "Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see : the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached unto them." When our Lord "had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease." When he appointed the seventy he said, "Into whatsoever city ye enter . . . heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh you." We have waited until the end of the nineteenth cen tury to obey this injunction in any adequate measure. Even to-day, all the Christian people of Europe and 3. Opportunities America have only sent out for one billion suffering people in other lands seven hundred and two doctors. We keep for ourselves in America 104,803, one to every five hundred and ninety-seven people. Why not spare some of these for other lands, to " heal the sick and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh you ' ' ? Some say that it is only poor doctors who go out as medical missionaries. In Canton a quiet man was at work for Christ in the largest missionary hospital of the Presbyterian Church. It was John G. Kerr, M. D., LL.D. He continually performed operations for stone (a prevalent disease in that region) for each of which he would here receive at least five hundred dollars. Two operations here would more than pay his year's salary there. He did it for Christ. He stood second only to Sir William Thompson in the number of times he had operated for calculus — one thousand three hundred times. Wonderful are the results of critical operations per formed by our medical missionaries. Dr. Chamberlain of the Arcot Mission (Dutch Reformed Church), India, when told by two New York physicians that it was impossible to have such a large percentage of recovery in certain of his critical operations in India, replied that the Lord's power is not hindered on the mission field by unbelief as it is here. A Christian Eskimo in Alaska, in reply to the ques tion why his people received the gospel message so readily, said: "When these teachers first came they did not command our attention by what they preached. 4 Comparisons But when they gave us medicine, and said this and that ailment would be cured, we looked to see if what they said was true. And because their medicines proved to do just what they said they would do, we learned to believe that what they preached was equally true. We learn now that the Saviour, Jesus, when on earth, not only preached but also healed. So I give my counsel that, wherever missionaries set out to work among the heathen, they should take the word of God in one hand and medicine in the other." But so puny, so inadequate have been the efforts of Christendom "playing at missions," and at medical missions especially, that they remind one of the report quoted by Drummond as made to the Italian govern ment, which said, "A large ship was seen coming close to shore last night ; we endeavored to give every assistance through the speaking-trumpet; neverthe less, four hundred and one bodies were washed ashore this morning." Do we not also make "speaking- trumpet ' ' efforts in this work ? Mr. Douglass in his "Hints on Missions," pub lished in 1822, wrote: "The character of a physi cian is always and everywhere highly honored in the East, and would give an easy and unsuspected ad mission to familiar intercourse to all classes and creeds. He who is a physician is pardoned for being a Christian ; religious and national prejudices disap pear before him, all hearts and harems are opened, and he is welcomed as if he were carrying to the dy ing the elixir of immortality." The medical missionary can do in one year what it 5 Opportunities takes five or ten for another missionary to accomplish. Dr. Asahel Grant of Persia had twenty times more intercourse with the Mohammedans than the mission ary who was sent out expressly to labor among them. " The hospital is the secret of success in the foreign field. The influence of a dispensary is fleeting ; but in the hospital the patient can attend the prayer meetings and have time for thought and conversation. Even itinerating work is of less value." So wrote Dr. Sims. " One interesting fact, not, of course, confined to hospital patients, may be taken as absolutely true, — the change in face undergone by those who are learn ing about Christ. I have seen this over and over again, and on asking others they have told me the same thing. Their faces seem positively plastic under the molding of the Holy Spirit. The dull, unintel ligent look that so many of the quite ignorant wear on first coming into the wards changes in as short a period as two or three weeks into far more intelligent and brighter 'facies,' to use a medical term. We doctors speak of the 'facies Hippocratica,' and the ' facies ' of this or that disease, but, thank God ! this is a ' facies ' of life, everlasting life, and not of death or.disease." Dr. A. R. Cook, of Uganda, thus writes to the Church Missionary Intelligencer. It is difficult for us in this country to realize the lessons in order, cleanliness and comfort, which are learned during residence in a mission hospital. "These cannot be forgotten, and as associated with Christian teaching and the sympathy, tenderness, and 6 Comparisons helpful skill of the Christian doctor, they all tend to exalt the great Healer, the Lord Jesus Christ." Says Medical Missions at Home and Abroad, in com menting on a plea for a hospital at every medical mission : " I am impressed, very forcibly, with the necessity of such a provision ; not only for the sake of the treatment which is so often impossible outside, but for the sake of giving the women the actual ex perience of what a Christian home is ; so that if they forget what they hear, they may remember what they see." Dr. Arthur Neve of Srinagar says: "Hos pitals are the most important factors in our work, and especially in the spiritual part of our work. A medi cal mission abroad without a hospital is a Samson shorn of his strength." " Itinerating work on the part of a medical mission ary can never have its highest value, until a center has been found and a hospital planted. All the real Christian work of a doctor is done in his hospital," writes another medical missionary. " There is not a word to be said against dispensary work or itineration. Both are good. But in missionary strategy we want the best, and it is the universal experience of medical missionaries that for the spread of the gospel a medical mission without a hospital is comparatively a poor and weak instrument." A writer says : "It is a false economy which sends a fully trained and qualified European medical mis sionary to the field and does not see to it that he is provided with a hospital. Some of our missionary societies have failed as yet to grasp the truth of this. 7 Opportunities If the object in any given district is to evangelize as thoroughly as possible, it is not enough either that the medical missionary should itinerate, or that he should have a dispensary. He is sent out to heal the sick in order that such healing should illustrate both the power and reach of the gospel, and that it should perpetually show forth its spirit. Neither itineration nor the dispensary give room for this. They do not permit any adequate illustration either of the power or of the reach of the gospel. The medical missionary, in such circumstances, is limited to the mere surface of things. He never gets to that which constitutes his proper work, and the effect is proportionate. If the medical missionary is to attract men and women from all parts of his district it will be because he is able to deal with a vast mass of diseases. Without a hospital he cannot do this. A hospital, with the bless ing of God, is fitted to be an incalculable blessing. It seems absurd to urge men to perfect themselves for Christ's sake in their profession, if they are not to find room to exercise it. The miserable idea that the medical missionary is simply to gather people together that there may be an opportunity to preach to them, lies at the root of the parsimony that sees no special value in a mission hospital." The gratitude of the patients it is impossible ade quately to express. From Over Sea and Land we take two testimonials, both from China : — " I am deeply indebted for my perfect recovery, but being very poor I have no means of offering a recom pense. I have merely prepared some bundles of Comparisons variegated fire-crackers, to manifest my respect, and I will play on instruments of music in front of your house, to return thanks for your vast benevolence. " In this life, in the present world, I have no power to recompense you, but in the coming life I will serve you as a horse or as a dog. "The recollection of your kindness will' be en graved on our livers and galls for 10,000 generations. Ho Shuh knocks his head and returns thanks. " May your happiness, Medical Officer and Teacher, be as the Eastern Sea, the waves overtopping each other in a thousand steps ; may your longevity com pare with the Southern Mountains, and be perpetual as the Sun and Moon ; may your sons and heirs be as numerous as the fruitful locusts. Kwo Tingchang with leaping and joy presents these expressions of gratitude and bows head and worships." "This morning a patient sent me in a feast as a thank offering for curing him of a serious disease. Perhaps you will be interested in knowing the dishes. First, a dish of rice boiled in honey ; second, a leg of fat pork boiled until quite soft ; third, pork balls made up of chopped meat mixed with bean curd ; fourth, a cow's stomach chopped in little pieces and boiled with garlic ; fifth, chopped-up chicken stewed in sesame oil ; sixth, sea slugs mixed with oil and bamboo shoots ; seventh, little cakes painted in red dots on top and made of steamed flour ; eighth, "pork in chunks boiled in vinegar; ninth, eggs planted for three years in a pickling preparation and smelling like ammonia and coal gas ; tenth, slices of Chinese ham 9 Opportunities with a species of doughnut. I was called early to eat the feast, and my little boy, Charlie, went into the hospital with me. All my children think a real Chi nese feast 'just lovely,' and enjoy eating one. I al ways eat some of every dish whether I like it or not." Dr. Malcolm of Honan, China, urges all preparing for medical missionary work to take the very best course, adding, " There is no place where a doctor feels his incompetency so keenly as in the foreign mis sion field, where there are no nurses and no available doctors whom he can call in to assist him or of whom he may ask advice. The surgeon must himself watch the pulse, the anaesthetic, the careless native assist ants, while alone he performs the operation. Let no doctor go to the foreign field without a good hospital course, if it is at all possible to have it. . . . Do not take what is called ' a course in medicine.' That phrase is a snare and a delusion. Terrible indeed are some of the experiences of the ' partial course ' mis sionaries." The Rev. John Lowe, I. F. R. S. C. E., writes : " The medical missionary must be able to teach others the principles and practice of his profession. He must be prepared for all emergencies, not in one, but in all departments of his professional work. Probably he will not be long in the field before he will be called upon to treat cases which will tax his skill and self-reliance to the utmost, and that without the help of any consultant. These, let it be remembered, are the very cases, which, from a missionary point of TO EVERY 2 000 000 PEOPLE IN NON-CHRISTIAN LANDS, ONE MEDICAL MISSIONARY. THE UNITED STATES, 4000 PHYSICIANS. "OVER SEA AND LAND." TO THE SAME NUMBER IN Comparisons view, make their influence felt, either for or against the one great object ; namely, the opening of the door for the proclamation of the gospel message. The medical missionary must be a devout believer, holding with a firm grasp the saving truths of the gospel, and having experienced their power in his own heart ; he must be a thoughtful student of the Bible, and pos sessed of evangelistic gifts." The Church of England has recently been said to have the largest medical missions. Their increase in three years has certainly been magnificent ; the sta tistics of 1 90 1 report thirty hospitals, twenty-two dis pensaries, with sixty medical missionaries, and twenty- nine nurses. But there is in America a denomination with a still larger record than the English Society. This is the Presbyterian. Forty hospitals, fifty-four dispensaries, and ninety-one medical missionaries are on her roll. During the summer of 1902, nine more sail. Dr. Dennis says, in " Christian Missions and Social Progress," that this is the largest work. A Presbyterian hospital in one of our large cities cost $119,889.96 for running expenses in a recent year. When the New York Presbyterian Hospital burned down some years ago, $850,000 was soon given for its rebuilding. In 1901 the Board of For eign Missions could appropriate only $19,564.03 for all the medical work of the Presbyterian Church, the richest Church in America. This was for thirty-nine hospitals and fifty-four dispensaries, with medical itinerating supplies. Of course some of the patients can pay, and the appliances are not such as are de- 11 Opportunities manded in America. No large staff of trained nurses is to be expected. In 1888 the largest hospital at Canton cost for its entire support only as much as would endow two beds in St. Luke's Hospital, New York, — $10,000. The Chinese Medical Mission Society pays all of this ex cept the head physician's salary. In 1901 this hos pital and its dependencies had 44,698 attendants. In a Press editorial of 1897 we are told : " The daily cost of a patient 'in the Boston City Hospital with 500 beds is $1.43. In the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, with 320 beds, $2.33 ; in the University of Pennsylvania Hospital $1.83 ; in St. Luke's, Chicago, $1.72; in Pennsylvania Hospital $1.20; in the Presbyterian Hospital, Philadelphia, 330 beds, $1.53." In Urumia the beds cost the Board $25 a year, less than seven cents a day. Dr. George Baker, of St. Luke's Hospital, New York, says it is because of the great changes in antiseptic measures in surgery that the cost of hospitals is ever increasing. " In the meantime," Dr. Baker appreciatively says, "the in creased cost has been provided for by a generous public, ungrudgingly, in view of the important service given to the patients." The cost of the New York city hospitals for 1901 was $'1,742,030.47. London in 1894 had one hospital bed for every sixty persons ; New York had a bed for every 166, and Philadelphia with forty-six public and many private hospitals, one for every 260. These are great medical-school centers. In London the beds run ahead of need and support, so that there were from Comparisons 3,000 to 4,000 empty and unsupported beds. In our own land support is more liberal and regular. The path to professional proficiency and to reputation lies through hospital wards ; and so long as this is the case the path will be trodden for nothing, or for a mere pittance. What a contrast to the needs and supplies of Christless lands ! What a reflection on our absorp tion, our self-centering in our own land ! One doctor to every six hundred ; one doctor there for every two millions. Millions of money spent for our sick here ; a few thousands for our medical mission hos pitals there. Gold and to spare here, wasted on tobacco, liquor, jewelry, amusements, while there multitudes are dying, their cries of agony unheeded by most of their brothers here. Our capital here is $581,750,000,000, greater than that of any other nation. In 1898 the Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia with 400 beds received $263,434.56. The Episcopal Foreign Missionary Society reported for its entire for eign work $275,596. This society has a hospital at Osaka in Japan, and one at Tokyo. In China it has at Shanghai, St. Luke's Hospital, and medical work in the medical department of St. John's College, a woman's hospital and dispensaries ; two hospitals at Wuchang and medical work begun at Ngankin. Counting homes for the aged and infirm, this society has nearly one hundred hospitals in this country. Then, too, we have here all kinds of asylums — for the blind, the deaf, the insane, the epileptic, the l3 Opportunities feeble minded. None of these classes of patients have any provision whatever made for them in lands other than Christian. Our mission boards have such small receipts compared with the needs that they can do nothing for them. A few missionaries have pri vately done what they could. Dr. Wanless in The Medical Mission says : " The supply of competent physicians at home is four thou sand times as great as that abroad. Greater New York has more competent physicians and helpers than the combined medical forces among 800,000,000 of heathen and Mohammedans. America has two and a half times as many physicians for the population as Great Britain, where it is improbable that any one suffers for want of available medical aid. Yet on the basis of England's supply, India could fill the hands of 190,000 physicians; China and her dependencies could employ 260,000 more. America and Britain combined demand an army of 450,000 educated physicians to provide medical aid for their teeming multitudes, but Chicago can boast of more physi cians and medical workers than India and China to gether possess. And what of Africa, where 100,000 physicians could scarcely cope with indigenous dis eases, not to speak of the untold suffering resulting from slavery, debauchery and rapine? Then, too, there are Siam, and other Indo-Chinese countries, Persia, Arabia, Turkey, which together at the lowest estimate, would furnish work for 100,000 more. About five thousand physicians are annually graduated from American medical schools. Surely America is in a 14 Comparisons position as no other country is to supply the needs of the suffering millions. "The United States Volunteers in the early days of our war with Spain," says Mr. D. B. Eddy, "not only offered themselves for a dangerous service, but, fearing lest some must be refused, they straightway be gan to use every possible means to get into the field. Personal effort, recommendations, political influence, all were employed in their eager determination to be at the front. What a contrast it presents to the atti tude many of us take toward ' the field ' and ' the front.'" Recall the hundreds of doctors and nurses at the front during that war; — the long hot days at home spent in helping make supplies for the field hospitals ; how the money was given, how the supplies poured in. Think of the various ships, The Solace and all others, — private yachts, put to Government medical use ! Dr. R. A. Hardie of the Southern Methodist Mis sion at Songdo, Korea, says in the Review of Mis sions : " There are over 100,000 practicing physicians in the United States and Canada alone. One physician to every six or seven hundred of the population, and yet we send but one to every 2,000,000 of the perish ing in heathendom ! We can well spare one-fourth of our doctors and the remaining 75,000 would be glad to see them go. Some it is true are offering themselves; but the necessary funds are not forth coming, so the doctors are not alone to blame. Prot estant Christians in the United States and Canada »5 Opportunities spend every year hundreds of millions of dollars on wholly unnecessary, yes, often harmful, luxuries. They spend as much more on mere comforts and con veniences ; while over and above necessaries, benevo lences, conveniences, and luxuries, they save annually $500,000,000 — a sum sufficient to send to the mis sion field 25,000 physicians and their families, furnish them with homes and thoroughly equipped dispensaries and surgeries, and support them for at least ten years. We claim the name of Christian, but by what right ? 'Whoso hath this world's goods and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ? ' " Said a medical missionary recently : "I'll tell you a good Bible verse for the people; it is Judges 5 : 23. 'Curse ye Meroz,' said the angel of the Lord, 'curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof ; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.'" Shall we merit that curse? Need we ? Are we asking God what we must do to escape it ? We should remember too this solemn word : "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain ; if thou sayest, Behold we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it ? And shall he not render to every man according to his works ? " 16 CHAPTER II KOREA Korea is twice the size of Pennsylvania, with a population of thirteen millions. It has eight hospitals and fifteen dispensaries. Many are the horrors in Korea. Rev. James S. Gale in his " Korean Sketches " tells us that the very atmosphere is tainted, for the Korean " ties his dead in a mat and leaves him to bake and fester in the sun." " One becomes an expert in distinguishing the noxious odors of smallpox and cholera victims from the ordinary smells of the far East. Seeing a hundred or more objects covered with matting at Fusan I asked, ' What are they ? ' ' Those are the dead.' ' The dead ? Why don't you bury them ? ' ' Cannot ; you must first find a pro pitious site, otherwise burial will bring ruin to the family.'" Criminals are decapitated and left in the roadway, on the supposition that this will serve as a preventive of evil. Mr. Gale describes his first sight of such horrors, adding, "I returned home in disgust, feeling that I would like to get out of this country with its horrible dead ; but time works wonders. I began to see another side — that the people loved these things as little as I — that it was a part of their Confucian re- l7 Opportunities ligion and that they needed the real Light of Life so much the more." The wells are a prolific source of disease. Foreigners must have them dug in their own grounds if they wish pure water. The public wells are by the roadside, seldom more than six or eight feet deep, and within six feet, sometimes but three, of the open drain carry ing off the filth of the city. The sewerage is very imperfect, as in all oriental lands, and ill-drained rice- paddies are found everywhere. Hence malaria is one of the most common troubles. Quinine having been introduced, is proving most beneficial and is much sought after. Cholera brings great suffering every few years. The wells aid it, and the summer diet of the people — for green cucumbers, rind and all, frequently furnish a goodly portion of the meal. Cholera is supposed to be produced by rats climb ing about in the human interior. To get relief, a mutang or exorcist is called in, provided with a pair of telescope-shaped baskets. " The scratching sound made by a peculiar use of these baskets, which re sembles the noise made by cats, is expected to scare and drive away these rodents," writes Isabella Bird Bishop in her chapters on Demonism, in " Korea and her Neighbors." Dr. Avison adds: "I have not seen this plan adopted though probably it is. A common plan is to paste a picture of a cat over the doorway to prevent the rats gaining an entrance. At other times pictures of horrible demons replace that of the cat. And again a cord stretched from house to house across a 18 Korea street as yet free from cholera has prayers written on paper tied to it or in some cases threats in the hope that the evil spirit will keep away." Mrs. Bishop tells us that the evil spirits have been classified in thirty-six classes. There are thousands of billions of them, among which are spirits of small pox, spirits which cause women to die in childbirth, spirits which cause men to die by pestilence, spirits which cause men to die by cholera. Ma-ma, the smallpox demon, is said to have come from South China, and has only infested Korea for a thousand years. The parents do obeisance to their child sick with this disease. The mutang is called in to honor the arrival of the spirits " with a feast and fitting ceremonial. Little or no work is done, and if there are neighbors whose children have not had the malady, they rest likewise, lest, displeased with their want of respect he should deal hardly with them. On the twelfth day the danger is supposed to be over, the mutang is again summoned and a farewell feast given. A miniature wooden horse is prepared, and is loaded for the spirit's journey with small bags of food and money ; fervent and respectful adieus are spoken, and he receives hearty good wishes for his prosperous re turn to his own place." Fifty per cent, of the deaths are due to smallpox. Devil-posts, with grinning teeth, are planted along the road to keep evil spirits from passing. When cholera broke out in 1895 these posts were seen every where, with the inscription on the front : " This is the general who is after the cholera devils." Ditches 19 Opportunities were also dug across the roads " to make, sure that no spirit should pass." On New Year's eve doors are closed to keep out Angwangi, an old man who lives in the upper air and collects materials for New Year's gifts. He is "a villainous old fiend, whose gifts consist of typhus fever, cholera, leprosy and the like." To protect themselves they may bring all the shoes inside and keep a light burning in the night, but in some cases other misfortunes come if the shoes are indoors. He has a mania for counting the meshes of a sieve, so a common flour sieve left at the door attracts his atten tion from the shoes. " He counts and counts, and before he is aware the night has fled, and his oppor tunity to scatter New Year's pestilence is gone." Dr. Avison says, "The Koreans are very much afraid of some forms of fever, and I have known them flee from the house where it was. They show in many cases the same fear of cholera in their vicinity." Mr. Gale, on one of his tours, spread his blanket on the floor of an eight foot square room, opening into another of the same size. "When I was com fortably located for the night," he said, "I was dis turbed by sounds of moaning from the room into which mine opened. It was so darkened that I could not see clearly, but I made out two children covered with a quilt. I asked the grandmother in charge what was wrong with them. Her reply was, ' His Excel lency, the spirit of smallpox is with us,' and she hastened to make her evening sacrifice of rice cake. No other house being available, nothing remained but Korea to spend the night in company with their unclean spirit. However, no harm came of it." Ginseng is Korea's cure for all mortal ailments. Men search for it as for gold. Every official carries a few roots among his choicest treasures. It is said to warm you when cold and cool you when heated. The old are by it made young and active. Foreigners would suffer from almost any disease, rather than take a Korean remedy. Tiger bones are a favorite prescription. A native doctor at Seoul classed all diseases under two heads : desperate cases and general weakness. He prescribed tiger bone pills for the latter. For the former, snakes, toads, and centipedes carefully boiled together were warranted to kill or cure. A burning ball of moxa punk, or a red- hot cash piece placed on a child's head, about two inches above the brow, and left till it had burned into the bone, served as a never failing remedy for con vulsions. He considered epidemics as taxes due to the great spirits, especially for children, and the more gladly they paid them the sooner would the spirit be appeased. Into every part of the human body his long needle had been run, as far as possible. " If you do it badly," he said, "the patient dies." " No attempt is made to keep this instrument clean, and frightful abscesses, not infrequently causing death, often follow its use," says Doctor Hardie of Songdo. Our medical missionaries have been winning confi dence. They treat the royal family. They must keep careful memoranda "of the flavor which dis guises the medicine, of the color of the compound Opportunities and the shape of the bottle." Medicine has been re turned as wrong because it had not conformed to previous color, taste and bottle. Korea had been long sealed to all outsiders, and it was not till 1882 that a treaty with the United States was signed and in 1883 General Foote was made minister plenipotentiary. The Presbyterian Board appointed G. W. Heron, M. D., as medical mission ary, but his coming was delayed and Dr. N. H. Allen was transferred from China. He joined the Legation in 1884 as a physician, not even General Foote knowing that he was a missionary ; — no mis sionary was then tolerated in Korea. A few months later a riot occurred, in which Prince Min Yong Ik, the queen's nephew, next to the king in rank, was severely wounded. Dr. Allen's bravery in crossing the city alone at night, and his successful treatment of the prince's wounds, which had been stopped with wax, won him favor ; and he was asked to prescribe for the king and royal family. The king talked with him, and learning of the importance of a hospital, he founded a general government hospital and Dr. Allen was placed at its head. In the summer of 1885 J. W. Heron, M. D., with his wife entered the hospital work with Dr. Allen. The missionary object was now known, but fears were groundless. Dr. W. B. Scranton of the Methodist Board soon arrived and founded a hospital. In 1886 Miss A. Ellers, M. D., arrived and a woman's ward was added to the Government Hospital, Dr, Ellers taking charge of it, and becoming physician to the ROYAL HOSPITAL, SEOUL, KOREA. Korea queen. A school for training physicians was also es tablished in connection with it. This building has proved utterly inadequate, and as soon as all arrange ments about site, etc., can be made, a gift of $10,000 will erect a new hospital. We quote from the Annual Report for 1901 of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions : — "At Pyeng Yang, Dr. Wells reports an attendance of 11,678 patients, of whom 6,550 came for the first time, and 203 in-patients were treated in the wards. His report remarks ' an increase and a deepening of the spiritual impressions.' Two hundred and forty- four important operations have been done, twice as many under general anaesthetics as ever before. Of these ninety-five were on the eyes, twenty-three of them being for the extraction of cataracts. " ' The progress of the class in pharmacy and med icine has been very satisfactory, though the number has decreased from eight to four. All are Christians and in their daily attendance render great assistance, not only in medical work, but also in the preaching of the gospel.' Receipts from Koreans have been 439 yen, and gifts from foreigners 500 yen. Surgical wards are being built from the gifts of friends of the work. '"In April, Mrs. Moffett, M. D., opened a small dispensary for women. In seventy-six dispensary days she had treated 415 patients, 247 being new cases. She has gone to the homes of women for ten special cases and assisted at or performed ten operations.' "Dr. Irvin's medical work is the most prominent 23 Opportunities feature of work in Fusan. He has treated 8,323 patients, performed 431 surgical operations, and made 705 visits to the sick in homes. The patients have paid in fees 912 yen and a large share of all the traveling expenses, so that the work is two-thirds self- supporting. Daily evangelistic services are held in the dispensary, and many are the copies of gospel books sold to grateful patients. " Dr. Irvin's earnest appeals for surgical wards have been heard, and a long-needed structure is being erected by the members of the First Church of Mont- clair, N. J., the Junkin Memorial Hospital. "'The medical work at Taiku has been encour aging, although the dispensary did not open formally until about Christmas. There have been treated 1,756 patients, of which 800 were new patients. There have been fifty surgical operations and eighty visits made to the homes of the sick.' One hundred and thirty-nine yen was received in payment for medi cines. ' Every Sabbath there have been seen at the church service a number of the halt, maimed, and bandaged, several of whom have declared that they have given up spirit-worship and intend to follow the Jesus doctrine.' " 'The removal of five gallons of fluid from an ab dominal cyst in the case of a young Catholic woman gained for us the good will of many of her friends among the Romanists. The priest's assistant as well as the leading Korean Romanist in the city has also been treated.' " A previous report says : " It is a very satisfactory 24 Korea fact that so much direct evangelistic work is done in connection with the skillful ministering to the bodily wants of the patients. It is not all medical missionary institutions that report so sympathetically of daily religious services, morning and evening, of weekly prayer meetings besides Sunday services, and of much private religious teaching both from missionaries and native Christians. The evangelistic spirit which so eminently pervades the Korean mission, stimulated as it must be by the eager desire for religious instruction on the part of the natives, seems to govern the medical workers in all their aims and methods. In this light, this department promises to be an exceptionally strong one in the advancing of the Church of Christ in the land. Pyeng Yang is the ancient capital of the northern kingdom, the center of a wide influence ; fifty miles up the Taitong River; occupied as a mission station, 1894. Fusan is an open port on the southeast coast, gateway of a large region, occupied as a mission station in 1891. While Taiku is most important for medical work, being the ancient capital of the south eastern kingdom, the center of influence in the most fertile and populous of the provinces, 100 miles inland from Fusan, on the Naktong River; occupied as a mission station, 1898." Considerable itineration has been done by the phy sicians of the several stations. This is of decided advantage to the cause ; and it is probable that it will be pushed still more in the future. A medical class of seven has been under instruction at Seoul, with en couraging results so far. Some of the students bear 25 Opportunities their own expenses. Hereafter all new students in medicine will be expected to support themselves. From personal letters we may learn some details of the beginnings of a medical missionary's experience. A new medical missionary, arriving alone in Japan, wrote : "That night alone in my room at the hotel, as I lay and listened to the strange sounds in the street out side, the greatest heartache came from the shouts, songs and oaths of the drunken sailors who, to so many Orientals, represent Christian England and America. "I could find very little about my connections for Korea except that the regular Japanese steamer had left the port eighteen hours before I arrived and that the next would sail in about a month. I began to wonder if I could not find a Korean and begin on the language." Learning later that a Russian steamer would sail for Chemulpo via Chefoo she decided to take it, though the accommodations were not pleasant. " It would take another small volume to record the experiences of the next few days on board the Baikal. The captain and one other Russian gentleman were the only persons who could speak English. The men were all Russian, Japanese, and Chinese — and I was the only woman on board. The sea was very rough ; the stateroom was downstairs at the stern, directly over the propeller, and opened into the dining room, which the men used also for smoking. The berth was very narrow, much too short and very hard, but in it I stayed most of the time from Saturday evening till Wednesday noon when we reached Chefoo. The 26 Korea Chinese boy seemed very willing to wait on me but the only English word he knew was ' tea ' and I had no craving for that. " At Chefoo I very gladly went ashore and took a chair across the city to see Dr. and Mrs. Corbett. . . . We were two days crossing the sea again in that little steamer and at last reached Chemulpo on Friday. There I spent the night in a Chinese hotel and was glad to find that a steam launch was coming up the river to Seoul the next day. The little boat was crowded with Japanese and Koreans, but I had one little corner of a seven by nine cabin with several Japanese, and found one who could speak a few words of English. Just at nightfall we reached Yungsan and there were Dr. Field, Miss Shields and Miss Strong coming out in a boat to meet me, and Dr. Whiting on shore with the chairs and coolies to take us up to Seoul (about five miles from the river). I had a cordial reception. ... Dr. Whiting is living in Mr. and Mrs. Gifford's house while they are in America and she took me home with her. The house is on elevated ground in the same enclosure with the girls' school where Miss Doty and Dr. Field are, and is almost in the heart of the city. At one side of the house from the top of the knoll we can look out over the city in all directions, and beyond it to the circle of mountains which surround us. How thankful I am for those restful mountains ! " Hard language study — and many other things in the way of work began at once. " The mission gives quarterly examinations in the language for the first 27 Opportunities two years. I was much surprised last week at being called to Dr. Underwood's, after being here less than six weeks, for my first quarterly examination because he was examining Dr. Field and Miss Shields who have finished three months. Of course he expected less of me. The doctor had two Koreans in the room and placing them in front of us said to us, ' Now talk ! ' When one can readily count the words in one's vocabulary that is not an easy command to obey ; the doctor kindly helped us out. Just now I am writing from the Royal Korean Hospital. The Seoul station sent Dr. Avison to Fusan a week ago on important business, and gave to Dr. Field and me his entire work here, with Miss Shields to assist in the nursing. I came over here to stay in the house with Mrs. Avison and be on hand all the time, and Dr. Field comes once every afternoon for the clinic. There are only seventeen in-patients just now, but it requires so much time to accomplish a little when one does not know the language, that I find the time fully taken up. "A woman came to clinic with both bones of her forearm broken by her son in a fit of anger. She would not let me touch the arm (the break occurred some time before and was already knitting crooked) but came to have me take the evil spirit out of her son. There was a man in the ward with severe gunshot wound of arm, the ball having fractured the sinews and bone. I was interested in watching him closely. His wife came to ask if he might go home for a Korean holiday and when I refused permission he 28 Korea went off without it. I dread to think of the condi tion of that gaping wound by this time. Sometimes the patients try to be helpful by handing me a septic dressing with their dirty hands. One day I was spreading some ointment on gauze on the palm of my hand when one of the onlookers, who must have thought me rather awkward at it, kindly brought me the dust pan to use under the surface. "Two of the 'medicine boys,' (there are five young Koreans studying under Dr. Avison) are earnest Christians and conduct prayers with the patients each morning. Miss Shields and I go down to the woman's rooms when we can, and sing to them the gospel we cannot speak. We have studied over several of the hymns and can sing some which we can not translate as yet. Each Sabbath a service is held in the large dispensary room. Yesterday one of the medicine boys preached. It was, for me, one of the happiest moments since I came here, when I saw the patients gathered there, and knew they were hearing the gospel. During these months when we so long to speak and our lips seem sealed, we are constantly thankful that we can intercede in prayer, — and that smiles and actions can be made to mean so much." A later letter in The Occident, after telling of the terrible poverty of the people, with wages at fourteen cents, and only two meals a day, because "omitting a meal is about the only way of getting a trifle ahead," says : " There is much sickness now especially among children. Tonics are needed in all the cases I have seen, and usually I know only too well that the 29 Opportunities tonic of nourishing food is the real necessity. For several days I have been visiting the little three-year-old girl of the man who carries our wood and water down at the school. Five in the family live in a room not more than twelve feet square, with a little outer shed and a tiny yard. The sick girl lay in dirty ragged clothes on the heated floor, but was very patient and quiet, and took so eagerly some of the diluted condensed milk I had brought, that it was pathetic. " I knew that what I wanted to do for her could not be done there, and how I did want to lift her out of the dirt and bring her where she could be nursed well again. But Korean customs are especially sacred where sickness is concerned, and the child must on no account be moved from that hot floor, — (Korean houses are heated by means of flues in the stone floors. The fire used for cooking heats the house and the floors are painfully uncomfortable for foreigners, roasting the side that is down). Though its body is very dirty, it would surely die if any water were put on it, — and the parents must be quite progressive if they will allow you to give any foreign medicine. The father of this little one is a Christian, and as the mother has been attending the little church here, I hoped she would be willing to trust us to do some thing for the child. She was willing that I should go for a while and give a little medicine, but whether from the influence of neighbors or not, something caused a sudden change of feeling and I could do nothing more. 3° Korea " Hot needles can be run into a sick baby's body and a burn can be covered over with irritating char coal by a native doctor, but a warm, soothing, cleans ing bath would to their minds be courting death. They share with some of the Chinese the idea that we are differently constructed and therefore it does not injure us to bathe. "If we believed that these people had to be civi lized and change their customs and ideas before they could receive and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, we would feel as though we were only laying small pebbles in the foundation which not for many generations would bear the weight of the building of a Christian temple. But it works just the other way. The love of Jesus Christ, entering first, displaces old customs and prejudices and makes a foundation for new teaching in every department. " When I was at the hospital a woman was brought in one morning by her husband and literally dumped on the floor of one of the rooms. Before I could reach them, the man was gone, leaving us no trace. The woman was certainly a most pitiable creature. She had a few ragged clothes on and was rolled in an old quilt. She had strength enough only to roll her head from side to side, but I think it was simply from starvation. We could learn nothing from her, for her mind was almost gone. She said she had had nothing to eat for six months. It was not my place to take her in because it was evident we could do nothing to save her, and the people are so superstitious that for the good of the hospital it is best to avoid as many deaths 3i Opportunities as possible, but there was nothing else to be done for the present except care for her in the hope that her husband would return. A tiny room was heated for her and small doses of stimulants and nourishment were begun. That afternoon I remained with her for awhile to see if anything else could be done. The poor woman's face was greatly deformed, the nose had been entirely eaten away by disease. The upper lip was drawn up ; nearly all the teeth were gone and the gums were shrunken. As I looked at her I could not help saying, 'Is it possible that this is a human be ing?' "There are dark features in the picture. But there are many bright ones too ! — women with shin ing, happy faces, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, no matter what their circumstances ; and men, fervent in prayer and earnest in preaching Christ to their people." Itinerating forms a large part of life in Korea for some of our workers. Here are some details, also by Dr. Moffett, who wrote the preceding account. "Everything we have is wonderful to them. The curiosity of the country people is simply unbounded. They wanted to examine everything I wore and had with me. I tried to draw the line of investigation at the tops of my shoes, but one woman succeeded in getting above them and exclaimed, 'Why, she has stockings on I ' Sometimes we have to defend our selves by telling them that it may be Korean custom to do that way but it is not at all according to our customs, and they generally take the hint at once, for they know it is very far from their own customs and 32 Korea that they only do it because they think we do not know anything about rules of propriety." Describing her language study Dr. Moffett writes : "The language is like nothing else under the sun that I ever tried to master. As Mr. Gifford says in his book, ' One advantage the beginner has, is that he doesn't know what he is getting into.' It resembles Chinese very little. The construction of sentences is different. It is agglutinative, which Chinese is not. Those who have studied both say that it is more diffi cult. It is not a tone language in the sense that Chinese is. There are words which if differently rendered have different meanings, but the dif ference lies more frequently in stress than in tone. "You begin by saying the alphabet over and over after some Korean, then slowly digging out names of things, then names of actions, and gradually putting them together. Once in a while you come upon an idiom with not an idea of what it means and with no clue, the teacher's explanation consists in saying the same thing over indefinitely with increasing emphasis, in the hope that the tenth time of repetition may bring a flood of light. There are perhaps two or three teach ers in the country — I know of two. The qualification of the others is — they are Koreans. " You continue as you began — in the dark, with now and then a ray of light to prevent utter discour agement. I should not make the picture too dark, for we who are studying now have very many helps unknown to those who went before, in the way of 33 Opportunities books, assistance from other workers, and of a greater familiarity of certain Koreans with foreigners. "The teacher I have now knows not an English word. One I had in Seoul had been in the Methodist school, and had a desire to learn English. It is considered a great disadvantage, but I expect the knowledge of English will come more and more as the people wake up to the knowledge of the outside world. We will leave all the teaching of English to others while we get all the Korean we can. It is even necessary for us to lose some of our own English, but we are will ing to do so if we can but gain free access to this people. Three things I keep before me — to know more and more of the Bible, Korean language, and Korean people. "We eat eggs, chicken, rice, millet, vegetables from our own gardens and a small amount of poor fruit, which Korea provides. We have flour from home for bread and grains for mush. Aside from these we live largely from cans, — canned meat, canned milk, canned butter, canned soup, vegetables, fruits, crackers, etc. Last year, potatoes, celery, corn and strawberries have been raised up here. " Koreans cook our food. In some houses a man, in some a woman. Of course they have to be trained from the very start. If one is particular it is gener ally better not to be always around during the prepa ration. I believe they really mean to be clean. " I think Pyeng Yang does not have as hot weather as Seoul ; I do not think we had a temperature above ioo° here, but the extreme moisture makes the heat 34 Korea harder to bear. The missionaries are nearly always obliged to leave Seoul for a time during the heat, but one of our blessings in Pyeng Yang is that it is quite possible for us to remain here through the summer without endangering our health. The work seems slow at the start, but the language must be mastered if good work is to be done in the hospital or dispen sary or in itinerating." This last point is well shown by Dr. Moffett in her studies with her Seoul teacher, Chang Sa Pang. "He has been well educated in Chinese and also in the native Unmun, and studied for two years in the Methodist Boys' School. He knows the Bible teach ings and narratives quite well, and understands the message of Christianity; but the gospel has not touched his heart. When I first began to study with him, it made me feel very strange to have a Korean explaining Bible passages and truths to me. I wanted the grammar of the sentence, but let him go on to see what he would say. He assents readily whenever I try to press home the personal question, but I think his belief is only intellectual. He has given me some beautiful thoughts in our study of the gospels. One day I was reading the story of Christ's birth, when he asked me why it was that Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger. I tried to say that he might touch and save the lowest and poorest, etc. But my teacher said that to him it was because he was the Lamb of God and was at last to be a sacrifice that he began his life on earth in the place where a little lamb would live. In John i : 1 2 the word for ' re- 35 Opportunities ceived ' in the Korean is that used when a guest is received into a Korean household with all the hospital ity the house affords, and anything belonging to the host is at his disposal. In John 14 : 16 the three characters for the ' Comforter ' convey the idea of a heavenly Teacher sent in grace to protect and strengthen. The Korean text says ' That he may be with you for a lifetime.' I wanted to substitute ' forever ' as it is in our text, but my teacher said, ' That would not do ; after we die the Holy Spirit will be with us but we will not need a Comforter.' Pray for him. He seems to have no desire to be baptized or enter the Church." Rev. Arthur J. Brown, D. D. in his recent visit to Korea saw the value of training native workers, when at Chang Yun. Dr. Avison reports it in the Korea Field : — "Our visit to the magistracy of Chang Yun was interesting in one respect at least. We arrived there late in the evening and I was immediately called upon to see some sick folk. It is here that my former stu dent, Hyo Kwon-i, has lived since he left the hospital, and, knowing that I was coming, he had a number of cases ready that he had been unable to handle. The first one was a boy with a dislocated elbow of several months' standing, which held his arm out stiff, pre venting it from being bent at the elbow. As the cart with our food, etc., had not yet arrived, we proceeded at once to etherize the boy and soon had the elbow again in its normal position. As our cart had not even yet put in an appearance, even though it was 36 Korea nine o'clock, we took all the Christians with us to the church, which is situated outside the wall of the town, and held a service of about an hour's duration, at which Dr. Brown delivered a fine address of greeting, exhortation, and advice, which I felt sorry to spoil to a considerable extent by rendering into very indifferent Korean. Returning to our host's home, we found our supper in course of preparation, and had the pleas ure of eating it between ten and eleven o'clock. A poor man nearly blind and suffering from a bad ulcer of the foot due to decay of the bone was pressing us hard for relief, and finally I said that if Hyo Kwon-i would undertake to care for him afterwards, I would operate on him in the morning at five o'clock, before breakfast. That gave us a short night's rest after a long day's work, but that has to be sometimes, and the next morning, assisted by Dr. Brown, who could not be prevailed upon to miss seeing surgical work done under such peculiar conditions, we etherized the patient on the floor of the room in which we had slept, and scraped away all the diseased bone, so as to give his ulcer at least a new start. The chief point of practical importance in this incident is that we could not have undertaken to perform either of these operations had not a person trained in the after care of such cases- been on hand to follow the work up ; and we saw a practical illustration of the advantages which will follow the proper training of young men as doctors and the scattering of them throughout the country." 37 Medical Missionary Summary Pyeng Yang Seoul Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society, North. Wonsan *H. 2 D.f H. D. D. Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, North. Seoul, Royal Korean, Funsan, Junkin Mem. Pyeng Yang H. 2 D. Founded 1884 O. R. Avison, M. D. C. C. Vinton, M. D. Mrs. H. G. Underwood, M. D. Eva H. Field, M. D. H. D. 1893 C. H. Irvin, M. D. H. D. r8o6 Mrs. S. A. Moffett, M. D. J. H. Wells, M. D. A. M. Sharrocks, M. D. D. 1899 W. O. Johnson, M. D. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, English. Chemulpo H. D. Seoul 2 H. 3 D. * H means Hospital. f D means Dispensary. Taiku 38 CHINESR GOD OF MEDICINE. FfiOM " REVIEW OF MISSIONS." CHAPTER III CHINA China, the vastest nation in the world, has the largest number of medical missionaries, the most mis sionary hospitals and dispensaries. There are now 128 hospitals and 245 dispensaries, which in 1901 treated 1,674,571 patients. A portion of the fifty- three missionary societies of Europe and America have charge of these under about 150 foreign physicians. " But what are these among so many?" For each doctor are allotted 4,000,000 patients. This is for 400,000,000, one-quarter of the world's population, whose death rate is 33,000 daily. "A million a month in China are dying without God." In 1895 the men doctors were fourteen per cent of all the mis sionaries, and the women doctors were four per cent. Dr. Malcolm, of Honan, says: "A slight idea of the need may be obtained if you can imagine our hos pitals, our penitentiaries, our almshouses, insane asylums, institutions for the blind and deaf and dumb, and, indeed, all our charitable institutions, turned out upon us without nurses and without any knowledge of modern science, modern surgery, or modern medi cine. Of doctors, they have none worthy the name. Of quacks, they have thousands. They have medi cines of the cheapest kind and treatment of the cheap- ¦39 Opportunities est kind. The word ' medicine man ' is a synonym of all that is deceitful and unscrupulous, for playing upon the credulity of those credulous people, the Chinese." Their own doctors hurry them into eternity with their barbarous practices. They pour down the pa tient's throat huge quantities of horrible stuff; de coctions of herbs mixed with certain vile substances. A missionary while itinerating gave a patient quinine and salts, then found he had already bought a fresh lot of Chinese medicine in two large packages for fifteen cents. They were the bark, leaves and flowers of certain Chinese plants. Although he believed the doctor's medicine was best, he took the Chinese mix ture first, to get the worth of his money. The Chinese are slaves to medicine. Their materia medica is perhaps the most vicious on the face of the earth, and inexpressibly disgusting. "Their rule is to change doctors two or three times a day if they can afford it," so says Dr. Coltman of Peking. " In the south every two or three days a doctor is apt to be changed if the patient shows no signs of im proving, or oftener if he grows worse, so prognosis has much to "do in gaining the confidence of the peo ple. To be able to tell a patient that he can be cured in a pertain number of days leaves the impression that you are thoroughly conversant with diagnosis and treat ment," writes Dr. Machle. One medicine more highly esteemed than even ginseng is an insect and plant combined, a fungus that grows out of a species of caterpillar. When cold 40 China weather approaches, the larva of a certain moth makes its way two or three inches below the soil. There the fungus attacks it and it regularly sprouts, sending up a long shoot like any mushroom. The natives of Tibet, Hupeh, and Szechwan, hunt these fungi in the neighborhood of a certain myrtle-tree. They dig them up and tie them in little bundles with red thread. They look like diminutive bulrushes, the root being the mummy of a caterpillar. This is esteemed a powerful medicine for diseases of the throat and lungs. Boiled spiders furnish another remedy, scorpion eggs another. Centipedes, horned toads, vegetable, ani mal, mineral ingredients, as many as possible go into one prescription. The more ingredients the more dis eases may be cured by it. Their own doctors know nothing of surgery or anatomy. The very thought of dissection is abhor rent. A celebrated work by Heng Iok Hua, " The Rhythm of the Pulse," gives this valuable informa tion : " There are three pulses in each wrist. A man's strongest pulse is in his left wrist, a woman's in her right. In a man the pulse that lies nearest the hand is stronger than those that lie above; in a woman just the opposite is true ; and it is considered a real misfortune if the pulse of either sex is found to be beating according to the rules of that of the other sex. In the left hand are located the pulses showing the diseases of the heart, the liver, the kidneys, while the right-hand pulses show the diseases of the lungs, spleen and other organs." Where a sign reads "He 41 Opportunities feels the small and large pulse," it indicates a doctor for children and grown people. If a doctor can advertise that his ancestors have been in the medical profession for several generations, he can claim to possess all their skill. The experience of the Chinese in the use of herbs, as teas and poul tices, for so many centuries, has necessarily proved of some value. " I have seen the whole front of a doc tor's house covered with poultices which had been used and proved effective," Mrs. L. S. Bainbridge tells us. " Black tar-like salve on blue cloth is a cure for all abrasions, excoriations, ulcers of the skin and even rheumatism. The front of drug-stores and doc tors' houses are often covered with them. Each plas ter indicates that the patient who used it had been cured by it," adds Dr. Machle. The brain is put in the stomach ; the seat of courage is in the liver; the bladder communicates directly with the mouth by a tube into which all liquids find their way ; while a hole in the heart has mysterious relations with the stomach. To this latter orifice is ascribed much of the pain consequent upon indiges tion, which is exceedingly common in consequence of the universal habit of rapid eating. The most frequent diseases are those relating to the digestive organs ; the "heart's mouth" is a favorite locality with the Chi nese as a seat of disease. Acupuncture or needling is a common form of treat ment. A native doctor for a few strings of cash un dertakes to restore the sight, that is, to "dispel the clouds." So with his needle he stirs up the eye and 42 China it is ruined. The drums of ears are thus destroyed, and frightful inflammations result from such piercings all over the body. Half a millstone — sixty pounds of stone — was eaten by one man on the doctor's advice. He ground it in a mortar, took a half cupful each morning, and was no better. He also ate forty pounds of cinnamon bark, on the advice of some one else. For inflamma tion of the eyelids, a patient took pigeon's dung, for two months, as advised by his native doctor. The Hunanese have an operation for the cure of en tropion of the upper lip which soon recurs, however, when successful, and there is a great liability to ery sipelas, extended malformation and ulceration. In flamed limbs have red string tied on them above and below the area of inflammation to prevent the evil spirits producing this distemper from extending the disease by gaining access to other parts of the human economy. Red is used because this color has the charming power of restoring healthy action and thus thwarting the intentions of the evil spirits. Near Peking, the treatment for a broken leg was piling bricks on it for six months to keep the swelling down. Smallpox is the most common disease and nearly every one has it at some time in his life ; which is no wonder, as the patients are allowed to roam at will, and any one can have free access to them. Vaccina tion, though practiced, is very carelessly performed, and is never used for girls. Dr. Machle says that " in the interior where we reside, inoculation of smallpox virus is still extensively practiced. A pledget of cot- 43 Opportunities ton is dipped into the diluted virus and placed far up the nostril. The patient has an attack of smallpox, which is sometimes so severe that he dies." Measles, though common, is a milder disease than with us. Scarlet-fever is less common, and erysipelas is rare. Typhus-fever is common all over North China and as far south as Shanghai. With it is constantly associated relapsing fever. Every few years cholera appears as an epidemic, and is very fatal. Diphtheria is severe, except in the south, where it is seldom seen. Occa sionally whooping-cough is found. In some parts rheumatic fever is prevalent. Chronic muscular rheu matism is common all over China, unattended by fever. Malarial fever is to be found everywhere, though the type varies ; thus tertian is most common in Peking, quartan in Foochow, Swatow, Shanghai, and Hangchow, and remittent in Chefoo and Tientsin. Goitres of immense size predominate in some regions, such as mountainous parts of Kwantung. From lep rosy, smallpox, and neglected ophthalmia ; from the smoky houses, and from the general dirt, blindness is produced in hundreds of thousands. Beri-beri or multiple neuritis is prevalent in Southern China among those who have come from northern provinces. "The Chinese are in bondage to luck, superstition and charms." A piece of red cloth tied on a man, means that he has a carbuncle or a chronic disease. This is to keep away evil spirits, and it is also sup posed to cure. A doctor can be consulted only on a lucky day. One man, carried to a medical missionary on a bed a great many miles, was not allowed by 44 China the neighbors and street people to enter the dispensary because he had arrived on an unlucky day ; and al though they were told he would probably die before the day passed, he was carried away. No protests availed in the least. " Horror-struck at the sight of some poor creatures with a foot or a hand eaten off by disease, we would turn away, and our eyes would fall on some monstrous deformity or heart-rending sufferer. I had never even imagined such a loathsome spectacle as that of the beggars." Thus wrote Mrs. Nevius at the time of her Hangchow sojourn. Dr. H. T. Whitney, of Foochow, A. B. C. F. M., says in The Medical Arm of the Mission Service: "Edward Jenner, an Englishman, discovered vacci nation in 1797, and made it known in 1798; and in the short period of seven years afterwards, Dr. Alex ander Pearson, surgeon to the East India Company, introduced it into China. The same year he wrote a treatise on the Theory and Art of Vaccination, which was translated into Chinese by Sir George Staunton and published in Canton. He labored with untiring zeal for twenty-seven years, when the practice became thoroughly established in the Kwantung Province. Dr. Pearson's principal assistant, Mr. Yao, became the leading Chinese disseminator of vaccination in China. At one time he went by invitation, without expense, to Peking to introduce it there. Twelve years after Dr. Pearson's first treatise was published Mr. Yao also prepared a treatise of one hundred pages, to which were appended three odes in praise of vacci- 45 Opportunities nation ; one by a governor-general. In thirty years Mr. Yao alone vaccinated over a million patients. "By the combined efforts of Dr. Pearson and his assistants the art was extended to all the leading provinces of the empire. The blessing to China of this discovery it would be difficult to overestimate, and the name of Dr. Alexander Pearson will go down in history as the first great benefactor of China in the nineteenth century. Of him should it be said, rather than of any one else, that he ' opened China to the gospel at the point of the lancet. ' "To Dr. T. R. Colledge, another physician to the East India Company, belongs the merit of establish ing, first at private expense, and later by voluntary contributions, the first institution in China for the relief of indigent natives from 1827 to 1832. This work made a marked impression upon the Chinese. 'The institution became the topic of conversation throughout the provinces, and praise and gratitude were heaped upon him by the beneficiaries and their friends. ' " He urged upon the various missionary societies the desirableness of employing medical missionaries as pioneers in their Christian work ; and several papers which he wrote for this purpose, had considerable in fluence in directing attention to the subject. " While the humane labors of these physicians were not performed in the capacity of medical missionaries, yet they were of the same nature and equally valu able; and they beautifully illustrate the humane aspect of medical missionary work. "We now come to the first medical missionary 46 China work proper done under a missionary board. The name of Dr. Peter Parker, as the first medical mis sionary to China, is well known in both eastern and western hemispheres and in three continents. " Beginning his work under the American Board in 1835 in Canton, he soon started lines of influence that resulted in physical blessing to at least 53,000 patients by his own hands, and it is probably safe to say mil lions more by the hands of others. For it was through his influence, in connection with Drs. Col ledge and Bridgman, that the Medical Missionary Society of China was organized (February 21, 1838) which has already resulted in the treatment of more than a million patients ; and as the treatment of one patient often means a blessing to one or two others and sometimes to a whole family, it is more than probable that the million patients treated do not represent more than half of those who have been blessed. But in addition to this, Dr. Parker was the means of bring ing into existence the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society (in 1841), whose influence in Great Britain, India, China, Japan, Turkey, Persia, Africa, etc., has ever been widening, till now no adequate estimate can be made either of the number treated or of the extent of its blessing." The London Missionary Society in 1839 sent out to Macao Dr. William Lockhart who "shed a wide in fluence for good all up and down the China coast from Macao to Peking"; and also Dr. Benjamin Hobson who worked in Macao, Canton, Hongkong, and Shanghai. 47 Opportunities Dr. Peter Parker was born at Framingham, Mass., in 1804. He received his degree in 1834, was ap pointed medical missionary to China by the American Board, was ordained in May, and sailed in June for Canton. In 1835 a free hospital was opened which helped greatly to disarm prejudice and spread the gospel. In 1838 he had four students, one of whom became an expert operator. They were supported by the Canton Medical Missionary Society, just started, the pioneer in modern missions. "His labors in ten years were abundant, notwithstanding many obstacles. Beginning with a solitary patient, he treated 53,000. In 1840 wars in China compelled Dr. Parker to retreat, for a time, to" America. He spent the time of sojourn in telling of the medical work in China in cities of the United States and Great Britain. As one result of these labors some medical missionary societies were organized." In 1841, while he was in Edin burgh, a guest of Dr. Abercrombie, the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society was organized, which has extended its work " beyond Scotland to Nazareth, Damascus, Madras, Niigata, Japan; besides helping medical missionaries in India, China, Africa, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Italy, France, and in other lands and islands of the sea." He afterwards became United States Minister, re tired to Washington, and ended his days there in 1888, at the age of eighty-three. " His fame, how ever, rests on his work as a pioneer of medical mis sions." Dr. Peter Parker said: "I have no hesitation in 48 China expressing it as my solemn conviction, that as yet no medium of bringing the people under the sound of the gospel and within the influence of other means of grace can compare with the facilities afforded by medical missionary operations." His hospital continues, being till 1899 under the care of J. G. Kerr, M. D., LL. D. It is supported by the Medical Missionary Society. It is a " local philanthropic organization in Canton, which owns the hospital property and provides the funds for its work, except the support of the physicians in charge. The evangelistic work, connected with the hospital, is con ducted by the American Presbyterian Mission, which Board for the past forty-eight years has supplied the physicians in charge." The largest hospital work in China, and that which has produced the largest num ber of converts, is at Swatow, (English Presbyterian). This Canton hospital comes first in importance, be cause, as a writer has said, "The hospital had for its aim, first, the alleviation of human suffering, and, second, the extension of Christianity. So far as we know it is the first institution which combined these two objects ; and we claim that it was the originator of modern medical missions. Other missionary socie ties had sent out a few medical missionaries previous to this. But no permanent medical mission work was established in any foreign field until after the success ful working of this hospital had become known." It has 300 beds. Dr. Kerr was one of the first surgeons in the world. A staff of native doctors and surgeons, whom he had 49 Opportunities trained, assisted him. More than twenty-six thousand patients were treated in 1898, and over a thousand operations performed. The numerous professional calls demanded by the higher classes showed that western medicine and surgery had become more popular. Dr. Whitney says of him : " The humane value alone of Dr. J. G. Kerr's work in Canton from 1835 to the present (1893) in connection with the Presby terian Mission has nowhere ever been equaled, with the possible exception of Dr. Parker's indirect in fluence in helping to start the Medical Missionary Society of Canton and the Edinburgh Medical Mis sionary Society. "By himself and under his supervision some 700,000 patients have been treated, and about 48,000 operations performed. Among these operations some 1,300 were for calculi; the value of which needs only to be known in order to be appreciated. "But in addition to this nearly all the text-books, except the anatomy, that have been used in teaching medical students were prepared through his unceasing energy and perseverance." The jubilee year of the hospital saw him overwhelmed with tokens of regard. Dr. Kerr was born in Ohio in 1828. He was ap pointed to China in 1853, where he remained until 1876 when he came home to educate his children. During his two years' stay in the United States he worked among the Chinese in California. His service in China was over forty-four years. Some 200 medical students studied under his care, most of whom 5° China completed their course, and received certificates. In the Franco-Chinese war the Chinese Government em ployed many of his former pupils. For years he was president of the Medical Missionary Society of Canton, and in 1887 was unanimously elected first president of the Medical Missionary Association in China. So great was his fame that a few years ago a distinguished foreign Minister to the Court at Peking sent for him, and was cured after a difficult operation. Dr. Kerr died August 10, 1901, at the age of seventy- three. Dr. Kerr published about thirty-two books on surgery and medicine. His last great work before his death was privately to collect funds for a Refuge for the Insane, the first one in China. In The China Medical Missionary Journal, for December, 1898, Dr. Kerr wrote : "It is a well-known but lamentable fact that throughout the Chinese empire, during its history of thousands of years, and with its vast population, there never has been any provision for the insane, except such as could be made in families or in prisons. Among the better classes, confinement in a strong room, and often in chains, was all that could be had. A short method of getting rid of the hopelessly incur able has no doubt often been adopted in a country where the father holds the power of life and death over his family, and death has been hastened among the poorer classes by the want of care and ill treat ment. " During the many years I have had charge of the 5' Opportunities Medical Missionary Society's hospital, I have often been impressed with the importance of introducing into China the institutions for the relief of this most help less and dependent class of our fellow-men, which are the glory of western lands. In 1887 the Medical Mis sionary Society passed a resolution to commemorate its semi-centennial anniversary by inaugurating an asylum for insane Chinese; but in- 1889 the society withdrew from this and recommended that the scheme be taken up by a separate society. A provisional committee was formed, but owing to various causes only a small amount of money was secured and the object was left in abeyance for a time. " Before going to the United States in 1891, I had secured about three acres of ground in a good location in the vicinity of Canton ; and with a view to con ciliating the good will of the neighboring shopmen, a dispensary was started in a building on the ground, which was conducted, during my absence, by Dr. Wan Tun-Mo, a member of the Provisional Com mittee. Having failed to secure the necessary funds, this committee was dissolved ; and the small amounts of funds in hand turned over to me. In 1894 a sum of money was intrusted to me by a medical mission ary not resident in China, to be used for medical charity to the Cantonese. With his consent this was used for the erection of a building on the ground I had purchased. A beginning was thus made, and with the funds from the Provisional Committee and from other sources, I was able to erect a second build ing. In the meantime, the ground occupied by these 52 BLIND BIBLE-BEADEE TEACHING PATIENT. SHE WAS EDUCATED AT DR. MABY NILES'S SCHOOL FOE THE BLIND, CANTON. "WOMAN'S WORK FOR WOMAN." - •¦'.:' THE ONLY REFUGE FOB THE INSANE IN CHINA. China buildings and the space in front of them had been filled in, providing a lawn for exercise and recreation. A part of the inclosing wall also had been put up. There are twenty-four rooms in the two buildings, and these will accommodate thirty or forty patients. The design is to begin with a small number until attend ants can be trained to take care of them. With kind and careful attention, comfortable surroundings, good food and outdoor exercise, the change from the treatment and influences of heathen relatives will have a beneficial effect, and will be sufficient in some cases to effect a cure. "The amount of space at our command affords room for several more buildings, together with a lawn and shaded walks for recreation and exercise. As the benefits of the institution and the necessity for it is understood by benevolent men and women in Christian lands, we have faith to believe that funds will be forthcoming to build a model institution, and that others of its kind will multiply until this form of benevolence will permeate this vast empire. At the lowest percentage of insane to the population in western lands, 300 asylums with a capacity for 1,000 patients each are required for China." The Canton hospital dispensary and college, where the medical department raises up educated physicians, attracts widespread and well-deserved attention. Dr. J. M. Swan is now on duty here. Wonderful is the work, unceasing are the claims by day and by night. Dr. Mary W. Niles and Dr. Mary H. Fulton are at the Woman's Hospital. Dr. Fulton has translated several 53 Opportunities medical books. She is sent for, far and wide. We do not begin to appreciate the need for women medical missionaries and the miracles which Christ's power enables them to perform among the disregarded, downtrodden, enslaved women of the Orient. Native helpers often say, after seeing the many helped in hospital work: "The deaf hear, the lame walk, the blind see." What this Christian love may mean to them, is well shown by the story, oft repeated, of a very ill girl at this hospital. "Doctor, how long can I live if I stay in the hospital?" she asked. "Four months, ' ' was the reply. ' ' How long if I go home ? ' ' "Two months." "I am going home." " But you will lose half of your life." "Do you not think I would be glad to give half my life for the sake of tell ing my people of Christ's love ? " she replied. And she went home. How inadequate is our support of these great evan gelization centers, is illustrated by the case of our dis pensary at Sam Kong, and that of the hospital at Lien Chow. In the three days a week given to the Sam Kong dispensary by Dr. Machle and Dr. Eleanor Chestnut, in 1898, 17,000 cases were treated. The appropriation of the Board for this immense work is $160. "Of course you understand," said one of the missionaries to me, "that this does not cover all the expenses." " Oh, no," I replied, " the doctors' salaries are extra." " Yes, but there are other extras." And I find our missionaries must make them up, if the work is not to suffer (about $40). 54 China That one dispensary in 1898 had patients from fifty villages. It borders on fierce Hunan, and the Hunan- ese hear the gospel there. The Lien Chow men's hospital is ten miles from Sam Kong. It is two stories high, and the upper floor where are three rooms for paying patients, was until 1902 occupied by Dr. Machle and family. The lower floor has a ward, a preaching-hall, a dispensary and operating room. There is also a woman's hospital. The Annual Report for 1898 says: "There is an obvious disadvantage in being compelled to reside in a building directly over the wards and the operating- room of a hospital. The communication of disease, the close contact with the suffering whose cries of dis tress it is impossible to ignore, and the general strain upon the nerves and sympathies of the family — all point to the obvious necessity of a separate residence. ' ' And the terrible odors are hard to endure. Bark sheds had soon to be erected for the overflow of patients at Lien Chow. This work is 300 miles from Canton, as far as Boston from Philadelphia — but it takes three weeks by boats up the Lien Chow River to reach it. "We really need a steam launch," said one of the missionaries, " to save time. For it would take only a day or so then." " And what would that cost?" "About $2,000." So for a long time yet, the trip will doubtless be made in boats towed by men up the many rapids. The new hospital of Hoi How, on the Island of Hainan, with its airy rooms for women, seems to revo lutionize the ideas of the people in regard to pure air 55 Opportunities and cleanliness. At home they occasionally sweep the floors but never wash them, and for the washing of beds, chairs, tables, once a year will suffice. They ask ' ' Why should they be washed so frequently ? Why should the missionaries put on that queer-smelling medicine (carbolic acid)?" When cholera came and the wards had to be closed to prevent contagion, the foreign residents gave $800 to erect an isolation ward and morgue. This building meets the needs of cholera, smallpox, and other in fectious diseases. The Nodoa Hospital was originally built with mud walls and floor, and grass thatch; — excellent for germs, and very damp. But now a new building has been erected. It is pitiful to learn of so many wretched little buildings in which our workers are still compelled to carry on so much of their work. A recent memorial hospital in the Middle States was erected in a town already possessing one, all the beds of which had never been occupied. Central China was the scene of labors of the first Presbyterian medical missionaries to China, Dr. Hep burn going to Amoy in 1843, when the work was transferred from Singapore, while Ningpo received Dr. McCartee in 1844. The Alumni Register of the University of Pennsyl vania gives this information about Dr. McCartee : " The Christian Intelligencer, published in a recent issue a life of Dr. McCartee written by David Murray, LL. D., the well-known author. Through the cour tesy of Peter McCartee, brother of the doctor, we re- 56 DE. D. a. McCAETEE. China produce a photograph of Dr. McCartee taken about fifteen years ago. Mr. Murray's sketch of Dr. Mc Cartee is reproduced in full : ' ' Divie Bethune McCartee, scholar, missionary and diplomatist, died in San Francisco, July 17, 1900. He has been connected intimately and honorably throughout the greater part of his long life with the affairs of China and Japan. The services which he has rendered in these two great countries will be long remembered and gratefully appreciated. He has been witness to many of the marvelous changes which have transformed these two nations into what we see them to-day. It will be of interest to trace the life of this * great man through some of the experiences which he encountered in his busy and eventful life. " Divie Bethune McCartee was born in Philadel phia, January 13, 1820. He was the son of Rev. Robert McCartee, D. D.' His mother, Jessie Graham Bethune, was a daughter of Divie Bethune, one of the eminent New Yorkers of Huguenot ancestry, and a sister of the distinguished Rev. Dr. Geo. W. Bethune. His education was obtained from Columbia college, where he spent part of his college course, and from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was gradu ated in medicine in 1840. After his graduation, while he was engaged in medical practice, he was invited by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to go to China as a medical missionary. He sailed from New York in October, 1843, and after some detention at Hong kong, where he used his time in studying the language and in gaining a knowledge of the prevalent diseases, 57 Opportunities he reached his destination, Ningpo, June ai, 1844. Here he began his distinguished and successful career. He was naturally a gifted linguist, and soon was able to make his way among the native population. His gratuitous treatment of medical and surgical cases drew to him many native sufferers, who became his warm friends. He and other missionary workers gained in this way a hearing for the gospel which would not otherwise have been possible. He had during this period of his career many interesting ex periences which he was fond of detailing to his friends. I remember one which he told as illustrative of the courage and indifference with which the eastern peo ples undergo operations and endure pain. A stone mason came to him one day with a hand badly crushed. On examination he found that he could save the fore finger and thumb, but would be obliged to dissect away the remainder of the fingers and most of the hand. He explained the matter to his patient and told him that it would take some time and would be quite painful. (There was no anesthesia in those days.) The man seemed quite indifferent and said : 'I can stand it, doctor, if you can. Go ahead.' It was during this early part of his career in the East that Dr. McCartee met and married Miss Joanna Knight, who had come out to join her sister, Mrs. Rankin, as a missionary of the Presbyterian Board. During the rest of his long life she has continued to be his faithful and efficient companion in his labors and experiences. She still survives him and is now living with her sister, the widow of the late Dr. Aikman, at Madison, N. J. 58 China "Dr. McCartee' s distinguished linguistic attain ments made him of immediate importance to the diplo matists of his country, who were sent out to China in the diplomatic or in the consular service. He was an expert in the language and in all the formalities and ceremonial observances which formed so essential a part of the intercourse with that ancient and punc tilious nation. He was connected at important and critical times with the consulates at Ningpo, Chefoo, and Shanghai, and the services which he was able to render were highly appreciated and gratefully acknowl edged on many occasions. "In the early seventies Dr. McCartee removed to Japan, where the marvelous developments in govern ment, education and industrial pursuits were begin ning to be felt. He became a professor in the institu tion which has since grown into the Imperial Univer sity. He also was intrusted with the care of the girls' normal school, which was established at Tokyo, and besides was detailed for special service in connec tion with the Botanical Garden, which had been es tablished in Tokyo and was under the administration of the Department of Education. He continued for five years to hold these positions, and to fulfill their duties with distinguished satisfaction. When he was about to relinquish them the Acting Minister of Edu cation, Fujimaro Tanaka, acknowledged in writing the great obligations the department was under to Dr. McCartee for his faithful and efficient serv ices. And in a combined letter the students who had been under his care tendered to him their 59 Opportunities united thanks for his faithful and valuable instruc tions. "In 1877 Dr. McCartee entered the service of the Chinese Legation at Tokyo as its foreign secretary. His knowledge of the Chinese and Japanese languages and his familiarity with diplomatic usages rendered him superbly qualified for his position. After two years of service H. E. Ho Ju Chang, Chinese Minis ter to Japan, acknowledged his obligations to him in these generous words : ' When I was appointed Im perial Envoy to Japan in the winter of 1877, feeling the need of his assistance, I invited him to join the staff of the legation. From that time to the present, during more than two years, I have consulted him in every important particular and from his advice I have received very important assistance. I now inscribe these lines on parting to serve as a lasting memento of my regard and esteem.' " The last years of Dr. McCartee's life have been spent chiefly in missionary labor. He has been con nected with the Meiji Gakuin in the city of Tokyo, and has employed most of his time in the work of translation. His failing health led him to surrender the work which had engaged his attention, and he re turned to California. But his increasing years and his many labors had worn out his vigorous frame. He never, after his return to America, recovered his wonted health. He died, as we have said, July 17, 1900, in the eighty-first year of his age. His faithful wife was with him to the last, and brought the body of her husband to the East, and buried it in the family 60 China burying plot in Newburgh, N. Y., beside his father and mother. " Dr. McCartee has received many marks of dis tinction in recognition of his learning and services. He received from the Chinese Government a gold medal in connection with the suppression of the Macao coolie traffic ; he also was honored with the title of Consul-general by the Chinese Government in recog nition of his services in the Chinese Legation at Tokyo; he received from the Japanese Government the decoration of the fifth order of the Rising Sun. "No rewards or decorations, however, can ade quately recompense the labors and sacrifices of such a life. Those who knew Dr. McCartee and realized the deep sincerity of his character, the noble unselfishness which everywhere was apparent in him, the alertness of his mental activity, and his conscientious devotion to every duty can alone properly appreciate and duly reverence this good and able and distinguished man." The Tooker Memorial Hospital at Soochow, was erected in 1897 by one generous American, who pays all its expenses. It is in charge of two women physi cians. Would that many more such memorials were erected ! Medical centers have been started in Hunan at Siang Tan, and Wei Tuen. Before the Boxer uprising, at the An Ting Hospital at Peking we heard of daily morning and evening ^prayers and the spirituality of the helpers. One physician had been meeting many young mandarins with whom he had conversed of Christ. Their prejudices were slowly breaking down. He had urged 61 Opportunities the viceroy, Li Hung Chang, to accept Christianity. "I know he reflects about it," he wrote. Dr. B. C. Atterbury visited many villages, dispensing medicine, preaching Christ, in addition to all else. The sympa thetic work of Dr. and Mrs. Inglis for patients of all classes in the An Ting Hospital brought in an unusual number of in-patients, not a few of whom received healing of soul as well as of body through the efforts of those in charge, and of Mr. Whiting who spent much time in the hospital. There were also four dispen saries. Dr. Atterbury began the work in 1879. The hospital was built in 1884. Twenty-six thousand treatments were reported in 1898. Peking has wide streets, and is said to be the only city in the empire that could be remodeled on modern lines without being all torn to pieces. The main value of the wide streets has been to insure larger space for mud and stagnant pools, reeking with disease and giving off such foul odors that but to smell is to wish the streets very, very narrow, in deed. Dr. Leonard opened the woman's dispensary or hospital January 4, 1898, keeping the number of in patients low, in order to have time for language study. She visited many homes, the gospel being everywhere faithfully preached, in the homes, to the in-patients, to dispensary patients, by Miss McKillican or Mrs. Fenn. " God's word shall not return unto him void." From the dispensaries at Paotingfu much help had been extended. 62 China Itinerating forms a considerable part of the work. Many villages were visited, medicines dispensed, fairs attended, books sold and the gospel preached. The report for 1900 tells of five native helpers at An Ting Hospital, four serving without pay. Three of these men took a special interest in preaching the gospel to the patients, so that no one left the hospital without having heard the story from them many times. The dispensary practice had 4,324 patients. There had been a large increase in the fees received. The same report, in telling about the hospital and dispensary work at Paotingfu, quotes Dr. G. Yardley Taylor as follows : "The question of numbers in medical work is not so important as many seem to think. Medical mis sions were planned to relieve the needless suffering in heathen lands, and by an exhibition of the practical fruits of Christianity, to win for the gospel a hearing it might otherwise fail to secure. This being true, it follows that no unnecessary hindrances should be allowed to interfere with the natural growth of medical work, and that, in case there is no growth, the causes should be sought. For one may feel very sure, at least in China, that when those seeking medical help are few, the chapels are not being overcrowded with eager hearers. Hence, it is with a feeling of satis faction we note that the tide, ebbing for more than a year, seems to have turned. The dispensary attend ance for the last two months was the largest recorded since our station has been opened. " Mention must be made of Mr. Lowrie's faithful- 63 Opportunities ness in talking to the city patients, and Dr. Hodge's assistance during the short time he has been a member of the station." Dr. Taylor and Dr. Hodge suffered martyrdom. Buildings and work were wiped out at these stations. In the plans for reconstruction Paotingfu is to be made the center of work, but the extreme importance of the An Ting Hospital made the Board of Foreign Missions decide to rebuild it at a cost of $10,000, gold, and also four residences. At Paotingfu the men's and the women's hospitals are to be rebuilt at a cost of $4,000 each, on the land given as indemnity. At Tungchow Hospital, the number of patients in creased, but the dispensary attendance was injuriously affected by making a small charge for medicines (in 1898), except in charity cases. Dr. Seymour visited twenty-nine villages in 1897-8, in each place treating the sick and injured, preaching the gospel and dis tributing tracts. The important medical work of this station is conducted with marked economy, as we sadly note from the annual report. There were eight medical students reported in 1901. In Chinanfu, occupied in 1872, medical work was begun in 1879 or 1881 by Dr. Stephen A. Hunter, but not till 1884 could he secure a suitable permanent location in the main street, in front of the prefect's yamen, and even then the premises obtained were only large enough for the street chapel and dispen sary, no hospital accommodations being afforded. For ten years unavailing efforts for a hospital were made, till finally, in 1891, a piece of land was se- 64 China cured, well located on high ground in the east suburb; in front of which the present Mcllvaine Hospital was soon after created. In 1895 another piece of ground was secured in the same region, and a new woman's hospital built; Dr. Sarah A. Poin- dexter having opened a dispensary and hospital for women and children in temporary quarters. The old city dispensary was finally abandoned, and work is now all centered in the suburb. The Mcllvaine Hospital was built with part of a legacy left by the Rev. Jasper S. Mcllvaine, for ten years a missionary in Chinanfu and vicinity, till his death in 1881. The total cost of land and buildings was about $5,000, Mexican, or $2,500 of our money. Rev. Gilbert Reid supervised the first buildings, which were opened by Dr. Van Schoick in August, 1892. In 1894 they were completed under Dr. James S. Neal. He says : " The plan and general architecture are entirely in Chinese style. There are three courts in all, directly succeeding each other from south to north ; namely, a gate court into which opens the main entrance and in which are small side houses for transients and the poorer class of patients ; next, a dispensary court with large main building facing south, used for daily dispensing, and the other at present (1896) is occupied by the woman's dispen sary ; and lastly, a hospital court with one main and two side buildings. In the hospital proper are three large wards, 12x28 feet each, capable of accommo dating, without crowding, nine patients each. Be sides these wards there are three or four smaller 65 Opportunities rooms, making the capacity of the hospital from thirty-five to forty. As every one knows, however, who has had any experience in hospital work in North China, this does not mean that this number of patients can be accommodated at any one time. Owing to the number of friends and relatives who come with patients, and who are really necessary in any serious case, as the hospital does not furnish nurses, a considerably smaller number fills the prem ises. Up to the present only about twenty patients have been under treatment at any one time, any ad ditional applicants being sent to native inns for lack of room. " It should be said, however, that directly behind the hospital, and in intimate connection with it, is a court for medical students, which will eventually be come part of the hospital, thereby increasing its ca pacity to about seventy. " The patients often come a four or five days' jour ney, or one hundred and fifty miles. They are so clanish, that a benefit to one man often means thirty or forty other patients from his neighborhood. Pa tients are required to furnish their own bedding and food, which, as a rule they are expected to buy from restaurants, not to cook it themselves on the premises. All medicine and treatment are free, with the excep tion of certain diseases treated in the dispensary and of the opium-habit patients, who are required to pay seventy-five cents, on entrance, to cover the cost of medicines and to further insure their remaining until cured. We tried charging a small entrance fee to all 66 China patients able to pay at the city dispensary, but it did not seem to work well. We have not yet been con vinced that the charging of fees in what is supposed to be a purely benevolent work, is calculated to pro duce a favorable impression for Christianity. "The majority of our in-patients are farmers from the surrounding districts, but the dispensary practice brings representatives from all classes, from the well- dressed official to the filthy beggar." Mr. Ma had been the right-hand man since 1885. Dr. Neal mod estly says : "If the work of the Mcllvaine Hospital is in any measure a success it is due in large part to the presence, influence and faithful work of Mr. Ma ; at first a mere dispenser, he joined the earliest class of medical students and took the highest rank in his studies all through his course." Dr. Neal's favorite work has been the training of medical students. The woman's hospital, costing $3,570, Mexican, was the gift of Mrs. Boyd, of Harrisburg, Pennsyl vania. The accommodations are ample for any number of out-patients. Twenty or more in-pa tients find room. Mrs. Ma was partially trained by Dr. Poindexter (now Mrs. Rufus H. Bent), of Chining Chow, and also by her husband ; and after Dr. Poindexter left, she saw dispensary patients every day but Sunday. In the training of medical students, a four years' course is given, after which "they are expected to spend from two to four years in some mission hospital, in, order to supplement their regular course and to re pay in. a measure the cost of educating them, and to 67 Opportunities receive their medical certificate. Each boy, with one exception, receives about $2 Mexican per moon, while studying. After graduating they command from five to seven dollars per Chinese month. It may be of interest to those engaged in medical instruction to know that we have tried the plan of cooperative teaching of medicine in Shantung. The second class of students, after spending a year and a half in Chinanfu, finishing with me chemistry, anatomy and physiology, went to I-Chow-fu for a year and a half's study with Dr. Johnson, who took them over most of practice and surgery. "On their return here they spent a year finishing up their course. The present class started in to pur sue the same plan, but. owing to Dr. Johnson's assist ants leaving him, they were compelled to return to Chinanfu after only a couple of months with Dr. Johnson. I am inclined to think favorably of such a plan, especially if mission stations are not too far apart, as giving students an opportunity to see differ ent methods and hear varied instruction. The result in the case of the second class was very satisfactory," was Dr. Neal's verdict. At Chining Chow the Rose Bachman Memorial Hospital had, in 1898, 371 in-patients and 14,688 dispensary patients ; the Hunter Memorial Hospital for women, 292 in-patients and 2,295 dispensary pa tients. "Serious operations have been performed which have opened doors for the entrance of the gospel into hearts and homes and villages." It is im possible to give full details of each hospital. The 68 CARRYING A SICK BABY TO THE HOSPITAL AT LIEN CHOW. PHOTOGRAPH BY DR. ELEANOR CHESTNUT. China work varies in each. Many students are trained; medical works are translated and written, etc. Preju dice is slowly disarmed as the Chinese find that our medical missionaries do not decoy their children to make medicine of their eyes, or collect girls "in a quiet way and when a large number had been col lected, and they had been sufficiently improved by their good living," ship them off to some distant land to be used in an "elixir of life." "The bodies were to be boiled, and from them would be expressed a kind of oil, which, when eaten, has marvelous ef fects." This was at one time the view taken of the work for girls by Mrs. Nevius at Tungchovv. The work is hindered in various other ways. In " Chinese Characteristics " we read that " the opinion of the most ignorant assistant in a dispensary seems (and therefore is) to the average patient as valuable as that of the physician in charge, though the former may not be able to read a character, does not know the name of a drug, nor the symptoms of any disease ; and though the latter may have been decorated with all the letters in the alphabet of medical titles, and have had a generation of experience. Yet a hint from the gate-keeper or the coolie may be sufficient to secure the complete disregard of the directions of the physician and the adoption of something certainly foolish, and possibly fatal." It is often considered cheaper to undergo severe and repeated attacks of intermittent fever, than to pay ten cash — about one cent — for a dose of quinia, morally certain to cure. A man waited in agony more than 69 Opportunities two weeks, after contracting some eye trouble, before coming to the hospital for treatment, hoping each day that the pain would stop ; as the result of which, one eye was totally destroyed by a corneal ulcer. The Chinese have marvelous capacity to resist dis ease. None of the trifling disturbances that drive us to despair annoy him. With his hard pillow the Chinaman can lie down and sleep regardless of all round him. When operated on, he recovers with equanimity, for he has no nerves. He bears his ills with fortitude and patience. One man who had lost the use of both eyes, on applying to the foreign physi cian to know if he could ever see, and having a negative answer, remarked — "Then my heart is at ease. ' ' This cheery content does not forsake them when suffering from every variety of disease, with insuf ficient food, and neglected or abandoned by their relatives. They display an excess of frankness to ward any afflicted person. "This boy is idiotic " is said before him ; every peculiarity and symptom is detailed. Ailments of women and children are apt to be treated by the men of the family as of no con sequence, and constantly allowed to run into incur able maladies. But in a foreign hospital many instances of devotion are witnessed ; of parents to ward children, of children toward parents, even of wives toward husbands and of husbands toward wives. "Wrath-matter, ch'i," is generated when a man becomes very angry ; and all sorts of diseases, blind ness, failure of the heart, etc., are attributed to it. 70 China A Chinese doctor asks his patient, among his first questions, "What was it that threw you into a passion ? " Upon the spread of some fatal epidemic in many parts of China, a New Year's celebration is held at the beginning of the sixth or seventh moon, so as to deceive the God of the pestilence, who will then think he has miscalculated the time of year and will depart, allowing the plague to cease. In spite of all hindrances the medical work has spread the gospel tidings far beyond the domain of the doctor, for each patient goes home to his village to tell of Christian kindness and of the strange new religion, so that whole villages have been brought to God because of one single cure. The news spreads. Patients have come a thousand miles. In The Mission Press of China we are told that in the early days of our Press, small parcels of selected tracts and scripture portions were put on board each vessel of a fleet ere it sailed. These were only to be supplied to readers in the port to which they were bound. Many of these parcels were given in charge of sailors who had previously received medicines and medical treat ment at the dispensary and who were glad to render some service in return. In this manner Christian literature was scattered abroad in regions where mis sionaries never could have access. From an early record kept, it appears that in some cases, "when it was known that the captain of the native trading ves sel had such books, the people came up to the ship in such numbers as to speedily exhaust the supply." 71 Opportunities The worst suffering a Chinese girl and woman un dergoes comes from foot-binding. Nine-tenths of the women are small-footed, as the Manchu race, to which the Empress Dowager belongs, is the only one in which this practice does not obtain. The Tien Tsu Hid or Anti-foot-binding Society is doing all it can to break up the evil. In many of our Christian schools, girls must unbind their feet in order to enter. "Women do not want to cripple themselves; they only do it to please men, and if sure their little girls, when of age, would as easily find eligible husbands, there would be no wish on the part of the mothers to give them pain," writes the secretary of the Tien Tsu Hui. Paralysis and even more serious troubles result . from foot-binding, and the intelligence of growing girls is affected by it. Sometimes the whole foot drops off, as in cases described in Woman's Work in the Far East. One Chinese woman was asked to become a Chris tian. "I could not," she replied. " You know He says ' Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.' I might go to the nearest villages and perhaps to the next ones, but with these feet I never could obey him, and so I cannot be a Chris tian." Wherever foot-binding is adopted, infanticide of girls prevails. Mrs. Ding Ai-nyok in Woman' s Work in the Far East, tells the results of unbinding her feet. "The Chinese have a saying ' A woman's feet and hair pro claim what kind of a woman she is.' It is of the ut- 72 China most importance that the feet be not over three inches, so that they appear like a golden lily. They do not think of the injury to the body and of the suffering which this custom causes. I remember, when a child, how I suffered while my mother was binding my feet. I could neither eat nor sleep, so I sat in one position all day long, and cried. Although suffering, my parents felt it must be done; as the Chinese think that a woman who has not bound her feet must belong to the servile class. Alas ! that it should be so. There can be no reason for such a belief, only that we live in darkness and are in the power of Satan. How grate ful we should be to the friends who have brought us the gospel of Jesus Christ. Already many Christians have been persuaded to give up this cruel custom. "When I was first spoken to on the subject, it seemed I could not unbind my feet. Few people had yet unbound, and those who had taken such a step, had become the talk of the neighborhood. Then some Christians said : ' Bound feet have nothing to do with the salvation of your soul. ' I thought so, too, and was very unwilling to unbind my feet and thus subject myself to untold ridicule. Now I want to say that I have not words to express the good re sulting. Well for me that one of the missionaries pleaded her cause so well. I had been a Christian for years, but could see no advantage in unbinding my feet. Not only has my body been greatly benefited but also my soul. Since then I have received the Holy Spirit to dwell in my heart. Before I un bound, a step an inch long was attended with pain, 73 Opportunities so no matter how many open doors there might be for the gospel, I could not enter them. Now I go wherever I want to go. I can now present my body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable ; something I could not do when I had bound feet. " Now when I go into the houses of the heathen, many people crowd round me to see my feet and in stead of feeling ashamed, I feel that it is an oppor tunity to tell them what the religion of Jesus does for us. I plead all the more' earnestly with Christians to unbind because I feel my former position was much like that of St. Paul before he was converted. ' ' The opium curse is everywhere. The victims of the habit must have it at all hazards, and no crime will deter them from obtaining it. India supplies its Government with $15,000,000 revenue from it an nually, and ninety per cent of the crop is sent to China. Dr. Dennis says: "Throughout the length and breadth of China it prevails to an extent which may be regarded as a frightful, demoralizing, social evil. It is one of the most threatening and militant evils of China, and, indeed, of all sections of the earth where it is gaining headway." Dr. Machle translated from the Chinese book, " Family Physician for the Laity," the three following prescriptions : "Diarrhcea (Infantile). This is a disease of children. The child has malaise, rapid breathing, rolling eyes and spasms. 74 China There is vomiting and violent purging. It is a very dangerous disease and will prove fatal in a day or two. Treatment. R — One yellow chick with its down on and a day or two old. One mussel. One piece of burnt earth from a Chinese mud stove. Fry, add one rice bowl of water; give gravy to child. Heat will be sure to return to the body and the child will be well." "Cholera Morbus (Infantile). Mostly children a year or a few months old. At the very beginning there is excessive and dangerous purging. Death in one day. Treatment. R — One chicken egg. Fry in one piece ; put on pepper ; place as poultice on the navel and bind closely. Then take : — Several earthen holes of toads. Recent ginger, several roots. Fry ; pour on water and drink. The diarrhoea will cease. If you cannot get toad holes take a young rooster just learning to crow. Kill, take out entrails and their contents ; put with them fresh ginger. One piece of burnt earth from a Chinese mud stove ; place in a pan, fry ; pour on water ; give gravy to child. This will stop the purging." 75 Opportunities " Cure for Eruptive Fevers. R — Rhinoceros horn 3 i boil Justicia 5 iv boil Moss (green) one handful Herbs (fresh) g 12^ boil Press out juice; add above juice, add honey ; mix together and drink." 76 Summary of Medical Missionary Work American Baptist Missionary Union. Hanyang, Hupeh, H. Suifu, Szechuan H. D. Kityang, Kwantung, H. D. Swatow, Kwantung, H. 2 D. Ningpo, Chekiang, H. D. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Pagoda Anchorage, Fuhkien, H. D. Foochow, Fuhkien, 2 H. 2 D. Inghok, Fuhkien, medical work Shaowu, Fuhkien, medical work Pang Chuang, Shantung, H. D. American Friends' Foreign Missions. Nanking, Kiangsu, H. 3 D. Friends' Foreign Missionary Association, English. Chun-king D. Sae Hung D. Baptists' Convention, Southern. H. 2D. Kwong-Ning Shiu Hing D.D. Ping-tu Chefoo Seventh Day Baptists, American. Shanghai medical work Chou-PingChu-Chou-fuChou-tsun Baptist Missionary Society, English. H. D. Shensi H. D. Hsin Chow H. D. 77 4D. Opportunities Brethren's Mission, English. Lao-ho-keo H. D. Kiu-Kiang medical work China Inland Mission, January, /goo, English. Kan-suh. Lu-ch'eng 2 0. R. Lanchau I D. U-wu 3 0. R. Ts'in-chau I D. Kiang-chau 1 0. R. P'ing-liang I D. Chen-yuen 1 Opium Refuges Chih-li. Hwuy-luh l T>. Shen- si. Chau-ch'ih I 0. R. Shan-tung. Sang kia-chuang i 0. R. Chefoo r H. 1 D. Ning-hai 1 D. Hsing-p'ingSi-an I o. I o. R. R. Fung-chau r D. r 0. R. Ho-nan. Ch'eng-ku r D. Tai-kang r D. Shan- si. Sl-chuan. Ta-t'ung I D. Kia-ting r D. I 0. R. Pao-ning 1 H. Hsiao-I I 0. R. Sui-ling r D. Kiai-hsiu i 0. R. Sih-chau r D. Gan-hwuy. 2 0. R. Gan-king r D. Ta-ning 3 0. R. Kih-cheoHo-tsin Hoh-chau r 0. r 0. 2 O. R. R.R. Kiang-su. Chin-kiang r H. Hung-T'ung Yoh-yang u o. 2 0. R. R. Kiang-si. P'ing-yang 2 H. 2 0. I D. R. Kih-gan r 0. Cheh-kiang. R. K'uh-wu r 0. R. T'ai-chau 1 H. Yun-ch'eng r D. Wun-chau 1 D. I 0. R. Bing-yae 1 D. I-sh'i 3 0. R. r 0. R. Totals : 18 D. 6 H. 46 O. R. 78 Summary of Medical Missionary Work Church Missionary Society, English, Pakhoi H. D. Kien-ning 2 H Hangchow 2 H. 2 D. Hing-hwa Fuhning H. 2 D. Hok-chiang H. D. H. Ningpo H. 2 D. Mincheo, Szechuan, D. Church of England Zenana Missionary Society. Foochow H. IchangCh'so Yang, Mongolia HankowPekingWuchang Chi-chou Tien-tsin Hiau Kan Methodist Free Church, English. Ningpo medical work Wenchow medical work Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society. Women's Societies. H. H.H. H. H. H. D. H. D. Church of Scotland Mission. D. London Missionary Society. iigolia, D. Yen San D. 2 H. 2D. Shanghai medical work 2 H. D. Amoy H. D. H. D. Chiang-chiu H. H. D. Ya-chow Hunan, H. D. H. 3 D. King-shan H. D. H. Chung-king H. D. Peking, Chihii, H. Suichaufu, Szechuan, H. Chunking, Szechuan, H. Chentu, Szechuan, H. Foochow, Fuhkien, H. Nanking, Kiangsu, 2 H. Wuhu, Nganhui, H. Peking, Chihii, 2 D. Tientsin, Chihii, Tsunhua, Chihii, Chinkiang, Kiangsu, Kiukiang, Kiangsu, Foochow, Fuhkien, Chunking, Szechuan, Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Soochow, Kiangsu, H. D. Methodist New Connexion Society. Chuachia H. K'ai Ping medical work. 79 Opportunities Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, North. Founded Peking An Ting H. 4 D. 1874 John M. Inglis, M. D. Woman's H. 1888 Eliza E. Leonard, M. D. Paotingfu H. 2 D. 1896 Maud A. Mackey, M. D. Chefoo D. Effie B. Cooper, M. D. Mrs. Hunter Corbett, M. D. Chinanfu Mcllvaine H. D. 1892 James B. Neal, M. D. Mary L. Burnham, M. D. Tsing Tau H. D. Charles Lewis, M. D. Tung Chow H. D. W. F. Seymour, M. D. Wei Hsien H. D. 1884 W. R. Fades, M. D. Mateer H. D. 1884 Mrs. R. M. Mateer, M. D. Edna B. Parks, M. D. Ichowfu 2 H. 2 D. 1890 C. F. Johnson, M. D. Emma E. Fleming, M. D. Chining Chow Hunter H. D. 1894 Charles Lyon, M. D. Rose Bachman H. D. 1895 Soochow Tooker Mem. H. D. 1897 Frances F. Cattell, M. D. Mary E. Fitch, M. D. Siang Tan, Hunan, 1900 Fred. J. Tooker, M. D. Leila L. Doolittle, M. D. Harry W. Boyd, M. D. Wei Yuen, Hunan 1902 Samuel Cochran, M. D. Stephen C. Lewis, M. D. Canton H. 5 D. 1835 J. M. Swan, M. D. Paul J. Todd, M. D. 80 Summary of Medical Missionary Work Woman's H. 1901 Mary W. Niles, M. D. Mary H. Fulton , M. D. Mrs. J. J. Boggs , M. D. Lien Chow H. D. 1897 E. C. Machle, M. D. Woman's H. 1901 Eleanor Chestnut, M. D. Sam-kong D. Yeung-kong II. 1893 H. W. Dobson, M. D. Nodoa, Hainan, Henry Mem. H. D. 1896 E. D. Vanderburgh, M. D. Hoihow H. D. 1885 M. McCandliss, M. D. Kacheck 1901 Sidney L. Lasell, M. D. Herman Bryan, M. D., assigned to H aman, 1902. Presbyterian Church, South. Soochow H. Kiang Yiu medical work Chu-chow-fu D. Tsing Kiang Pu medical work Kiahing Su Chieu medical work Presbyterian Church of Canada. Hsincheu medical work Formosa H. Chang Ye medical work Presbyterian Church of England. Taiwanfu, Formosa, medical work Chianghoa " H. Chao-chow-fu H. Eng-chhun medical work Swatow H. Chang-poo H. Wukingfu H. Chinchew, Amoy, H. Jin-jow, Manchuria, Kwan-cheng-tzu medical work medical work Kirin medical work Opportunities Presbyterian Church of Ireland. Kirin H. Chinchow II. Kwangning H. Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society. Shanghai 2 H. 3 D. Wuchang. 2 H. 2D. Ngan-kin medical work Reformed Church in America, Dutch. Kolongsu 2 H. Amoy D. Sio-Khe H. Rhenish Missionary Society. Tung-kun, Canton, H. Society for Propagating the Gospel, English. Peking medical work Societ'e des Missions Evangeliques de Bale. Kayin-tschu H. D. Swedish Mission Union. Shasi, Hupeh, D. Tai- Yuen-Fu Medical Society, Tai-yuen-fu medical work United Presbyterian Church, Scotland. Liaoyang, Manchuria, 2 H. a D. Moukden, Manchuria, 2 H. 2D. Kaiyuan, Manchuria, D. Wesleyan Missionary Society, English. Hangkow 2 H. * D. Fatshan H. D. Wuchang 3 D. Woman's Union Missionary Society. Shanghai H. 82 READY TO RETURN FROM THE MISSION MEETING, LAKAWN, LAOS. PR. BRIGGS. DR- PEOPLES, DR. MCKEAN. CHAPTER IV SIAM AND LAOS The Siamese Twins came to our country in 1829. The American trading vessel that brought them, car ried also an earnest appeal for aid in evangelizing the land of their birth, a land then almost unknown. Dr. Karl Gutzlaff, the famous German missionary, had visited Bangkok with Rev. Mr. Tomlin of the London Missionary Society in 1828. They found an open door, a large, inviting field. Dr. Gutzlaff treated thousands of patients, and twenty-five boxes of books and tracts in Chinese were distributed in two months. Nearly three years were spent here, but as their home societies did not encourage them an appeal was sent to America. It was not till 1835 that permanent work was begun. The American Board sent Daniel B. Bradley, M. D., and his wife, and the Baptist Board sent Rev. William Dean and his wife to the Chinese in Siam. They were one year in reaching their field. Dr. Bradley soon opened a dispensary, and his medical aid was eagerly sought. There was free ac cess to the people in their homes. His zeal, faith and energy never flagged, despite illness, tropical heat and discouragements. For thirty-eight years, till his death in June, 1873, medical work, preaching, printing, «3 Opportunities writing and translating never ceased. In 1840 he in troduced vaccination into Siam, a great boon, for smallpox often made terrible ravages among the peo ple. Of his children and grandchildren six have had a share in mission work in Siam. Mrs. Cheek and Mrs. McGilvary of Laos are his daughters. At the beginning of the work a Buddhist priest said to Dr. Bradley: "Have you come with your chisel to undermine our great mountain of Buddhism ? " When, during an epidemic of cholera, 800 people were dying daily in Bangkok, this faithful worker ministered to the sick and their friends. In 1837 he performed the first amputation in Siam, removing the arm of a Buddhist priest; and later a nobleman re ceived sight by an operation for cataract. These op erations and others were deemed miraculous by the Siamese, and were welcomed by all classes, and thus prejudice was broken down and the way prepared for the gospel. China being opened for missionary work the Amer ican Board withdrew, but Dr. Bradley was unwilling to give up work in Siam and the American Missionary Society supported him. Later on, when other medical assistance was within reach he gave his whole time to preaching, translating the Bible and printing tracts. From the year 1857 until his death, he supported him self entirely by means of the printing press. When Dr. Bradley left for a visit to the United States in 1847 his ship passed the vessel in which were Rev. Stephen Matoon, Mrs. Matoon, and Samuel R. House, M. D., on their way to take up the work of 84 Siam and Laos the Presbyterian Board. They had sailed from New York in the ship Grafton for China, arriving at Macao, after five months, on Christmas day. No other op portunity presenting itself, they were obliged to leave for Bangkok by way of Singapore. There they were most kindly entertained by the Rev. B. P. Keasberry of the London Missionary Society. In the harbor was a native built trading ship belonging to the king of Siam, commanded by a European, on which they secured passage, and in twenty-eight days, after a tedious voyage, they reached Bangkok March 22, 1847, eight months after leaving New York. To-day six or seven weeks only are required for the journey. The tidings of a new foreign physician spread, and patients of every kind and of all classes crowded to him for relief. Dr. House was compelled to reopen the dispensary which Dr. Bradley had for a long time conducted in a floating-house moored in front of the missionary premises. Pestilence burst like a thunderbolt on Bangkok in 1849. In one month fully 35,000, or about one-tenth of its population, were destroyed. There were 2,000 deaths in twenty-four hours when this epidemic of Asiatic cholera was at its height. The mission fam ilies were all graciously spared. For thirty years Bangkok had been free from cholera, and then as Dr. House wrote in " Siam and Laos " : "Go where you would in the streets you would meet men carry ing their dead slung from a bamboo borne on the shoulders of two of them ; hundreds of corpses were thrown into the river and heaps on heaps were piled 85 Opportunities up like logs and burned to get them out of the way. "I need not say that the Siamese were very much frightened when this dreadful disease broke out among them. They saw their friends and neighbors sicken and die in an hour on their right hand and left in almost every house, and each one feared it might be his turn next. But where did they look for help ? Did the king proclaim a fast day, think you ? and the people repent of their many sins, and pray to God to have mercy on them ? Alas ! God was not in the thought of this people at all. Their religion teaches them there is no God ; no creator who made the world ; the world made itself, they say ; ' It always was.' The god they do worship, Buddha, whose images are in every tem ple, was nothing but a mere man like themselves; and, now he has left the world, knows nothing, cares nothing about it, or indeed about anything else. " The common notion about the pestilence was, that an army of wicked spirits had come invisibly to carry off mankind, to make them their servants in the un seen world. Oh, how anxious they were to make these spirits of the air their friends ! So the people made various offerings in order to conciliate the good will of these spirits of the air. " It was a common practice in those days to form a little square tray from pieces of the plantain-tree, and, placing the offerings thereupon, leave them by the side of the street, where the spirits would find them ; or else, placing them on the water, let them float down the stream. The river and the land were full of them. Siam and Laos " Coming home one night, I stumbled over one in my path, and, having a lantern, stopped to examine it. On the rude tray, which was about a foot square, were strewed rice, some coarse salt tied up in a little rag, some fresh flowers, betel-nuts, sliced plantain, the end of a torch and two rough images of clay representing a man and a woman, each with a dirty shred of cloth about it. The object in making the images was that the spirit might accept them for their servants instead of the persons who offered them. The invisible spirit never carried off any of these dainty gifts, but I have seen sensible looking dogs helping themselves freely to the rice and whatever else was eatable. " Some would take great pains to make perfect little models of a Chinese junk, painted gaily, and fit them out with little red and white banners, wax tapers, fruit and flowers. These boats contained as passen gers clay images of men, women and children, and at dusk the tapers were lighted and the little vessels launched on the river as an offering to the spirits, to be borne away on the tide. Many charms were also used to keep off the evil spirits that bring disease. They consisted of strips of paper with various squares and marks upon them, sewed up in bits of red cloth or leather of a three-cornered shape. " But by far the most common practice as a pre ventive of cholera, was wearing a few strands of cotton yarn about the neck or wrist. Go where you would, in the market or along the riverside, nearly all women and children wore this white string. I 87 Opportunities have been in the houses of noblemen where one had just been taken sick, when all the women of the family were busy dividing a hank of cotton yarn into portions and tying them around the wrists or necks of themselves and their children with as much earnest ness as if their lives depended on it. Often in trying to feel for the pulse of some poor dying creature have I pushed this cotton thread away to get at the wrist. " Many houses were entirely encircled by a long cotton cord with bits of written paper fastened to it here and there. The outer palace walls, more than a mile in circumference, were thus girt around, the cord looped up from the battlements every few rods. But Death crossed the enchanted line, if the spirits did not, and hundreds of the king's large household were swept away. "The pestilence had not been prevailing long be fore the Chinese in the city, at their houses on land and at every floating house for miles along the river and canals, had tall bamboo poles put up, with cords attached by which a little lantern could be raised to the top. After dark, when all these were lighted, they gave the city a beautiful appearance. This fool ish waste of oil was kept up all night for weeks and months. Besides this, the Chinese tried to get the favor of their gods by the firing of crackers, by boat- races and processions on land and water. "There were other spirits, besides those that had caused the pestilence, that the Siamese treated with great respect during those days. Before or near almost every house, raised on a single pole about as high as Siam and Laos one's head, stood a little wooden house, having one small room opening on a little porch. In this porch and room you would always find a quantity of offer ings — such curious ones, too, that you would be more sure than ever it was a dolls' playhouse; yet the grown up members of the family had built them to secure the good-will of the spirits guarding the spot occupied by their dwelling. " A piece of board shaped something like the head of a spear, slips of cloth covered with written char acters, little clay images of elephants, horses, men and women, rice, betel-nut, tobacco and flowers, — these would be offered, in addition to the wax tapers kept burning and food set out, if any of the family were sick. " The worshiping of these spirits is a kind of super stition that appears to have been handed down by the forefathers of the Siamese from the ancient times be fore the Buddhist religion, which throws no light upon it, was introduced into their country. As the people believe that these spirits can protect them from sick ness during cholera-times, the offering-houses are well supplied, and the little spirits (had there been any) would not have lacked tobacco, betel, food and cloth ing, or clay horses to ride. "The temples of the idols and priests were not for gotten in those days. The preaching-places were filled with hearers, presents were made in abundance to the priests and there was much bowing to idols. One great man was sure that he could not die of cholera because he had gained so much merit by pay- Opportunities ing the expenses of making a number of new priests — some three or four hundred ticals ; but he too was taken away by the fatal disease. Priests were in de mand also to chant prayers over the dying that they might be happy in the next life. I was much affected by seeing a poor mother trying to comfort her son, a young man stricken down by disease and fast sinking. She told him to think of the favor of his god, and then putting his hands together with his palms touch ing, as he was too far gone to raise them himself, lifted them for him above his head, as is done in the wor ship of Buddha. And so this life went out as thou sands upon thousands have since gone, in blind groping after its god; and this mother was left as many mothers in that land have been left, without one ray of hope or light beyond the borderland which the spirit of her dear one has passed." The whole time of this missionary doctor was passed in attendance on the sick and dying, in prin ces' palaces and in bamboo huts. Many lives were saved and many lifelong friends secured to him and his religion. Of all those perishing thousands, only one man died in hope of Christ — an old man from a far-distant, up-country home, who was converted simply from reading Christian tracts, without seeing the living teacher. He reached Bangkok, to become one of the earliest victims. He died without fear. No work in Siam is more appreciated, more suc cessful in winning favor, in disarming the prejudices of the people, and in direct evangelization than this medical mission work. 90 Siam and Laos The Siamese believe that nature is made up of earth, fire, wind, water. The human body is com posed of the same elements, divided by them into two classes, the visible and invisible. The bones, flesh, blood, etc., belong to the first; to the second, wind and fire. Twenty kinds of earth compose the body ; with twelve kinds of water, six kinds of wind, and four kinds of fire. Of winds, the first kind passes from the head to the feet ; the second from the feet to the head ; the third resides above the diaphragm ; the fourth forms the pulse, circulating in the arteries ; the fifth enters the lungs ; and the sixth resides in the in testines. The four kinds of fire are — first, that which gives the body its natural temperature ; the second, that which causes a higher temperature, as after exer cise or in fevers; the third variety causes digestion, and the fourth, old age. The Siamese divide the body into thirty-two parts, the skin, lungs, heart, etc. The body is subject to ninety-six diseases, due to the disarrangement of the earth, wind, fire and water. Thus, if there is an undue proportion of fire we have one of the fevers. Dropsies are caused by too great a proportion of water, and wind causes all manner of complaints. Nine out of ten natives when asked what is the matter with them, answer "Pen lorn " (wind). Health or disease is caused by the external elements acting on the bodily elements. The hot season is be lieved to make us more liable to fevers, and the wet season causes dropsy. Earth is supposed to produce disease by invisible and impalpable mists and vapors. 91 ' Opportunities Spirits, as narrated above, have great power over the body, deranging the elements and producing all manner of disease. The minds of the natives are thus held in continual bondage for fear of the spirits, for no one knows what great sins he may have com mitted in a previous state of existence for which he may be called to suffer at any time. Thus the people are constantly endeavoring to propitiate the spirits by presents, incantations, etc. In the time of Buddha lived one, who is still worshiped as the Father of medicine. To him it is said the plants all spoke, telling their names and medical properties. These were written in books and have become sacred. If they fail to produce the effects attributed to them, the fault is never theirs but is due to the absence of merit in the patient or doctor. The natives use almost everything as medicine ; the skins and bones of various animals occupy a large part of their pharmacopoeia, while the galls of snakes, tigers, lizards, etc., are among the most valuable of their medicines. Many of the Siamese remedies are very complicated, being composed of scores of differ ent ingredients. The following is a characteristic prescription for the bite of a snake : portions of the jaws of a wild hog, of a tame hog, of a goat ; of a goose-bone, of a pea cock-bone ; of the tail of a fish ; of the head of a venomous snake. Duly compounded, these form a popular remedy when the venom has caused lock-jaw. Many other remedies are equally marvelous. Every native physician has an image of the Father 92 Siam and Laos • of medicine in his house. The drugs are placed in this idol's hand and receive his blessing ; afterwards they are taken to the patient's house and boiled in earthen pots, a wicker work star being placed above and below the drugs to give the medicine strength. The patient is usually obliged to swallow many potfuls of medicine, each pot containing two or three quarts. If the patient dies the doctor gets no fee. Thus Dr. E. A. Sturge, who founded the Petcha- buree Hospital, describes the Siamese theory and prac tice of medicine. " China was the only nation permitted to have free intercourse with Siam, and no property could be bought for the Mission till the death of the king in 1851. After this a good site was secured and the first zenana teaching ever attempted in the East be gan in 185 1, among twenty-one of the thirty young wives of the king and several of his royal sisters; Mrs. Bradley being one of the three missionaries to begin this work. It was not till 1859 that the first convert was baptized. On August 7th of that year Nai Chune was baptized and received into church fellowship. Petchaburee was occupied as a station in 1861, and the first hospital in Siam was erected there in 1862." Our medical work has so impressed the Siamese that th.ey are taking it up themselves. In 1881, a native nobleman built a hospital for sixty patients at Bangkok, and gave it for public use. The doctor in charge has been Dr. Tien Hee, a graduate of our Bangkok mission boarding-school, and of the medical 93 -. Opportunities school of New York University. The king has built three hospitals, one insane asylum, and a medical col lege. He called to take charge of these Dr. T. H. Hayes, an earnest man, "who always carries in his heart strong desires for the uplifting of Siam's peo ple." He had attended a son of the king and queen and touched their hearts by his skill. The first queen gave a donation of 1,600 ticals to the Petchaburee Hospital in 1895. Fifteen years ago a native of Nakawn heard of the fame of an English physician at Bangkok, and with his wife set out in a little sailboat in quest of healing. Adverse winds drove them into the Petchaburee River. Here they met a native Christian who asked them "Why go to Bangkok ? There is a good missionary at Petchaburee who will gladly care for you." The sick man was welcomed at the hospital, and not only was he healed there, but he and his wife were both converted. They spent nearly a year in learning of our Saviour and then returned to their native province to proclaim the glad tidings. Before long, several whom they in structed had journeyed to Bangkok and Petchaburee to unite with our churches there. In 1898, a church of sixty-five members was at Nakawn. " Though the climate of Nakawn is healthful, the mass of the peo ple are the most wretchedly sickly to be found in Siam. This is due mainly to the sinful lives of the people, and their ignorance of the laws of health, sanitary arrangements, and diet. " In time of pestilence among the cattle, they eat the flesh of animals which have died of disease. They 94 Siam and Laos. throw the carcasses of dead animals into the stream above the city from which many of the people have to draw their supply of drinking water. They eat the flesh of animals which are scavengers among the dead. The natural result is that they are subject to horrible sores, and many of them seem to be a mass of loath some disease." Dr. Sturge was then at Petchaburee, where he gained a reputation of which any man might be proud. The natives still wait and pray for his return, but ill- health compelled him to go to California, where he and his wife now labor among the Japanese. The King of Siam "lends " the Rajaburee Mission their property on condition that " the borrowers promise to establish schools and a hospital for the purpose of permanently carrying on educational and medical mis sionary work." Dr. Walter B. Toy had a few eminently successful years at Petchaburee, going afterwards to Bangkok to undertake medical itineration on the thickly populated rivers of Lower Siam, his station now being Pitsanu- loke. Dr. J. B. Thompson succeeded him at Petch aburee, but he was called to his reward after but one day's illness in March, 1897. Dr. Thompson had treated five thousand patients annually, and every one of them heard of Christ. "Though dead he yet speaketh " in those whom he trained for his Lord. Nai Dtoi, who had been trained by Dr. Toy, and had been assistant since 1891, took charge of the work at Dr. Thompson's death. 95 Opportunities Dr. Swart arrived November 17, 1898, and in a month and a half had five in-patients at the hospitals. Three of them were serious stab wounds, each the re sult of the same evil that causes so much misery in the home land — drink. Calls had also come from patients outside the hospital. At first, beds in the Petchaburee Hospital consisted of three or four boards on trestles, spread with grass, with a small cotton pillow. Afterwards, iron bed steads made of tubing, cotton mattresses, pillows and towels were introduced. Twenty-five dollars will fit up a ward for two persons. A kitchen was desired that the diet of the patients might be controlled, for the train of relatives who accompany each patient give him anything he fancies to eat. Now, the hospital plant is the best in the Mission. There are excellent accommodations for twenty in-patients ; the separate woman's ward has eight beds and room for a dozen. Medical missionaries are not quite settled on the subject of fees. Dr. Wachter of Rajaburee says : " Any case of emergency brought to me is treated, and the question of pay is not brought up until the patient is about to leave. Then he may pay me the sum I ask or may not pay at all, or pay more : all this has happened. Children and old people as a rule receive treatment at half rates or without any charge." Siam and Laos have been remarkable for the tours of our missionaries. The first of these was made by Dr. House in 1853, partly on foot, partly on elephant, a tour of great interest to Korat, an important inland town over in the great valley of the Cambodia River, 96 Siam and Laos returning by Kabin. No white man had ever been seen there before. He also paid a visit to Laos partly by land, and on his way thither over the Laos Mountains narrowly escaped death. The elephant on which he had been riding unexpectedly turned on him and striking him down with its trunk, wounded him severely with his tusks while trying to transfix him. The tours made by Rev. and Mrs. Eugene P. Dun- lap have been remarkable. Both of them are skillful in medicine, and wherever they go they have medical work to do. On a recent tour the chief commis sioner asked them to take charge of men who had been taken sick while engaged on public works prepar atory to a visit of the king at Nakawn. Dr. Dun- lap prepared a temporary hospital and in June and July treated 941 hospital and dispensary patients. He had an audience with the king who said among other things : " I am glad you are here working for the good of my people, and I wish you success." On this four months' tour (which is a fair specimen of all) they traveled " on elephants, numerous canoes, nine steamers, four Chinese sailboats, by railroad, and long distances on foot. They lodged in hotels, rest houses, police stations, bamboo huts, governors' mansions, court-houses, woodsheds, warehouses, and Chinese theatres. They labored in two Malay states, two islands and eight provinces and sold more than 7,000 portions of Scripture and Christian books. They were kept in health and when they returned home, feasted on three months' mail." In January, 97 Opportunities 1899, Dr. Dunlap procured a special boat for touring; — the Kalamazoo, second of the name. It is a fine boat built of teak by an English ship captain ; length sixty-three feet, beam twelve feet, depth of hold seven feet, six inches; carries three sails. The boat has comfortable cabins and is large enough for work all along both coasts of the gulf. It is about three times as large as the old Kalamazoo, which was given by the Sunday schools of Kalamazoo, Mich., and which after a splendid record has been sold to Rev. Dr. Adamsen of Bangkok, so that it will continue in mission work. The Laos people, settled near Petchaburee, greatly interested the missionaries, and a tour to the Laos of the North was made in 1863. Work was begun at Chieng Mai, five hundred miles from Bangkok, in 1867. The journey up the river, owing to the swift current and the many rapids, requires about two months. The Laos boats used are specially built, flat-bot tomed, of light draught and about fifty feet long. The bow and stern rise in a sharp, narrow curve. In the stern is a small cabin used as a bedroom and sit ting room, of which the floor can be taken up in sec tions so that clothing, provisions, and bedding can be stored beneath. In the middle third of the boat is a covered portion, the freight department, sometimes termed a "cage room." The crew have bamboos about fifteen feet long, ending in an iron fork. " They start at the extreme tip of the prow, plant the pole against the bottom of the bank and walk aft with it 98 Siam and Laos till the ' cage room ' stops them. Then they balance the pole in one hand high over the head so as to allow the man following to pass under and run back again to the tip of the prow to repeat the same thing. If the boat sticks in the sand as it sometimes does, the polemen have to dig a channel ; a broad, wooden shovel is used for this purpose. One man passes it down while another drags it along by means of a rattan cable, fastened to the blade. When several missionaries travel together, one boat is set apart as a kitchen. A halt is always made for meals, and at night. Night-time is most picturesque, for on the bow of each boat a fire burns, and a huge bonfire is kindled on shore." Hon. Hamilton King, Minister Resident and Con- sul-General of the United States to Siam, wrote an article in the Independent which Rev. A. W. Halsey, Secretary of the Foreign Board, considered so impor tant he had it printed in leaflet form, "A Visit to the North Laos Mission." In this Mr. King says: "From the first the medical work has been given a prominent place and has proved a valuable auxiliary. When the Rev. Daniel McGilvary first went to this field forty-three years ago he took with him four bottles of quinine. The people were afraid of the white man's medicines and believed the ills of the flesh were due to spirits and hence could be cured only by offerings made to the spirits. The doctor hired people to take the medicine to prove to them its efficacy in fever, which is the prevailing malady of the country. In a very short time an order was 99 Opportunities sent down for forty bottles more, and now thousands and thousands of rupees' worth of quinine are sold in Chieng Mai alone every year. Vaccination, brought into Siam by Dr. Bradley, of Bangkok, about this time, was soon introduced into Chieng Mai. This proved a success from the first, and not long after wards the doctor vaccinated a whole village of Karens of 163 persons, from a month old to seventy-five years of age. And now I am told that the majority of this generation have been vaccinated and untold numbers of lives have been saved during the last third of a century. "The loathsome disease of goitre abounds in this country and to the north, and from the infancy of the mission a splendid work has been done in alleviating the sufferings caused by this disease. Work among the lepers, many of whom are also found in this coun try, has been prosecuted for the last seven years, and, although under discouraging circumstances for the want of money, much good is being done. For many years past the medical work has enjoyed the favor of the rulers. The former chief, who was a veritable king, showed his appreciation of the work in many ways. He frequently made presents of horses, bi cycles, and other articles for the use of the physician. And shortly before his death he gave Rs. 1,000 for the work. His appreciation of and confidence in the work were definitely shown in that the physician of the mission was in constant attendance upon him for two or three years, previous and up to the time of his death, and his sons, who are now reigning, continue 100 Siam and Laos in the same attitude. A recent move to enlarge the present mission hospital has elicited such generous response that the mission is encouraged to believe that their work is appreciated by all classes in this city. Two English timber companies and one Burmese company have donated fifty teak logs each, and a second Burmese company has given ten. The Chi nese citizens of Chieng Mai have subscribed and paid in Rs. 2,480. The Siamese High Commissioner has headed a subscription list (for the hospital) which is now going the rounds of the Laos princes and Siamese officials. The Shans, the Tong Su, the Burmese, and the Karens of Chieng Mai are also subscribing money to this object. The Americans and European resi dents outside the mission have subscribed Rs. 2,000 for the new hospital addition, and the missionary physician has free access to every home in Northern Siam, from the hovel of the beggar to the palace of the highest ruler. "Naturally this work appeals to the people of all grades and has a tendency to open wide the door to the influences and the principles that inspire it. At a recent banquet given in honor of Prince Damrong, Minister of the Interior, he said, in a voice to be heard by all present : "'Mr. King, I want to say to you that we have great respect for your American missionaries in our country, and appreciate very highly the work they are doing for our people. I want this to be under stood by every one, and if-you are in a position to let it be known to your countrymen I wish you would say Opportunities this for me. I have just now more especially in mind my visit to Chieng Mai. The work of your people is excellent. I cannot say too much in praise of the medical missionaries there especially.' " And what is being done in Chieng Mai is repeated, only on a smaller scale, at all the other stations." Dr. Vrooman went as the first regular doctor, in 187 1, but was able to stay only two years on account of ill health. Dr. Cheek came in 1875 and opened a dispensary. "A nice shed of bamboo" was the first hospital, but it " rendered most important service to the whole cause. Only a bamboo shed fifty by ten feet, the walls of basket-work giving ready access to rain, wind and sunlight ; the tile roof with no ceiling, so that the heat is intense by day. Bamboo partitions separate the interior into five small rooms, and the floor is raised on poles seven feet above the ground. The only furniture is a bamboo joint for drinking water, and a broken saucer used as a lamp, — one set for a room. Every patient brings a spread to lie on and a few rude cooking utensils. When the five little rooms are crowded, temporary sheds covered with grass are erected. "You don't know how it feels when a man comes miles and miles, perhaps bringing a sick wife or child. You cannot turn them off, so you plan and ' squeeze ' to make one poor bit of shelter more. Or possibly, just on the point, you hope, of curing some poor woman (perhaps a mother with little ones dependent on her), the benighted relatives neglect your orders, to follow their own savage devices ; and so one and 102 Siam and Laos another life goes out in sin, darkness and eternal death. " There is another side. Probably the majority of the present Laos Church members became acquainted with Christianity as patients or from those who had been first reached in this way. The daily toil and heartache, the sleepless nights of anxious watching, the discomforts of the rude hut are forgotten in the joy of souls won from the power of satan for Christ." The American boys and girls in 1884 were asked to form a great stock company and take shares at twenty- five cents apiece, that the brick building planned with facilities and rooms to meet the demand might be erected. Results cannot be wholly gratifying under such (bamboo) circumstances, despite the numbers treated. Houses are located and built in violation of all hygienic considerations. When a doctor enters " a sick cham ber, he finds the air almost suffocating, and must con duct his examination by the dim light of a small wax taper, for in the construction of a Laos house the principal object seems to be the utter exclusion of light, there being no doors or windows except the necessary entrance." Native nursing seriously com promises any favorable tendencies. The inclinations of the patient, or opinions of nurses or friends, amend all the physician's directions. If the patient is sup posed to be seriously ill, the attendant throng of vis itors, relatives, friends, acquaintances, disturb by a ceaseless hum of voices. Similar cases, marvelous cures, melancholy symptoms, are fully discussed. On 103 Opportunities a second visit to a patient the medical missionary finds these friends devoutly attending to the reading of the Buddhist scriptures by one or more priests. " Long prayers and chants are rehearsed, sacred water is sprinkled over the patient, offerings of flowers and wax tapers are made to the household spirits. After this ceremony, which lasts for several hours, the pa tient passes into the hands of a native doctor." The native doctor resembles those of Siam, having the same theory and practice of medicine. He may be fortunate enough to own one of the three or four books treating of the mysteries of vital phenomena, with their invaluable formulae. The owner of such a book is held in high repute for his superior learning, though he may not be able to read a line. Spirits cause most of their disorders. Rheumatism is said to be caused by a "swamp spirit." When a person is thus afflicted, the doctor takes an ax or a large knife and draws the edge along the affected part, without touching it ; at the same time advising the spirit to return to its former abode. In epileptic fits two or more men stand on the thighs and pelvis of the suf ferer and so prevent the spirit from entering into some vital organ. Their worst superstition is the belief that the spirit, or essence of one living person may enter the body of another and inflict serious injuries, or even destroy life. Hysteria, delirium and variation of surface temperature indicate the presence of this spirit, who is called "Pee K'a." "The treatment is a specialty, and the doctors who understand these cases gain great 104 Siam and Laos notoriety, and are sent for from far and near to exor cise the spirits." Dr. Cheek, who writes the above, once witnessed an exorcism. Three of the specialists were present. After frequent and prolonged draughts of arrack (rice- whiskey), "I thought they liked it, but I was in formed that these learned doctors drank simply in or der to facilitate their communication with the spirit, and that the chances were that they did not like the taste of whiskey." Their investigation consisted in taking a tiger's tooth and muttering some gibberish, drawing it along the side and back of the patient, till a deep incision drew blood, and a cry was uttered. (The patient had lost the power of speech.) This sound was taken to indicate the spirit's locality, and there was a vigorous thrust into the side, with foul and abusive language. The "three drunken, demoniac savages" in this case could not discover the spirit. But if the name of some one is mentioned by the pa tient, that person is said to have bewitched him, and he, with all his family, must leave the neighborhood. Everything belonging to them except what they can easily carry is burned ; they cannot sell gardens, rice- fields, nor other possession, for no one will risk the supposed contamination. They must go to a distant province occupied only by others like themselves. Hundreds of families are yearly driven from their homes in obedience to this fearful superstition. A letter from Dr. Denman, shows more of this ter rible superstition, "evil spirit possession." "In this Laos land, happenings which are not 105 Opportunities easily understood are attributed to spirits. This is specially true of disease. In the books of native med icine is frequently found the statement that 'if this medicine does Isuow (that is, has no effect on the disease) it is spirits. ' The manner in which the na tive doctor proceeds is as follows : He prepares a piece of betel-nut and gives it to his patient to eat. If the patient pronounces the odor and taste disgust ing, then the doctor knows it is 'Freelsa,' or evil spirits which have caused the trouble; if it be fra grant, household spirits have caused the trouble; if it be sour, spirits have charmed the patient; if the taste be salty, the witchery is of man. Then the patient or his friends must make certain offerings to the spirits before taking medicine. " As long as spirits are well fed, they are supposed to be good spirits and do nobody any harm. Some times, however, a person is careless and does not nour ish his household spirits sufficiently. Then their tempers, human like, rise with long fasting and they go visiting among their owner's relatives, inflicting injury here and there. Should the owner still neglect his spirit-worship, the spirits become evil demons in deed, going about seeking what they may devour of flesh of man or beast. But should the owner take warning, and make offerings to the spirits, they may not be received. The spirits are angry, and from that time all men call them evil spirits. Thenceforth that man cannot escape the influence of those angry spirits. If he moves his habitation they follow. For a time they may wander away but they always come 1 06 Siam and Laos back like 'the cat.' From time to time they take possession of some sick person and cause him to call out the name of their master or owner. "If a person is ill and his friends neglect him; if they leave him alone for a moment or fail to put his spirit-charms on his wrists or neck, some evil spirit will steal in, and take possession of him. Again, the owner of an evil spirit may have a quarrel with a neighbor and the evil spirit take possession of the neighbor. "When the owner of an evil spirit dies or gets rid of the spirits by entering the Christian religion, the spirits are supposed to take up their abode near some deserted temple ground. A person, especially a woman or child may go near that temple ground for wood or vegetables, which the natives gather in the woods or waste places, and a few days after be taken with fever. The friends then consult the oracles which will declare that the spirits of a certain deserted temple trouble the sick person. A pig or a chicken is offered as food for the spirit and the sick gets well. " When an evil spirit takes possession of any one, the person becomes unconscious for a time and then delirious. The friends call a spirit doctor, who after tying cords about the wrist of his patient asks him, or rather asks the spirit which possesses him, the name of his owner. The spirit, through the man, gives the name, or perhaps no name is forthcoming. Then the attendants beat the man until the spirit answers. The person whose name is given out is sent for, or if the sick man be able, all may go in a body to the house of the 107 Opportunities spirit's owner. When the owner is found, the spirit (man) cries ' take me home, take me home, they have tied me here.' The person who is suspected of being the evil spirit's owner then asks a multitude of ques tions. For instance, the spirit will be asked where the man lives, what are the names of his father, mother, wife and children. How many cattle and buffaloes he has ; how much money he has and how much of it is borrowed. If the spirit answers all these questions correctly, the man accused must acknowl edge it as his and promise to take it home. If, how ever, the answers are not correct, that person is free ; it is not his spirit. In such a case the man is again beaten to get the spirit to tell the truth. Should no owner be found, it is no proof of the non-existence of spirits, but they say that spirit is accustomed to deceive his owner. " When a person has confessed to the ownership of an evil spirit, if it be the first offense perhaps nothing will be done ; but if that spirit shall go and ' eat ' a second person, the case will be taken to the rulers, who will probably drive the owner out of the village, tear down the house and destroy all trees and vegeta bles growing on the place. Afterwards no one will knowingly live on the place. Should a person un wittingly become possessed of some of the property of the exiled man, even though it be a single earthen vessel, the evil spirit will take up his abode with that person and sometimes cause him trouble in the same way. "Some evil spirits are worse than others. If an 108 Siam and Laos ordinary evil spirit troubles many people, it finally becomes very bad, and takes the form of a white horse with a very long tail and mane. At midnight this horse goes forth in search of some sick person. Hav ing found such an one he gallops round and round that house. If the people leave the sick man only for a moment, or allow the fire to die out, the spirit enters and takes possession of him. ' Of whomsoever this spirit takes possession, that person dies.' Such is the belief of the people, and they live in daily fear of the influence of an evil spirit. "Although they claim to be Buddhists, their books teach that any one who holds that evil spirits are worthy of worship, cannot be a disciple of Buddha. When the people's attention is called to this fact they usually acknowledge that it is so, but continue in the same evil way. One great trouble in winning con verts to Christ among these people, is that they do not think for themselves. They do these things be cause their father or mother did them before them. Usually willing to acknowledge the insufficiency of Buddhism or spirit worship, they blindly follow on after their blind leaders. Nothing but God's Spirit in great power can convict and convert. Without these our words are of no avail." Although spirit worship and other religious observ ances are supreme at their homes, the people willingly neglect them on mission premises. Efficient medical mission work, which means hospital work, is the chief hope of religious and intellectual regeneration to this people. 109 Opportunities The wards of the Chieng Mai Hospital are kept always full; the dispensary receipts exceed the ex penditures. There are four native assistants. The hospital nurse is Ai Keo, who came eight years ago as patient, and now is an excellent evangel ist. " He lives the gospel daily amongst the sick, and is constant in the study of the Bible, and con stant also in teaching all who come into the wards. By day and by night he watches the sick, and cares for them as though they were his own family. Sel dom is practical Christianity so well illustrated." A religious service is held every night, three nights at the medical residence and four nights on the hospital veranda, the last being in charge of native Christians. They have also organized a Christian Endeavor So ciety, at whose meetings all freely take part. The offering made at every meeting is used for the lepers and prisoners. Prince and people now favor the work. The Chieng Mai chief so long friendly to our medical work, not long before his death in 1897, sent a gift of 1,000 rupees to aid this department. From funds collected on the field, this hospital has been enlarged. In a "Bi-monthly letter of the North Laos Mis sion," is this paragraph: "We are constantly im pressed with the need of more trained medical assistants. When will the church at home send us two or three much needed missionary physicians, in order that there may be a beginning made in medical instruction for the Laos? " Dr. Briggs writes : " Dr. J. W. McKean, who is NEW NATIVE WARDS AND CHAPEL, CHIENG MAI. FOUR NATIVE HELPERS. PHOTOGRAPH BY DR. W. Siam and Laos most efficient as an evangelist and translator and also as a physician and surgeon, has had sole charge of the medical work of Chieng Mai; a work that, in itself, could keep three medical men busy. Besides hospital and dispensary work and the multitude of calls from the heathen around, he must care for the Christians within a radius of thirty miles, who look to him as their 'Father Nourisher.' The work is so great that without an associate it is impossible to find time to train efficient native physicians. Truly here is an attractive and urgent call to some consecrated physician and a call to the church to send him to the help of this long-suffering 'Doctor of the Old School.'" In 1885 Rev. S. C. Peoples, M. D., and Mrs. Peoples began work at Lakawn where is now the well- furnished Charles T. Van Santvoord Hospital. The first contribution toward the woman's ward came from a woman in Canada, who gave three dollars when all her year's income was but thirty dollars. Every cent for this ward was given by women. Dr. W. A. Briggs, during the last famine in Lakawn, was caring for sixty sick people, thirty in the hospital ; and distributing famine relief to two or three hundred persons daily ; treating dispensary patients ; superin tending the building of the woman's ward ; and study ing the language. It was such satisfactory work that he said : "Some day we shall find out who has had the best time of it in this world." On one of his tours he traveled in three months nearly 1,000 miles, helping 1,000 sick persons in thirty-four places, and Opportunities preaching the gospel to the Laos people as far north as Yunnan Province, China. Here it is appropriate to mention the tours of Rev. Daniel McGilvary, who though not an M. D. has done efficient medical service as one of the pioneer missionaries from his first arrival in Chieng Mai, to the present time. In his itinerating tours, often alone, into French-Laos territory to the northeast and into British- Laos territory to the north, he follows the directions of Christ: "Heal the sick and preach the gospel." An account of the tours of this veteran missionary would make a valuable and interesting volume for students of foreign missions. Medical work at Lampoon was begun by Rev. W. C. Dodd in 1891. A native trained by Dr. Peoples came afterwards and has carried on a very successful dispensary work under mission auspices. At Pre, which was opened in 1893, by Dr. and Mrs. Briggs, hospital work has been carried on by Dr. Thomas. The sixty in-patients reported last year do not represent the number who have heard of Christ, for a patient is always accompanied by from two to five relatives. The doctor and helpers daily present the gospel, and many patients carry to their homes the literature supplied by Mrs. Thomas. At the dispen sary nearly 2,000 heard the word of God in one year. The dispensary receipts in 1901 were 1,830 rupees. Pre is the Mitchell Memorial Station. The last appeal received by the Rev. Arthur Mitchell, D. D., the honored secretary of the Presbyterian Board, was from Laos. Siam and Laos Chieng Rai, nine days northward from Chieng Mai, was occupied in February, 1897. Accommo dations are not extensive. The hospital ward ac commodated ten patients and cost less than $60. A dispensary building and adjoining rest-house were to be added. Here Dr. Denman had his headquarters, and made tours into the surrounding country, till Dr. Briggs took up the work. In October, '97, the hospital was thus described : " Our hospital ward is so far complete that we hope to be able to occupy it this week. You, who know hospitals as they are in America, must not imagine that we have such here. Let me describe it if I can. A building twenty-five by fifteen feet, with walls of matting much coarser than floor mat ting. The floor of teak boards and the roof of thatch made from long grass. About one side and end runs an eight foot veranda. All sides are well supplied with doors and windows for free ventila tion, of which there is often much need. You would not see any white, snowy cots, or white-capped nurses, instead each patient brings his own mattress of cotton and thin cotton blanket, or, if he is too poor, one is furnished him. The usual custom, which I would like very much to change, is for some friend to come along to wait on the patient. So there is no trained nursing, the hospital assistant being the nearest approach to it. " For the present or until we can erect the dispen sary and operating room, we will be obliged to par tition off a little room in this hospital ward for dis- "3 Opportunities pensary purposes. For the past four months and a half we have been having rain nearly every day. But the rainy season is about over now and the people are coming more freely for medicine, and also to listen to the gospel. As soon as we can get into the hospital I hope to have daily service there, so that all the patients shall at least have an opportunity of hearing the gospel. The rest we must leave with God, who only has the power to convince and convert. Your prayers will help mightily in this work and all other." Dr. Mary Bowman Irwin, resident in Muang Nan, is the only woman physician in the Laos mission. The women flock to hear her as they will not to a man. She has brought light and help to many lives. On one of Dr. Irwin's tours the people were amazed, terrified, when she and Miss Fleeson set up their tent in a very bad spirit locality. But the terror passed off, and the people freely visited the missionaries. ' ' While the ladies were still in possession of this stronghold of Satan, the monstrous spirit confessed to the people, through a medium, that they need never be afraid of him any more ; he would do them no more evil ; he could not withstand the religion of Jesus, and he was going away to another region. The gratitude of the people to the missionaries was truly pathetic." " Wherever the missionary goes, the perfect uncon cern with which he is able to invade these regions of terror is a revelation to the people — so much so that they distinctly look to the missionary, to the Chris tians, for release from their hard masters. The gov ernor himself announced at a public dinner that the 114 Siam and Laos spirits are not so fierce as they were ; and that the country is much better in this regard than it used to be; " so writes Dr. Peoples, the pioneer of Nan Sta tion, where the Lord himself seemed to have gone be fore our missionaries and opened the way for them. "An open door and effectual, but there are many adversaries." The hospital at Nan is not worthy of the name. It is only a very cheap native house not presenting the appearance of being a desirable place to come for treatment. The entire medical work of both the Siam and Laos Missions is wholly self-supporting, including assistants, drugs, instruments, supplies, and in several cases land and buildings. "5 Summary of Medical Work MALAY PENINSULA American Baptist Missionary Union. Bangkok medical work Brethren's Mission, English. Tong-kah, Penang, medical work Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society. Singapore D. Penang D. Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, North. Founded Chieng Mai, Laos, II . D. 1867 James W. McKean, M. D. C. H. Denman, M. D. Chieng Rai D. 1897 W. A. Briggs, M. D. Lakawn Van Santvoord H. D. 1886 C. C. Hansen, M. D. Muang Pre II . D. 1890 Rev. J. S. Hatch, M. D. Nan H. D. 1895 Rev. S. C. Peoples, M. D, Mrs. Robert Irwin, M. D. Petchaburee, Siam, I-I. D. 1882 W. J. Swart, M. D. Rajaburee H. 1889 Rev. Egon Wachter, M. D. Nakawn medical work 1899 H. W. Boyd, M. D. Pitsanuloke H. 1898 Walter B. Toy, M. D. 116 HOSPITAL AT MIRAJ, INDIA. CHAPTER V INDIA India is equal in area to the United States east of the Mississippi, and it contains one-sixth of the entire population of the world. Much of English power in India dates back to 1636, when Dr. Gabriel Boughton, an Englishman, was at the court of the Great Mogul. A princess was badly burned. He cured her, and as his only reward asked that his countrymen might have the privilege of trade with India. England, therefore, owes much to medical work. The first missionaries were the Danes ; they had medical work at Tranquebar and Madras in 1730-32. Dr. Thomas, at first a civil physician in India, returning to England to press the medical needs of the land, was appointed to go with Carey as med ical missionary. For six years Carey labored without a single convert. Then a carpenter, Krishna Pal, was hurt ; Dr. Thomas cured him, and he became con verted and their first Hindu convert was baptized. The first American missionary was Dr. John Scudder of the American Board, who began work at Ceylon in 1819, afterwards removing to Madras. The first woman medical missionary from any land was one who went to India : — Dr. Clara A. Swain, sent in 1869 to Bareilly by the American Methodists. They 117 Opportunities also began the first medical class for women at Nynee Talin 1869. In 1890 there were 166 missionary hos pitals and dispensaries, 97 foreign and 168 native medical missionaries and 40,513 zenanas open. In 1900 there were n 1 missionary hospitals and 255 dispensaries in India. The death rate in British-India advanced from 20.98 per thousand in 1880 to 29.61 in 1890, being thus almost twice that of the United States. The native practices are barbarous. Nearly a quarter of a million die annually from smallpox, chiefly because the smallpox goddess " Mother of Death " would be enraged if persons were vaccinated. Two thousand children were left to perish of smallpox a few years ago in one city. Cholera is sent by an evil goddess, but as it would offend her to call her a bad name, she is called "Murree Ai," Cholera Mother. Giving and taking medicine for this disease only excites the mother still more, they think, and the only way to get rid of the pestilence is to give honor to her and so to induce her to go elsewhere. In every village one or two small temples are dedicated to her, in which are a few shapeless stones painted red. These temples are near the extreme limits of the town so that she may stay far from the homes. At the time of an epidemic these are repaired. There are in most towns a few men and women of the lowest castes who are devotees of this goddess, and they get much attention and profit in cholera times. Even intelligent men come to ask them, 118 India " What is the mother's pleasure? How long does she intend to favor the town with her presence, and what can we do for her ? ' ' After going into a kind of trance, the devotee tells them how many days she will stay, and what attentions she would like. These at tentions are gladly shown. She is thought to have green for her favorite color, so that new green cloth is given to the devotee, with money and other articles. Lemons are cut over the devotee's head and thrown in all directions, to scatter the disease. Goats, eggs, sweetmeats, dates, are offered at the temple, which the devotee gets. Sometimes every one must spend a day near the temple. The devotee, with face reddened and teeth blackened, to look as hideous as possible, is followed out of town by Brahmins, and Hindus, and shopkeepers who have closed their shops. A small cart is made and on the axle are fastened two wooden figures of the mother, about nine inches high, adorned with bracelets, green cloths and paint; rice is sprinkled on the cloths, the cart is put on the head of the devotee and escorted with music, to the temple. This is a polite hint that so much honor should keep her in the temple. The people think that she likes to ride in a cart, and in small towns during an epidemic the town gates are shut to keep out all carts, lest the mother jump into one and come in with it. When there seems to be no other way of getting rid of her, the devotee carries the little cart with music and honor just across the boundary line of the next town. The people of the town, hearing of its arrival, take it with similar 119 Opportunities music and honors to the proper temple, make offer ings, and then take it to, the next town beyond. Often they cry out while escorting the goddess : "Victory to the Mother ! " Rev. R. A. Hume, of Ahmednagar, thus described the cholera mother some years ago ; adding that in the cities and largest towns medical missions are gradually eradicating such superstitions, The millions of devil worshipers of Southern India account for the existence of disease and of celestial deliverance by the tale that when Siva was one day being served with celestial food by some of the inferior gods, the giant Taradan, overpowering them, seized the repast and devoured it. Furious at the loss of his meal, Siva created the sacred Vedas to assist Pattera, Kalee and Veerapatteram in punishing the offender. They worked so promptly and effectually that his enemy was destroyed, to his great delight. He then endowed them with unlimited power to in flict all manner of disease, and to kill all on earth who opposed them or neglected to offer sacrifice. Then death or terrible diseases so grievously afflicted the people that they enquired of the priests how to prevent such calamities, and were told that though Siva had given the demons this dreadful power, yet sacrifices of goats, sheep, fowls, plantains, flowers, incense and festivals would produce deliverance. In consequence began "scenes sickening and humiliating beyond description," says Dr. John Lowe. The common village practitioner is the black hill- woman, partly witch, partly doctor. She walks India through the streets, a bundle of herbs on her head, carrying her child swinging in a net from her arm, offering medicines for rheumatism, fever, paralysis. A handful of uncooked rice contents her as a fee. Often she is supposed to have the " evil eye," and she can soothe hysterical patients to sleep. The village doctor deals in charms and amulets and is thought to possess various magical arts. Often he is the strongest ally of the priests. The village and jungle people have no other doctors. The masses live in villages ; ninety per cent, of the population live in villages of less than two thousand inhabitants. There being no sani tary arrangements, but unspeakable neglect of them, dust, filth and stifling odors abound. While cholera and smallpox are prevalent, few foreigners die of these, and there is no scarlet fever, diphtheria, nor spinal meningitis. Many natives die yearly from snake-bites, for they usually go about bare-legged and sleep on earth floors or in the open air. The most unhealthy time is from June to Sep tember, during the rains, and in October when there is great moisture and decay of vegetation. With proper care most persons can live to good old age. If a foreigner protects himself from the sun, takes sufficient sleep, with a daily siesta if necessary, and pays due regard to food and recreation the battle can be won. Many of the third and even of the fourth generation are still working for India. It is the women who suffer most, whether rich or poor. They are utterly neglected in time of sickness. Prejudices and customs banish medical aid altogether; Opportunities infectious and other diseases are left to take their course. Woman is taught that she is " unworthy of confidence and the slave of passion ; a great whirl pool of suspicion, a dwelling-place of vices, full of deceits, a hindrance in the way of heaven, the very gate of hell." Does not this reveal what women in India must undergo? A few years ago, an appeal from physicians in India for English redress for women was sent forth. With awful plainness it laid bare case after case of women's and children's agony from man's brutality, — the butchery going on unmolested because it is behind the sacred purdah that shuts inspection out from the woman's apartments — and India has one- sixth of the world's population. Infanticide is easily practiced on girls. " What labor is there in crushing a flower?" said a Jadeja chief, on being asked what means were employed. Fully one-third of the girls born among the natives are believed to be secretly murdered. And nearly every fifth woman suffers as a widow. A little girl is married and carried to her mother- in-law. Here is the tale of one such. She was a Mohammedan and became a widow. By Moham medan laws widows can remarry. Being the family drudge, she finally expressed a wish to marry again. Her mother-in-law resolved to prevent her. When at night the family was assembled, and the women were about to paint their eyelids as usual, the " mother-in- law dipped a little iron rod in antimony, blackened her lids, and then handed it to her husband. He re turned it to her, and she then dipped it into the India poisonous juice of a sort of prickly-pear, which she had obtained on purpose, and handed it to her daughter-in-law. The girl innocently applied it to her eyes. She soon cried out with agony, and after some days of fearful suffering, the sight of both eyes was hopelessly gone." "No wonder," a woman medical missionary says, "the secluded zenanas' homes are often dens of iniquity." If a boy is born there is joy. If a daughter comes into the gloom and stifling atmosphere of the ze nana it is taken as a token that the gods are angry, and that the poor young mother has incurred their majestic wrath. The air is considered to be thick with omens. A fire must be burnt incessantly in order to exclude the evil spirits which might exer cise a baneful influence upon the child's future. Whenever the baby cries, more fuel must be put on the fire, until the degree of heat renders existence well-nigh unendurable. Some iron instrument, such as a scythe, must always be either stuck into the bed or put around it. The father may kill girls at birth. In spite of both government and religion there is secretly an alarming amount of infanticide. If a girl is born after her brother's death, or if a boy dies soon ' after her birth, she is regarded as the cause, and is beaten, cursed, persecuted, despised by all. As daughter-in-law, the lowest position in the family, the first discipline is breaking her spirit. A young zenana lady was asked if she had any children. " No," emphatically replied a friend, " she never had any." Presently the patient happened to 123 Opportunities remark that she had not been well since her baby was born. The visitor expressed great astonishment. " Why, you told me she never had a child ! " " Oh yes, she had a girl ; but what is that ? " When a Hindu baby is born the mother " is kept in a small, close, dark room, with a fire (which is generally placed in a brazier under her bed), and without any possibility of fresh air ; on the next day she is given a cold bath, and returned to her cell like a prisoner. For three days after her baby's birth she is allowed nothing but a little water, perhaps with some bread soaked in it. Merciless and nameless are the barbarities practiced on her and her baby, usually by her only assistant, the native nurse, whose ig norance, quackery and immorality utterly unfit her for the position. But the relatives of a sick woman vastly prefer to have her die rather than be sent to a government hospital, or visited by a man physician." If exception should be made for a high caste woman and a man physician be called, the eye and tongue of the patient may only be seen through a slit in the cur tain ; the pulse must be felt in the same way. Ques tions must be asked by the doctor of a servant on his side the curtain, while a servant within answers. No other observations must be made through this open ing. A patient who inadvertently saw and afterwards remarked on the size and color of the doctor's hand was starved to death by her modest relatives. Native surgery in case of tumors simply trusts to physical force in tearing away the growth. The native doctors diet so strictly that it is actual starva- 124 India tion. The belief in evil eye hinders many cures. A boy breaking his arm, his father tied it in splints. These the native doctor untied, and tied it in bran. Mortification set in. The missionary offered to pay all expenses to the nearest hospital, two miles away, but as the evil eye was in that locality, they would not permit it, and the boy died. The majority of the civil surgeons live in the large cities and cantonment centres, while 67,000,000 of the people have but little of British superintendence. It is doubtful if two per cent, of them live within twenty-five miles of a European physician. The edu cated native physicians are usually Brahmins, men of high caste, educated in the medical colleges of Bom bay, Calcutta, and Madras. A low caste man going to a state dispensary for treatment stands at the door a few feet away from the doctor. • He is asked to put out his tongue, and a question or two asked ; if an outcaste his pulse will not even be felt. The doctor, unwilling to touch him, often writes a prescription without any idea of his disease. The medicine will vary in quality according to the patient's ability to fee the doctor, who is himself a salaried officer. An English surgeon was visited by a native Christian woman for a seriously sprained ankle. He said : " Oh, the leg is very bad ; anyway she is only an old hag of a native woman, and no one will be any worse if she dies. I cannot be bothered with her, so give her some opium and let her die." A low caste man, with acute mortification of the leg, was not even placed on one of the six unoccu- "5 Opportunities pied beds of a state dispensary. The doctor went out to drive, and left the case for operation by his igno rant compounder, and the man actually rotted to death on the floor, nothing being done for his relief. The published records of this dispensary for 1894, Dr. Wanless tells us had this entry : " In-patients treated, one ; in-patients cured, one ; percentage of cures 100 per cent." In medical missionary dispensary work patience is essential, and it is sorely tried. " Some of the women as they come for the first time forget everything in gazing vacantly at the Miss Sahiba, and can only nod and reply ' Yes ' to every question put to them. Carefully as the directions are given, some will misun derstand. A woman hands in a white bottle to the dispensary; it is filled with red medicine and re turned ; but she refuses to take it. ' It is not mine,' she persists ; ' my bottle is white. ' ' ' Hindus object to liquid medicines and must have powders. One will throw the medicine away, an other will eat paper and powder. One mother brought her little girl. She said : " I have been so careful ; I have put the country medicine in (her eyes) every day." For two whole months she had patiently ap plied a donkey's tooth ground up with charcoal. The case was hopeless. The largest medical mission in the world is at Neyoor, under the London Missionary Society. There is a hospital (igor) with fifteen dispensaries, and eighteen native medical evangelists. In 1899 the cases treated were 109,029. 126 TWO CHRISTIAN NURSES, SARA SEWARD HOSPITAL. India A favorite of the Rani (queen) went for treatment to the Sara Seward Memorial Hospital at Allahabad and her prescription card had on the back in Hindi, "Come unto me, all ye that labor," etc. This was shown to the Rani, who was much pleased, and asked what she had heard at the hospital. On the servant's next visit came a request from the Rani for some books in Hindi that had in them all that Dr. Cald well told the servant. A number of these were sent and permission to call was asked. "For several weeks I heard nothing," wrote Dr. Caldwell, "but the very next day after Mrs. Janvier and I had had a little prayer-meeting over the mission of the book, I was called to the Rani's house to see the Rajah's third wife, who was ill. The ailment was so slight, I sus pected at once it was the Rani who wished to see me, as she soon came in, a most bewildering combination of colors. We chatted politely for a little while until the women had left, and then she began asking me questions about Christ. As she spoke a very queer ' bali ' (language), a combination of Nepolese and Urdu, it was with difficulty I understood her, but she seemed to understand me, and was very patient in re peating her questions any number of times. We spent an hour in questions and answers and she seemed much pleased with the explanations to certain questions which had been puzzling her, and would smile and shake her head approvingly. At last when I was quite worn out, I rose to go, asking to be al lowed to come again, and she replied that when she could, she would again send for me. She offered me 127 Opportunities some wine and was astonished at my refusal of it, say ing she thought we Europeans all drank. I took some Nepolese sweets instead and came away. "A girl whose stepmother forbids all Christian in struction makes excuses to come to the hospital. She has told her stepmother that Christ was ' already in her heart, and had come to stay.' The hospital has been a haven for many women who have seemed more heavily burdened by sin-sickness than of the body." Leper work, zenana work, Sunday school services, bedside talks, supervising the veranda school, are all added to the regular hospital routine. " We have had 1,000 more women visit the hospital than last year (4,184). Numbers generally mean very little, but this means 1,000 more women have heard the gospel from three to a half dozen times, than heard it last year. They have come from Allahabad proper and sixty-three villages about here ; many walk eight and ten kos to get their medicine (a kos is two miles). Our indoor patients have come from Jhansi, Etawah, Cawnpur, and Fatehgurh. The ladies of other mis sions have cooperated most heartily with me, and have sent me many patients. I still have charge of the Methodist C. M. S., and Miss Chuckerbuttee's Or phanages, the Convert's Home and Junior School, though Mrs. Andrews has relieved me of much anxiety at the latter place." Thinking of all the dirty, distasteful work the year had seen, Dr. Caldwell quotes in concluding from Tennyson : 128 India " Oh, how could I serve in the wards if the Hope of the World were a lie ? How could I bear with the sights and the loathsome smells of disease, But that he said ' Ye do it to me, when ye do it to these ! ' " Dr. W. J. Wanless with his wife, who had taken nurse training and was his first helper, went to Sangli in 1889, expecting to spend fully a year in language study. But the sick had heard of their coming and eighteen hours after their arrival they began to come, half a dozen the first day, at the end of a week a score daily. They were obliged to open a dispensary and to plan an hour for treatment. A bath room five by eight feet, with shelves made from packing boxes, was the compounding room, Mrs. Wanless the dis penser. Another room eight by twelve feet, with a table and chair, served as a consulting room. The open ground in front of the school was the waiting room. The patients began to arrive at daybreak, continuing to come till ten o'clock, the hour for dispensing. A native Christian assistant was secured as interpreter and medical helper. He, aided by other native preachers, taught and preached to the people while they gathered and waited for treatment. Scripture texts were pasted on their medicine bottles and tracts distributed. Dr. Wanless has one desire, — to make Christ known. In this way, from the very beginning, he could do it indirectly. The work kept on growing; another place was sought. The work grew even more rap- 129 Opportunities idly. At the end of two years it was decided to locate the medical work at Miraj. A ten acre field was soon selected. They began to pray and negotiate, and in six months it was in possession of the mission. Some native houses were on the very corner which was de sired for the hospital. The prime minister of Miraj state had meanwhile put himself under Dr. Wanless for treatment. Matters were placed in his hands and Dr. Wanless took his family off for the hot season, only to find a month later that everything had been removed without the usual Oriental delays of months and years. Obstacle after obstacle was taken away, honors from high officials shown publicly. One of the chief ob jectors to the mission work was won by his son's cure of brain disease, and Dr. Wanless one morning at the temporary dispensary found this old bigoted Brahmin listening attentively to the gospel from the lips of a native Christian, a man who had previously been a low-caste and whose very shadow that Brahmin would have previously avoided. In appreciation of what had been done for his son he brought nearly half a month's pay and repeatedly called on the doctor to treat his high caste family. When difficulties arose about the building material, the prime minister came to the rescue and at half the cost estimated by the state overseer, a substantial cut- stone two-story building, with lime and concrete floors throughout, for fifty-six patients, complete in every way, was built for $10,000. The entire fund for the erection of this hospital, together with the adjoining 130 India outdoor dispensary and physician's residence, was the gift of John H. Converse, Esq., of Philadelphia. When he saw the photographs of the finished building he said it was the best investment he had ever made. The hospital was opened July 4, 1894, and the prime minister came from Poona, 160 miles, at great risk to his life, for he had serious heart disease, and made a friendly speech. In it he said "The man who lives according to the teachings of the Bible can not be anything but a good man." At first the people demanded powders, fearing pol lution from the water added by Christian hands, but ere long they would even accept liquid animal food prepared in the hospital at their expense, though nat urally their prejudice is far more intense about this than about the, so-called polluted water. Caste was disregarded always in admitting patients, a matter of as great surprise to the low as to the high caste. A Brahmin patient who could find no relief else where, during the two days of preparation for a sur gical operation at the hospital, attended services and learned the Bible verse on the marble tablet in the hall way. The next time he saw the doctor after recover ing from the chloroform after the operation, he greeted him with this text he had learned by heart : " Inas much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." It is -often difficult to keep the people from regard ing the doctor as a god, and surgical treatment as miraculous. And who can deny that the Lord does permit miracles, medical and surgical, to be done in 131 Opportunities his name? It costs fifty dollars a year to support a bed in the Miraj hospital, one-third the cost of the cheapest government hospital in India. There are fifty-six beds. Protestants, Roman Catholics, Moham medans, Jains, Brahmins, other caste Hindus to the number of 18,603 were included in the total record of 1901. When the plague had quarantined Miraj this could not stop the work. Beds were occupied by Brahmins and low caste, side by side, and, as an in dication that caste prejudice is being disarmed, people do not object now as formerly to having their friends die in the hospital. Fully 500 different villages were represented in 1901, often as many as seventy in a single morning's dispensary attendance. Of no other medical work can it be more truly said that the missionary idea is ever to the front, the aim being to make every part of it tributary to the dis semination of the gospel. Famine relief work was vigorously carried on last year. The Hindu ideas are well illustrated by one woman who came for help with a boy and girl, twins. The boy looked well-fed and healthy, the girl almost a skeleton. The mother said: "What could I do? After I had fed the boy there was nothing left for the girl." War, famine, earthquake, and plague made 1897 a terrible year, but they opened the way for a wide dis semination of the gospel and, as in China many years ago, the spirit of Christian beneficence which came to the relief of perishing millions has paved the way for a cordial reception of the gospel on the part of many. 132 India At our hospitals and dispensaries everything possible was done to meet the dreadful needs. At Ambala is the Philadelphia Hospital, built with the Silver Jubilee Funds of the Woman's Foreign Society, with headquarters at Philadelphia. It stands at the juncture of seven streets, on a plot of four acres which also contains the dispensary, and which affords a more healthful position than the crowded bazaar, where they were at first meant to be placed. Dr. Jessica R. Carleton has her headquarters here. The work is very large. Dr. S. Armstrong Hopkins says in " Within the Purdah " : " Our medical missionary is fortunate if she have an associate medical missionary to share her labors and responsibilities, or even a properly trained and efficient nurse. Without these her burdens are indeed heavy. She has the entire charge of her mis sionary home, hospital, dispensary, and training school for nurses. The native servants are not taught antiseptic measures and know nothing about medical or surgical cleanliness. The medical missionary, therefore, must carefully guard every patient under her charge, else contagion, infection, septic fever, puerpal fever, cholera, smallpox, or leprosy may develop in the wards of her hospital, and run such a violent course as to necessitate the closing up of the institution." At Lahore, Dr. Isa Das and his wife Phebe had been doing a fine medical work, both of them earnest Christians and efficient co-laborers. Within a few months of each other they died in 1897, and Dr. 133 Opportunities Emily Marston had to be transferred from Ambala to take their place. The training of native workers is a great feature of our medical missions, and every medical missionary must be capable of doing his part of the work. The native physicians, men and women, have a great field before them and many noble prac titioners are of Asiatic birth. The leper work of India has been a marvelous record of God's power. At Sabathu, where Dr. John Newton spent fourteen years, forty of the lepers are professing Christians. The Mission to Lepers in India and the East, with headquarters in Scotland, supports this asylum with the help of private gifts, but our missionaries minister to their needs. Dr. Marcus Carleton is now in charge. Our missionaries do much for the lepers in many other places and the work is blessed. To this day Dr. John Newton's name is lovingly remembered. It is not only Roman Catholics who have led self-sacrificing lives of ministry among them. Father Damien's record is brief com pared to Dr. Newton's, but the latter refused to have any publicity given him in any way, and no full ac count of his life has ever been published. We ought to know our own heroes of the mission field better, be they here or in heaven. "Whenever I feel depressed I always visit the leper asylum," said a Congregational missionary, " and the beautiful Christianity of the lepers always inspires me anew. ' ' We do not realize how poorly we have supplied the needs of our foreign hospitals with what are here '34 SABATHU LEPER ASYLUM. DR. JOHN NEWTON. India deemed essentials. Just before Dr. Helen Newton and her mother returned to India (the doctor happy that she was to have a little hospital built for women in Ferozepore), Mrs. Newton said : " We were look ing at rolling chairs, and my daughter remarked how she wished she had one, but she turned resolutely away for she knew that it was of no use. ' ' Passing on a little further I met another friend, rich and generous. I told her what I had just heard. Mrs. Newton again appeared, finishing her purchases, and she was given the joy of ordering a chair at once for the future hospital. Would one chair to a hos pital here be considered adequate ? India has been cursed with the opium trade. In 1773 the East India Company entered into the busi ness, closing it in 1834, when British officials took up the nefarious trade. Thousands of tons are yearly exported. The revenue to England is $1. 10 a pound. " The opium traffic is the sum of all villanies." Only government factories can have this production. And China also according to a native now "knows hell," because of opium. India has suffered from plague, pestilence, and famine. But this is not all. She has suffered, and horribly, from retrenchment in the work. All lands have suffered from this bane of mission work which has sent millions back to despair and heathenism, has closed schools and hospitals, has deprived help less native workers of all means of support among poverty stricken, starving multitudes, and has broken down one worker after another who has vainly starved '35 Opportunities himself — or herself — rather than kill the work which is dearer than life. Let Rev. Jacob Chamberlain, M. D., D. D., of Mandanapelle, India, that veteran. hero of the Dutch Reformed Church, speak on this subject. We could parallel his testimony with a painful host of others. We quote from the Mission ary Review of the World, for April, 1899 : "Dr. Anna B., sent out five years before, had opened up a fine and desperately needed medical work in Bilnagar. Her hospital with twenty beds for in-patients was always filled, while the hundred out patients daily were blessed with her medicines, her skill and her prayers. The seeds of the Kingdom were daily sown in hundreds of grateful souls. Some seemed germinating. More patients were begging for treatment than she could possibly receive on her appropriations. She had sent a strong appeal for an increase in funds, and an assistant or associate, as the work was more than she could do. ' ' ' Impossible. Funds not coming in . Cannot keep up even present appropriations. Retrench fifteen per cent, from January ist.' Imperative.' " Sick at heart she went over every expenditure to see where she could possibly cut down. Medicines and necessaries for treatment must be had. A small reduction was possible in a few minor points, but on ' diets of in-patients ' must nearly the whole reduction fall. There was no help for it. Hereafter but ten of the twenty beds could be filled, for the people coming from distant villages were all too poor to provide food for themselves away from home. Ten beds were 136 India packed away, as they were vacated. The remaining ten were all filled with important cases, and Dr. Anna prayed for a hard heart, to enable her to refuse others. ' ' ' Will the dear lady doctor please come and see a dying woman in Kallur, four miles north ? ' A young mother, fourteen years old, whom native midwives had horribly maltreated, from want of skill and knowledge, was what she found. Her life still might be saved by the utmost skill and care, if she could be placed in a hospital, not otherwise. ' Bring her in on her bed. I will try. ' Half way back and Dr. Anna was stopped at a hamlet to see a young girl, terribly gored by a bull. ' Bring her in too. ' As she neared the hospital a woman wrapped in a blanket tied as a hammock to a long bamboo, and ' borne of four ' was laid on the veranda of the hospital with foot dropping off from gangrene, the result of the bite of a poisonous, but not deadly, serpent. The love of Jesus pulsed in Dr. Anna's heart. She could not say no — ' Take her in ' and so of two others equally needy who came. But how were they to be fed ? " Dr. Anna had already devoted all she could spare from her small salary to purchase additional medicines for the growing throngs of out-patients. Now, to feed these, her suffering sisters, while they were being healed, she gave up the more expensive articles in her own diet, meat, eggs, fruit, etc., and struggled on, giving every energy to her increasing number of patients, and working harder, if possible, even on her unnourishing diet. Months thus sped by. One morning she fainted at her work and fell upon the i37 Opportunities masonry floor of her hospital. An adjacent mission ary was hastily called. An English doctor of experi ence and skill came from the large town near. ' Nervous prostration and threatening paralysis, from overstrain and lack of nourishment. Must be put on the first steamer and sent home as the only hope,' was his unhesitating verdict. " Her Board had saved one hundred dollars by the cut, and paid two hundred dollars to take home poor wrecked Dr. Anna B. The sick were deserted, and the hospital closed. The murmur went around the home land, ' What a mysterious Providence that strong and vigorous Dr. Anna B. should be stricken down after only six years of service, and just when she was most needed.' "Retrenchment means the dismissing of faithful catechists in half-instructed little village congregations, of those too poor and hungry themselves to feed the catechist and his family. It means the sending away of Bible women, and zenana workers who are gaining an entrance, or are eagerly welcomed in many houses where ' the sweetest Name ' is beginning to be lisped. " It means the closing of scores of day-schools at tended by the worshipers of Vishnu or followers of Mohammed, who, in those schools, are daily reading and learning the teachings of the Nazarene. It means the giving up of preaching tours in the ' regions be yond,' with glad invitations to the gospel feast. It means the closing or cutting down of schools for train ing the Timothys and the Loises, yes, the Barnabases 138 India and Pauls of the Militant Church of Christ in India. It means the sending out word to all seeking com munities who are too poor to pay for a teacher, ' Don't give up your idols and avow yourselves Christians now, for we can send no one to teach you how to find and follow Jesus ! ' " O Christ, who seest thy crippled work, thy de layed chariot in India ; rouse, rouse thy people to a just appreciation of what they themselves owe to thee ; of what thou dost expect of them. Summon, with insistant voice, those redeemed by thee to be come thy working partners in that stupendous work, the salvation of a sin-lost world." '39 Summary of Medical Missionary Work Amerii ¦an Baptist Missionary Union. Rangoon, '. Burma H. Nellore, Madr; is H. D. Bhamo H. D. Nalgonda medical work Hsipaw H. Secunderabad medical work Mongnai H. D. Impur medical work Namkham American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Ahmednagar, Bombay H. D. Dindigul H. D. Bombay D. Manepy, Jaffna, Ceylon H. D. Rahuri D. Inuvil H. D. Sholapur D. Karadive H. D. Madura, Madras 2 H. 2 D. American Lutheran Missionary Society. Gunter H. Baptist Missionary Society, English. Khoolna, Bengal D. Delhi, Punjab 2 D. Baukipore D. Muttra D. Palwal, N. W. P. 2 II. 3 D. Basel Evangelical Mission, German. Calicut, Malabar H. D. Codocal, Malabar H. D. Vaniyankulam, Malabar H. D. Bethel Santhal Mission, India. Bethany, Bengal H. 8 D. Bethlehem D. Bethel, Bengal D. Bethsaida D. Bethesda, Bengal D. 140 Summary of Medical Missionary Work Neemuch, C. I. Arnkhut, C. I. Indore, C. I. Canadian Presbyterian Mission. H. 3 D. Rutlam, C. I. medical work Ujjain, C. I. H. 2D. D. D. Church Missionary Society, English. Santirajpur, Bengal H. D. Rewah, N. W. P. medical work Nigohan, N. W. P. D. Bhil Country Agra, N. W. P. medical work Amritsar, Punjab H. 1 Jandiala, Punjab Bootala, Punjab Beas, Punjab Sultanwind, Punjab Ram Das, Punjab Narowal, Punjab Islamabad, Punjab Hazara, Punjab Peshawar, Punjab Bannu, Punjab Dera Ismail Khan, Punjab H. D. reporting the largest num ber of treatments from the mission field, 127,016 D. D. D.D.D.D. H. D. Srinagar, Kashmir H. medical work Tank, Punjab H. D. Dera Gaza Khan, Punjab H. 3 D. Multan, Punjab H. D. Quetta,Baluchistan H. D. H. H. D. D. Church of England Zenana Missionary Society. Bangalore, Mysore H. D. Jandiala H. 2 D. Amritsar, Punjab H. 3 D. Ratnapur, Bengal D. Dera Gaza Khan, Punjab H. D. Quetta, Baluchistan H. D. Tarn Taran H. 3 D. Dummaguden, Madras D. Peshawar H. Church of Scotland. Gujrat, Punjab SialkotSholinghur H. D. 2 H. 2 D. D. Poona, Bombay H. 2 D. Kalimpong.Bhutan H. 2 D. Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society. Agra, N. W. P. D- Medical Training Institute. 141 Opportunities English Baptist Missionary Society. Delhi, Punjab 2 D. Palwal, N. W. P. 2 Ii. 2 D. Bhiwani H. D. Khoolna, Bengal D. Kharrar D. Foreign Missionary Society, Lutheran Church, General Council. Rajahmundur medical work Foreign Christian Missionary Society, United States. Hurda, C. P. H. 2 D. Damoh D. Timarni H. D. Akita D. Mungeli H. 2 D. Friends' Foreign Mission Association, English, Hoshangabad, C. P. H. D. Seoni Malwa D. Itarsi D. Sohagpur D. Bankheri D. Sihore, C. I. D. Jaffna Medical Mission. Jaffna, Ceylon medical work London Missionary Society, Jiaganj, Bengal H. D. Kachwa, N. W. P. H. D. Jammulamadugu, Madras H. D. Almora, N. W. P- H. 3 D. Neyoor, Madras 3 H. 15 D. 18 medical evangelists Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society, United States. Bareilly, N. W. P. 2 H. D. Pakur, Bengal D. Dwarahat, H. D. Bidar medical work Baroda, Bombay H. D. Gulbarga, Madras 2 D. Kumaon medical work Moravian Missionary Society, German. Leh, Lesser Tibet H. D. North India School of Medicine for Native Christian Women. Lodiana, Punjab medical work at Lodiana is an independent hospital, Charlotte, 4 D. 142 Summary of Medical Missionary Work Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, North. Lodiana, Punjab D. M. Maud Allen, M. D. Sarah Vrooman, M. D. D. Mrs. Emily Marston, M. D. Rev. J. Harris Orbison, M. D, Founded H. 2 D. 1880 Rev. F. J. Newton, M. D. Helen R. Newton, M. D. Philadelphia H. D. 1891 Jessica R. Carleton, M. D. 2 H. 2D. 1866 M. B. Carleton, M. D. D. 1894 Rev. C. W. Forman, M. D. Sara Seward H. D. 1891 Bertha T. Caldwell, M. D. Lahore Ferozepore AmbalaSabathuSaharanpur, N. W. P. Allahabad Woodstock RatnagiriVengurlePanhala Miraj Margaret Morris, M. D. medical work Alice Mitchell, M. D. medical work Victoria McArthur, M. D. medical work Mary J. Stewart, M. D. 4D. Alexander S. Wilson, M. D. Mary Riggs Noble, M. D. 2 H. 2 D. 1983 W. J Wanless, M. D J. R. Williamson appointed to India Presbyterian Church of England. Rampore Bauleah, Bengal H. D. Presbyterian Church of Ireland. Borsad, Bombay H. D. Presbyterian Church of Wales. Karimganj, Assam D. Laitlyngkot H. D. Jaintia medical work Ranaghat Medical Mission. Ranaghat, Bengal 2 H. 4 D. '43 Opportunities Reformed Church in America, Dutch. Vellore, Madras H. D. Mandanapelle D. Ranipettai H. D. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, English. Toungoo, Burma H. D. Lahore, Punjab H. Rangoon H. Nazareth, Madras H. D. Cawnpore, N. W. P. H. D. Trichinopoly, Madras D. Chaibassa, Bengal H. D. Tinevelly, Madras H. Hazaribagh, Bengal H.3D. United Free Presbyterian Church, Scotch. Ajmere, Rajputana 2 H. 2D. Jalna, Hyderabad H. D. Jodhpore, Rajputana H. D. Madras, Madras H. 2 D. Nasirabad, Rajputana H. D. Thana, Bombay D. Udaipur, Rajputana H. D. Walajabad, Madras H. D. Kalna, Bengal H. D. Wardha, C. P. H. 2 D. Chakai, Bengal H. D. Nagpoor, C. P. H. D. Wesleyan Missionary Society. Mannargudi, Madras D. Batticaloa, Ceylon 4 D. Welimada, Ceylon H. D. Woman's Union Missionary Society. Jhansi, N. W. P. H. D. Zenana Bible and Medical Mission Society. Patna, Bengal H. D. Lucknow, N. W. P. H. 4D. Ajoudhya H. D. Benares H. 2 D. 144 WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL, URUMIA. CHAPTER VI PERSIA The journey of the first medical missionary to Per sia in 1835, the year after the first permanent mission was established, would seem strange to most of us. In May, 1835, Dr. Asahel Grant and his wife sailed from Boston, and on September 17 th began their over land journey to Urumia. The roads were, and are still, indescribably ill-made and kept. At night they pitched their tent or slept in khans without floor or window. These were without chair or table, and their beds were spread on piles of leaves, with their baggage round them. In Kurdistan they formed a kind of fort each night with their boxes and bales. After traveling six hundred miles in this way, they reached Tabriz and found the cholera raging there. A week later Dr. Grant and Mr. Perkins moved to Urumia, where in a few days the doctor's skill won the favor of the governor, and he secured premises in the city which have been occupied ever since. On the west rise the mountains ; on the east is the lake, 4,100 feet above the sea, so salt that no fish can live in it. The plain, five hundred miles square and with three hundred villages, is a most inviting field for medical missions. Urumia has a population of 60,000. i4S Opportunities Persia is equal in area to France, Austria, Spain, and Italy. The medical missionaries are ten Ameri can Presbyterian men and women, and seven phy sicians of the English Church Missionary Society. There are no native hospitals, dispensaries, or luna tic asylums. A lunatic is chained, with his feet fast ened in stocks, and is constantly beaten and half starved, the idea being that if badly treated the devil will the sooner leave him. Then as a last resource, when the friends have grown tired of giving even this sort of care to their relative, the lunatic is given free dom in the desert. His hands are tied behind his back, and he is led out into the desert, never to be heard of again. Persian doctors " divide all diseases into two gen eral classes, the hot and the cold ; and all remedies and articles of diet have the same classification. Thus the meat of a hen is heating and therefore injurious to persons who have fevers ; the flesh of a rooster, how ever, is very cooling, and soup of it may be taken in febrile disorders. The water of watermelons is con stantly given in large quantities in all inflammatory disorders. The flesh of a sheep is heating, that of a goat is cooling. When they have tried cooling reme dies for a long time and find that these have been un availing, they will say, ' Perhaps the patient has had too much of it ; we will change the treatment and try something hot.' One last resource remains to the Persian physician to save his own reputation — to recommend the patient to try a forty days' course of a decoction made from a certain root which grows in 146 Persia the country. The victim must take it forty days con secutively, three times a day, about half a pint at a time, after food, and must never once lose his temper, or it will be of no avail. The fortieth day the patient returns probably worse than before, or complains of feeling certainly none the better, and at once the phy sician says, ' But have you lost your temper ? ' Of course he has, and then it is not the physician's fault, but the patient' s. ' ' The diseases are like those at home, but that bad skin and eye diseases are more common. They have no chloroform. If amputating a limb, they simply chop and saw it off without regard to the sufferer. To stop the flow of blood the stump is dipped into a cauldron of boiling butter, and cauter ized. This saves the patient's life. Women and children endure a vast amount of suf- ering, "encouraged — to say the least of it, practiced — and sanctioned by the Mohammedan religion." In parts of Persia men physicians can treat Mohammedan women patients quite freely. "But, oh! how heartrending it was, time after time, when one thought that an operation might save a life, to hear the answer given by the husband when approached on the subject, 'Better let her die than see a man ; it is easy enough to get another wife ; ' " — thus wrote Miss Bird from Julfa where a hospital of the English Church Missionary Society is situated. Children are brought to our doctors with extensive burns, which are covered with manure. To cleanse such a wound perfectly from the offensive material is almost impossible. The eye of a mouse was the medi- 147 Opportunities cine given to a child for hernia. It is a marvel that a baby does not suffocate in his cradle (where he lies tightly bound, with wooden rings at the top-bar to rattle him to sleep when rocked) — for a dark cloth like a great bag is spread over baby, cradle and all. At birth he is thoroughly covered with salt, then wrapped in swaddling clothes. The salt is very apt to get into the eyes and make them sore. Little girls hardly more than infants themselves have the babies strapped on their backs and run about, playing ball. Bad results must often follow to both baby and bearer. A charm round the neck is supposed to keep off the "evil eye" which otherwise gives dreadful diseases. Women are for the most part put on a level with beasts of burden. Buffaloes and oxen are cared for more tenderly than wives, and have a money value far exceeding theirs. No such words as home and wife are to be found, but only "house" and "woman." This is the usual story in lands not Christian. Dr. Grant from the very first had throngs at his dispensary. He treated all classes alike. All were won by his skill and the permanent success of the mission to-day is really largely due to him. He died in 1844, his brief life a wonderful tribute to the power God gives a medical missionary. It is more than sixty years since his work began and at least once in that period the mission at Urumia passed through a crisis when, if it had not been for the influence of the medical work, it might have been utterly destroyed. Such a crisis came in 1880, when the Kurdish hordes swept down like a mountain storm. 148 Persia The poor people were just recovering from the effects of the terrible famine and were gathering in their crops. Months before this, Dr. Cochran had attended the famous Kurdish Sheikh Obeidullah while ill in his mountain house, and now the governor asked Dr. Cochran to intercede. Out of respect for the good physician the Sheikh consented to restrain his wild followers for a day. The Persian troops arrived in time, and the city and district were saved.1 All the outlying villages of the plains and valleys send patients to the Urumia hospital. Some of these come ten and fifteen days' journeys, and they are of all nationalities, grades of society, and religions. Dr. J. P. Cochran is in charge. He writes : "The sick come in large numbers everyday. They flock in by sunrise; some on foot, others on horses, donkeys, oxen, or litters, and some on backs of friends. The people often throw the sick at our feet saying : ' We shall not take them away until you care for them or let them die.' " To many poor sufferers the wards of our hospitals seem almost like a paradise. Others say ' Only let us stay here and we will get well.' " Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, who penetrated deep into the almost unknown and unvisited wilds of the Kurdish mountains, says, " Wherever I went in Kur distan, Dr. Cochran's name and fame were known. I was asked about his health and whether I had seen him, etc." 1 See the chapter on " The Kurdish Raid " in Wilson's " Per sian Life and Customs." 149 Opportunities On one occasion as Dr. Cochran was passing through a little village near Sain Kullah, Rassool, a young Moslem on whom he had operated a few days before, came running out with his father. "Before I knew what they were about, both were on their knees and hands, kissing the earth over which my horse had trodden. As they arose I recognized the boy." Mr. Robert E. Speer writes: "Our journey from the Aras River to Urumia, was one long testimony to Dr. Cochran's power. He was our passport and defense. The chief of the village of Evaglu, the first stop of the journey, was chief also of a band respon sible for many robberies and murders on this road. He came to see Dr. Cochran, who is a quiet little man, and who looked him in the eye and said : ' So you are the rascal who commits these outrages ? I have heard of you. Your name is a stench in the country. Would it not be well to stop ? ' The man's face turned pale, and he soon went out very quietly. " Those who speak of the unpopularity of mission aries should have been with us. At this village Mos lem women came in throngs. Men came running from the fields and the thrashing floors. Now Dr. Cochran was the healer. Again he was called to act as referee or peacemaker. At Khoi it was the gover nor who sent for him, and insisted on his spending the day with him, sending him on later with soldiers to overtake us. At Gavilan it was only a village full of simple folk who loved him, who came out to give him a warm welcome home. Ten miles from Urumia people began to meet us, the numbers increasing until iSo Persia a messenger from one of the governors came leading a gaily caparisoned horse, to be taken before him in honor ; and then at last a poor man, whom he had healed, came running out and kissed his foot and pros trated himself in the road beside him. And this was but the beginning. Each day would bring bishops of the old Nestorian Church for counsel, prominent Moslem ecclesiastics for help or healing, governors or leading noblemen to congratulate him on his return, and to show their respect for him, or poor people, for whom he was living, to bless him. All this showed me, as I had never seen it before, how a good physi cian can lay hold of the hearts and minds of a people. ' ' We have indeed had remarkable men in Persia. Many accounts could be given of others like Dr. Holmes of Hamadan, thrice urged to become personal physician to the Shah, whom he had attended when crown prince. The old Mollah, Abdullah, who for years ruled Hamadan, in spite of governors and Shah, and who ordered riot and pillage as he pleased, re spected Dr. Holmes, and never touched the mission ary work. Dr. Holmes was invested by the Shah with the insignia of the order of the Lion and the Sun, the highest in his power to confer. "Whatever other department of mission work," says the Rev. Mr. Tisdall of the C. M. S. at Julfa, "as at present conducted, may have to be given up, the experience of perhaps all laborers in this field shows that the medical mission department should not only be retained, but largely extended, for as an Opportunities evangelistic agency, it would be hard to exaggerate its value and importance." Prior to 1883 nothing more than a dispensary was at any of our Persian stations. Several hundred sick were treated each year in the villages, but the dark and badly ventilated houses, so noisy and uncomfortable, made good results from treatment well-nigh impos sible. Then, too, the prescriptions were seldom fol lowed out. A number of powders given to a patient would all be taken at once, as he thought the medicine might as well cure him at once as to let it take several days. When Dr. Cochran returned to the land of his birth as a medical missionary in 1878 he found he could do but little permanent good to the crowds of Moslems, Jews, Nestorians, Armenians, Kurds, to the halt, the blind, those stricken with all manner of diseases, so he wrote to the Board for hospital funds. The Board does all it can possibly do to meet the demands of the seven hundred and sixty-five missionaries, in twenty- five missions, but it can do only what is permitted by the amounts given by the churches. These are always too small to meet the exigencies. When the love of Christ rules supreme, this difficulty will be entirely obviated. The Board could do nothing, but authorized him to collect funds privately. Fifteen hundred dollars was the sum required. Mr. S. M. Clemens, of Buffalo, interested many in this enterprise toward which he himself contributed generously. The first contribu tion came from the Sunday school of the Westminster r52 PATIENTS, URUMIA. Persia Church, in Buffalo, and hence the name Westminster Hospital. In 1883 it was built on the mission prop erty purchased in 1879. The pleasant grounds are on the banks of a mountain stream, a mile and a half from the city, on high land. Four acres of this prop erty are inclosed with a wall fifteen feet high. Ave nues with sycamore, pear, and poplar trees, divide this inclosure into four squares. On one of these the hospital is built, on another the college, on the other two the houses of the president of the college and of the physician. The building is seventy feet by thirty- five, two and a half stories high, faced with red bricks ; with two large wards containing ten beds each, and six smaller ones with from three to six, or forty in all. The curtained windows are filled with plants. Friends have sent pretty Christmas cards that adorn the walls. The brick floors have carpets here and there. From the flat roof the lake, one hundred and fifty miles long, may be seen, and the plain covered with gardens and vineyards. The river winds down a valley sur rounded by a low mountain range. Back of these, toward the setting sun, rises a loftier range whose tops are always covered with snow. A more beautiful view it would be hard to find. Having no endowment and no means of support, Dr. Cochran was authorized to apply for necessary funds, and a bed fund was started, of $25 annually for each bed. It was estimated that when the forty beds were taken, this sum together with the amount received from paying patients, would afford ample support. »S3 Opportunities On one occasion the men in the wards were very tired and restless with their unwonted confinement. Those in charge were at their wits' end, when a box from America arrived with hospital supplies and dolls. Telling the patients that some young ladies had just come to see them from America, the dolls were dis tributed to all, and all weariness was forgotten in the novel and delightful visitors. We send many dolls in our mission boxes, but we rarely think of them as bringing pleasure to grown men. The report of 1901 says: "The hospital was open during the year as usual and the dispensaries were thronged with patients. The widespread influence of this work may be judged by the statistics (grand total 10,314 patients), but it can be fully appreciated only by personal acquaintance. It is safe to say that there is not one man in a hundred, without distinction of race or religion, within many miles of the hospital, who would not in case of need gladly go there rather than be treated in his own home. No other agency can possibly do more along spiritual and evangelistic lines. A pleasant fact is the contribution to the hospital both last year and this of $40 by one of the leading nobles of the place. The generous gift of a friend in America has made it possible to erect a well-fitted and much-needed operating room." In 1890 the Howard Annex for women was built. It is now in charge of Dr. Emma F. Miller, who joined the mission in 1891, and whose coming was warmly appreciated by Dr. Cochran and by all inter ested in the highest usefulness of the hospital. She '54 Persia as well as our other medical missionaries makes tours into the adjacent country. As a sample of what all our medical missionaries do daily may be taken one day's regular duties of Dr. Cochran: "First. The hospital, requiring from one to five hours a day. Second. Two dispensary days a week. Third. Two lessons with the medical stu dents, daily. Fourth. Taking reports of the several workers, and paying wages, and planning the next month's work. Fifth. Superintendence, with Miss Van Duzee, of the Relief Work. Aside from these duties, I receive from one to fifteen visits, and see from one to twenty-five sick persons a day outside the hospital, and in some instances I have seen as many as one hundred and fifty sick in one day. At the same time several sick in our own circles have had to receive medical attention." Urumia is not a healthy city. The three miles of wall are "surrounded by a moat, a receptacle for the offal of the slaughter and bath houses and for the drainage of the city, and is, of course, a fertile breed ing place for malaria. Formerly the moat was full of trees; but during the Kurdish raid they interfered with the firing, so the Nestorians were sent out to cut them down." At Tabriz Dr. Vanneman has been called on med ically by almost every person of prominence, the crown prince, governor, officials, nobility. Every call that the poor have made has been answered, while the rich often have been declined for lack of time. i5S Opportunities The Whipple Hospital and dispensary (their own house, given by the Rev. and Mrs. Whipple on their return to America), was put in order by gifts from Mrs. Reid, of Lake Forest, 111., in memory of her daughter. The Memorial Fund given by the friends of Theodore Child, who died in Persia a few years ago, in memory of the kindness shown him by our medical mission aries, was also used, and there is every hope that a useful medical work for Moslem women will be de veloped. Dr. Mary E. Bradford, the first woman physician, is in charge of this. She strives to make her work always evangelistic, speaking to every one of Christ. Tours form an important part of her work. On one occasion she wrote, " Summer, with its scorch ing sun, dust, and troublesome insects, was upon us. With it, always comes desire for a change from the routine of medical work, especially when the Mussul man month of mourning so occupies people that dispen sary attendance is decreased. So August ist, taking Mosa my hostler and Zanal my cook, we started for a tour among the villages and a visit to Ardabil, over near the Caspian Sea. For a long time we have wanted a permanent worker in that city, but as yet no one has been stationed there for more than a few months at a time. A few days before I arrived a colporteur of the American Bible Society had moved there with his family and would sell books in Ardabil and surround ing places." This tour lasted twenty-two days. Fifteen villages were visited. Varied were Dr. Bradford's experi ences, hard, disgusting, hopeless, comforting, in turn. "56 Persia Passing one village, a man ran out of the field to say, "I know you. You are Jesus' people. I have two of your books, I also believe in Christ." At one place four families lived, and one of the women " was of sorrowful spirit for she had no child. No matter how small the place there always are such to come and beg for medicine. (Their own remedy is to bleed the patient in the back of the hand.) It is not altogether the love of children that impels them, but that awful dread of divorce, or what is worse, the coming of another wife into the house." On another tour in a previous year she and Miss Holliday visited a region east of the city, seldom visited before by Christian teachers. Large crowds of wild, fanatical women gathered round their tent in every village at which they stopped. Their nude, untaught condition appealed most pathetically to these messengers of gospel light. In one village they met friends of a former house-patient in Tabriz, which put them at once on a friendly footing with the whole community. The report of 1901 of the Presbyterian Board shows how essential are more medical mission aries. Teheran having no medical man among our mission workers, the Ferry Hospital must be closed. E. T. Lawrence, M. D., and J. Arthur Funk, M. D., were assigned to Teheran by the Board, in June 1902. " Dr. Wishard not having been able to return, the hospital was not reopened, but the work of the med ical class and the dispensaries was maintained by Dr. Mary Smith, who writes : " ' At the beginning of the winter there were many J57 Opportunities applicants for admission to the hospital, and it was hard to persuade some that we were not deceiving them when we - told them we could not take them in. They would sit down and say, " Oh, but one of our neighbors was here last year, and he said all that we had to do was to come and you would take care of us, and the great doctor would make us well. We have come a long distance and have no friends in the city." They could not know that it was as hard for us to send them away uncared for as for them to go." ' It falls to the lot of the doctor to see much of bitterness and sorrow in the lives of the patients. One woman, a few days ago, said: "I wish you would give me some medicine to make me die soon." I said, "Oh, don't talk that way; it is very wrong." She replied, "What have I to live for? I had a husband and children, but they are gone, even the little one I had in my arms the last time I was here is dead, and I am sick and cannot get bread to eat." As I talked to her of God, the loving Father, ready to comfort those in sorrow and give help to those who trust in him, I was filled with the thought of what it must be to try to bear such sorrow without the knowl edge of such a Father. Among my patients recently have been several little girl wives, one eleven years old, who had already been married three years. They always call forth my pity, and the indifference of the parents to their suffering never ceases to be a mystery to me.' " Dr. Wishard reports: " The Persians pay, with- 158 Persia out question, their grocery bills and for other pur chases in the bazaar ; they have money to make pil grimages to Meshed, and even to far-away Mecca and Medina; they support summer-houses in the cool retreats of the Shimrum Mountains, to which they come and go in beautiful victorias fresh from Moscow drawn by spans of magnificent Russian horses; but they have no money for the physician who has faithfully cared for their families during severe and repeated illnesses. Indeed, should the doctor intimate that upon certain occasions he had found money not an incumbrance, he would probably be met by a look which would seem to say, 'And you would charge a friend money for saving his life?' The physician who presented a bill for medical services to a Persian gentleman would be regarded much in the same light as a minister in America would be should he send in a bill for conducting a funeral or baptism of one of the children of the parish. On the other hand there are thousands — for there is no middle- class in Persia — living in mud hovels, in villages, and in the crowded quarters of great cities, of whom it can truthfully be said, 'No man careth.' The entire be longings of such a family could be bought with the sum a day-laborer would earn in a single week in America. Instead of asking a fee from them, we must often help them with money, food, and clothing ; for it is only in times of illness and great distress that we are called upon by them to render assistance." Four medical students were graduated from the medical class in 1897; two young Armenians and '59 Opportunities two Jews. Their diplomas were signed by all the European physicians in Teheran connected with the Legations by the Shah's physician, and by the min isters of public instruction. Two medical graduates came back from Teheran and opened dispensaries in Hamadan where they now have their hands full. Dr. Holmes said (1898): "The demand for educated physicians keeps more than pace with all that our medical centers can do to qualify them. Mirza Saeed, the converted Kurd who studied with my predecessor, Dr. Alexander, and who afterwards studied awhile in England and re turned, has had his hands full of practice since, and has recently been invited to go with the family of Ain-e-Dowleh (whose wife is daughter of the present Shah) to Teheran, and since his arrival there has been strongly urged by the Prince and Princess to re main permanently in their service. And this, al though he had told them at the outset that he is a Christian and though he unhesitatingly bears joyful testimony at every opportunity to Christ as the only and all sufficient Saviour." An important feature of the dispensary service is the treatment of victims of the opium habit, who are al most as numerous in many parts of Persia as in China. Dr. Holmes who went to Hamadan in 1874 has been obliged to resign. The following quotation from the Board's report of 1901 illustrates the great value of carefully trained native medical students : " There has been no medical missionary in the station, but the young men who have been trained by Dr. Holmes 160 DISPENSARY AT HAMADAN. Persia and Dr. Wilson, although much responsibility was thrown upon them, proved equal to the emergency. " Several of them have been called to attend special cases in distant cities and districts, and have rendered efficient and satisfactory aid, besides receiving sub stantial and in some cases generous remuneration for their services. One of them has been acting as chief physician to H. R. H. the governor, and has con ducted himself in so becoming a manner, although a converted Jew, as not only to overcome deep preju dice, but to gain the respect of the Prince and his household. "The sanitarium, called Nourmahal, has been completed on high ground a little distance from the city. The station has rejoiced at this, and also at the year's freedom from persecutions, tumults, and murders, which have filled many preceding years with anxiety." Guy W. Hamilton, M. D., has recently (1902) been transferred from Siam to Hamadan. After eight months of medical work, hard work at the station, assisting in teaching the medical students, conducting clinics and Sunday afternoon meetings with the women, Dr. Jessie C. Wilson went on a tour with Miss McCampbell. They visited four cities, Kasvin, Zenjan, Bijar, and Senneh, and twenty-six villages. "There was a perfect tumult in some places when it was known a doctor had arrived, and, the news spreading to surrounding villages, some would come long distances to see us. "The cases ranged in importance from the woman who asked me to feel her pulse and tell her whether r6r Opportunities she would find a husband, to the hopelessly blind woman who listened for the opening of our door and immediately took up her station inside and whose sighs were heartrending to hear. Smallpox, measles, and whooping-cough were prevalent among the chil dren ; while a multitude of people with a multitude of chronic diseases thronged our yard and followed us into the streets. In Senneh, the last city visited, the lepers sat day by day in rows along the pavement begging from the passers-by, their condition most pitiable to see. It was surprising how well we were received by all classes of people on this journey — rich and poor inviting us to their houses — and in some places we had so many social engagements that little time was left for medical work. " Senneh was to be made our stopping place for a short time only, as the heat was intense there. But on account of the illness of the elder son of Mo-a-ta- med, a prominent man of Kurdistan, we remained more than a month, but just as soon as the condition of the patients would permit we started for Hamadan in spite of entreaties for us to remain. "A medical tour is a most satisfactory way of reaching the people in many ways. It is impossible to take sufficient medicines along to supply all on such a long tour. However, it gives the people excuse to visit us, and the attraction of our lodging place was even more than was desired." After leaving Teheran you travel eastward for three thousand miles before you reach the next missionary station, — in far-off China. Is such work adequate ? 162 Persia At Hamadan, Teheran, and Urumia, medical classes are being instructed by our doctors. In fact all of our doctors in self-defense must instruct native assistants ; the press of work is so great that this is indispensable. 163 Summary of Medical Missionary Work Church Missiona ry Society, English, Baghdad H. D. Kirman medical work Julfa 2 H. 2 D. Ispahan 3 D. Jubarah D. Mosul medical work Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, North. Founded Urumia Westminster H. 2 D. 1883 T. P. Cochran, M. D. Howard Annex D. Emma T. Miller, M. D. Tabriz Whipple W omen's H. 2D. 1897 Mary E. Bradford, M. D. Men's D. 1874 Wm. S. Vanneman, M. D. Teheran Ferry H. 2 D. 1892 Jessie C. Wilson, M. D. Mary J. Smith, M. D. J. A. Funk. M. D. E. T. Lawrence, M. D. Hamadan Men's D. 1882 Guy W. Hamilton, M. D. Women's D. 1894 Blanche Wilson, M. D. 164 MEDICAL SCHOOL FACULTY, SYRIAN PROTESTANT COLLEGE, BEIRUT. FROM "CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND SOCIAL PROGRESS," BY JAMES S. DENNIS, D. D. THE OPERATING ROOM. DR. POST SEATED BY A PATIENT. JOHANNITER HOSPITAL, BEIRUT, FROM " CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND SOCIAL PROGRESS," BY JAMES S DENNIS, D.D. CHAPTER VII SYRIA Dr. Post of the Beirut Medical College, at the London Conference, described hospital work thus : " I shall take you at once to the forefront of the battle. I shall try to give you a series of living pictures of medical mission work in the field. First, let me ask you to imagine yourselves with me to-day in a room which will hold about two hundred people in the city of Beirut. . . . The day is Christmas, the occa sion is the celebration of the annual festival for the benefit of the patients in the hospital. Imagine to yourselves in the middle of the room a Christmas tree decked out as you deck out such a tree for your fes tival in this land. " Imagine to yourselves the patients assembling and grouping themselves round this tree, while on the chairs round the edges of the room is a select com pany of English, Americans, Germans, French, and Arabs, natives of the country, and people of other nationalities, gathered to witness the spectacle. While they are assembling I will try to describe to you the personnel and the history of some of those patients. The first whom we see before us is a little boy of seven years of age. That boy is a Jew ; we rarely i6S Opportunities get Jews into our hospital ; he is so young that they think he cannot be harmed ; he is not yet initiated into the secrets of religion. I do not know how it is, but there he is. We do sometimes get Jewish chil dren. He is going to hear about Jesus Christ — the first time in his life that he has ever heard the gospel. "By his side there is a woman with a long white veil over her face. You see but one eye. She wears a blue dress. She has a little baby in her arms ; the hands are gone ! That woman is a Druse woman. She was sitting in her house in the mountains, warm ing her hands over the fire in the center of the floor. They have no chimneys there — in many of the houses they have no windows. They let the smoke go out of the door. Well, as she was sitting there warming her hands, some earth and stones and sticks fell from the roof and pinioned her hands to the fire and they were burnt to a crisp. She came down to our hos pital, and we were obliged to amputate both hands. . . . She has come down with that poor little baby, and we have been kind to her ; we have treated her gently. She has seen these dear sisters (the Kaiser- werth Sisters) take that baby in their arms and lull it to sleep. They have read the Bible to her, and her heart has been touched. And now she sits there be fore that tree, which is the emblem of the love of Christ, and she is going to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. "Just on the other side is a man with a long beard and a- green turban. That man is a descendant of Mohammed. Where do you suppose he came from ? 166 Syria He came from Hebron ; he is the guardian of the sacred tomb of Machpelah, and has charge of the bones of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah. He is a very bigoted Mohamme dan. He would not let you go into the outer pre cincts of that sacred tomb, nor let you look through the bars where those sacred ashes repose. No man has been allowed to go into the innermost recesses of that sacred place. The very boys of Hebron would stone you away if you attempted to go near their mosque. What brought him here? Sickness. He was blind. He came to the hospital, and the dog that he would have spat upon is the man that gave him the use of his two eyes. And he will give him now his heart and his attention as he preaches the gospel to him. "On the right hand is a Bedouin from Palmyra. He had a blood feud with some of his comrades, and they shot him in the side. The bullet entered the chest. An unskillful native practitioner there very rightly wished to drain the wound, but very unskill- fully rolled up a piece of rag and put it into the wound to keep it open ; but he did not take care to prevent it slipping in, and it slipped in. Then the next day he put in another, and that slipped in. Then he kept on putting in rags day after day until there was a mass there as big as my fist. The poor man began to cough and grow thin, and he began to die. They heard of this hospital in Beirut, and they heard of somebody who dared to perform operations on cases like that. They brought him all the way from Palmyra. . . . 167 Opportunities I took out that great mass, and I could look in and see the action of the lungs and could see clear to the spinal column. That man became well. People held it to be a miracle, but it was not a miracle of mine, only a miracle of modern science, and modern science is a miracle of Christianity. That man never heard of the gospel of Christ before. He was a Bedouin. He hardly had heard of Christ, except in terms of re proach. But he sits down here to hear all about the gospel. "Here is a poor woman. She cannot sit up, but is lying on a bed and has been brought down on a stretcher. She had a brute of a husband who struck her in the chest, and disease of the bone followed. He struck her right over the heart, and the ribs and costal cartilages were affected. A great plate of dead bone and cartilage had to be removed, and for the first and only time in my life I looked inside a woman's heart. I laid the four fingers of my hand over the pericardium, and felt every motion of the mechanism of the heart — a thing I never saw or heard of before. She recovered. That was a miracle, not of mine, but of science, and of Christianity which underlies science. She is here to hear the gospel of Christ. Shall I describe them all ? " They are gathered from Jerusalem, from Bagdad, from Tuat in the Great Sahara, from Turkestan in Central Asia, from the head waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris, from every village in Lebanon, from Pales tine, from Cyprus, from Asia Minor — they are gathered into this hospital, and here they receive the gifts of 168 Syria healing. Now here they are, gathered round this Christmas tree, with these sweet sisters, like presiding angels, going to and fro amongst them ; and there are the presents on the tree. Each one has a garment or a book and the children some toys, and the ginger bread and candy and oranges are not forgotten. " They open the book and sing about the child Jesus. Then the German pastor gets up and offers a prayer. Then the English pastor makes some remarks to the audience gathered about him ; and then the doctor, who has stood by their side, who has held the terrible knife over them — but thanks be to God they were under the influence of an anaesthetic that robbed it of its terrors ! — and who has stood by their bedside and watched them through the crisis of the fever, and who has smiled as he saw returning health and strength ; he stands now before them to preach the gospel of Christ. Christian brethren, I do not be lieve in letting down the gospel to anybody. The Lord Jesus Christ made the gospel as simple, as elementary and as possible for every man to accept as it can be made, and if we present it as Jesus gave it to us it will go home to the heart. I am not afraid, Christian brethren, to stand up before that Moham medan, that descendant of Saladin, and preach Christ and him crucified." The hospital where all these patients were assembled is the Hospital of the Knights of St. John under the Kaiserwerth Sisters of the German Lutheran Church. It is a beautiful hospital, a great white structure perfectly appointed in every way. Those 169 Opportunities able to pay are expected to do so, but if they are too poor for this every care needed is given freely. The doctors of the medical faculty of the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut give their services there. In telling of medical work in Syria, near the place where Christ was born, could we do better than begin with a Christmas scene in one of the hospitals ? This medical department of the Syrian Protestant College of Beirut, where Dr. Post has won fame and given re lief of soul and body to thousands during his years of ministry, was founded soon after the college was opened in 1866. This college has three departments, preparatory, collegiate, medical. It is auxiliary to the mission and in closest sympathy with it, but it was deemed best to have it independent. Its aim is " the enlightenment and salvation of the Arabic world." When you read a report of "Missions in Syria," pub lished by our press in Beirut, and note the seventy odd students in the medical college, and find they come from the Arabic speaking portions of Europe, Asia, and Africa, the Mohammedan world, you feel sure that the aim is being fulfilled. The four years' course in the medical college has reacted on the whole course of medical education in the land, and it is steadily advancing the standard of medical learning. It has practically created the medical profession in the Levant, Mr. Mott says in "Strategic Points in the World's Conquest." Its graduates, mostly Christians, after taking the Con stantinople diploma, may practice in any part of Turkey. " While the sultan has granted to the Jesuit 170 Syria Medical College at Beirut, the right to have the ex aminations for this ' Constantinople diploma ' held in Beirut, yet he still compels the graduates of our med ical college to go to Constantinople for it, thereby in volving them in great labor and expense. This ought to be known as a fact illustrating unfair discrimination against us in favor of the French," the Rev. William Jessup adds to the above. Our graduates are found associated with most of the medical missions presided over by English or Ameri cans; others, single-handed, are doing a good work as medical missionaries. Dr. Post says it is impossi ble to give an account of the medical mission work in this land without frequent mention of the graduates of this institution. Dr. Post is one of the greatest of living surgeons. He has been at work for over thirty years. Some of the most bigoted and intolerant Mohammedans have been his patients and " after he has touched them with his skillful hand, they have stooped to kiss his feet, to express their gratitude ; and hundreds have been healed, not only in body, but in soul also." Beirut is the commercial and literary center of Syria. In its appearance and in the culture of its in habitants, it more nearly resembles a European city than any other city in the land. At the foot of the Lebanon, on a plain, it rivals Naples in beauty of scenery. The city is built on rising ground and adorned with many elegant buildings, private and public. Of all belonging to the mission, few have i7r Opportunities cost the Board anything, they having been built mainly by private funds. The first medical missionary in Syria was Cornelius Van Alen Van Dyck, M. D., D. D., LL. D. We ought to know well such a hero. He was born in 1818, at Kinderhook, N. Y., where he began his edu cation, completing his studies at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Afterwards he was ordained to the ministry in Syria in 1846. When twenty-two he went out to Syria under the American Board in 1840; and there he devoted all his great powers to Christ alone till his death fifty-five years afterwards. Only twice did he come back to this country, each time on business. We are apt to think of him chiefly in connection with his wonderful work, the translation of the Bible into Arabic. This he took up in 1857, on the death of the Rev. Eli Smith, D. D., who had spent nine years over it. For seven years he carried on the work till it was printed, April 29th, 1865. It is said to be the finest translation of the Bible in any language ; and it is on sale in Arabic, "in Jerusalem and Damascus, in Alexandria and Cairo, in Constantinople and Aleppo, in Mosul and Bagdad, in Shanghai, Canton, and Peking, in Zanzibar and Khartoum, in Algiers and Tunis, in Siberia and Sierra Leone," in New York, Philadelphia, and other American cities. "This is America's gift to the Mohammedan world." But all through Syria and the Levant, Dr. Van Dyck was known as a doctor. Crowds came to him to be healed, and he held clinics almost without in- 172 DR. C. V. A.. VAN DYCK. Syria terruption. He did immense service. He wrote some valuable books on medicine in Arabic, being known as the greatest living Arabic scholar. He was often taken for a native when he traveled ; once in i860 when the Druses and Maronites were fighting in the Lebanon, he nearly lost his life, for those who took him prisoner did not believe that any one who spoke Arabic so perfectly was not a native. Years afterwards there came to him in the hospital as a patient, one of the Arabs who had then tried to kill him. He was universally kind. Some one visiting him a few months before he died (in 1895) found a swallow busy building her nest round the chain of his lamp near the ceiling. Dr. Van Dyck had carefully spread newspapers on the floor underneath, and explained that the bird had been driven in by other birds. A Mohammedan Mufti once came to his office in Beirut. One of his wives was ill and he seemed to care enough for her to wish for medical advice. But he considered it an insult to mention a woman, and all his conventional good -breeding was put to severe test. His diplomacy showed itself in the usual in numerable salutations, multiplied all the more copi ously because of the risk. " Good morning ; may your day be happy ; may God grant you a great help," until he thought he had by his compliments sufficiently paved the way to business. Then he proceeded: " Your Excellency must be aware that I have a sick man in my house. May God 173 Opportunities give you blessing ! Indeed, peace to your head ! Inshullah, it is only a slight attack ! " The amused missionary inquired what was the matter. " He has a headache, a pain in his back, and he will not eat." Of course immediate attention was promised for the man. " I will come and see him this afternoon ; who may it be?" Fumbling in his awkwardness at last the poor Mufti burst out with it tumultuously : " Ajellak, Allah, it is my wife ! May God increase your good ! Good morning, sir 1 " The human tongue is incapable of uttering any formula that is a greater concentration of fastidious disdain and contemptuous scorn. In genteel Arabic the apology, "Ajellak, Allah" must always be used whenever one is compelled to speak of five intolerable embarrassments : a shoe, a donkey, a dog, a hog, or a woman. The whole notion of women in Egypt and Palestine among Mohammedans and Arabs is degrading and ignoble. (In this particular they quite unite with the Hindus, whose tenets are summed up in the sanctity of a cow and the vileness of a woman.) Fathers re joice if a son is given to keep up family ambition and name, but their proverb is, "The threshold weeps forty days whenever a girl baby is born." Miss West says : " Anyone who has ever heard the tongues of Turkish (or heathen) women in fierce, 174 Syria childish, bitter, boisterous and long-continued dis pute, — the screams, and yells, and curses, accompanied by beating of the breast, tearing the hair, and sudden flying at the enemy, clawing and scratching, and spit ting like so many furies, — can fully appreciate Solo mon's sharp, sarcastic allusions to 'angry,' 'con tentious,' ' brawling ' women ! "In lands where speedy burial follows a sudden death, and no post-mortem examination is made, or coroner's inquest held, a cup of poison, secretly ad ministered, accomplishes its fatal work ; and the hus band or wife loudly bewails (in public) the deed which his or her own hand has coolly wrought, unseen by any human eye ! This is more or less true of all classes and nationalities throughout the empire ; but the standard of morality is vastly higher among the Armenians, and other nominal Christians of the East who accept the Bible (even though its light is hidden), than among those whose antecedents are purely Mo hammedan or pagan. Among the Turks especially, the first chapter of Romans is just as applicable as when penned by the inspired apostle. ... As a nation they are slowly becoming extinct from their vices; the number of births decreasing with every year, while among the so-called Christian population, there is a steady increase." To penetrate the fastnesses of the harems, women medical missionaries are essential. In all Moham medan lands medical missionaries have a value ines timable. Who can so preach Christ ? What is the land to do without him ? How can it be helped with '75 Opportunities such women in the homes ? Only Christianity gives woman her true place. Consider this prescription for a baby suffering with anything from croup to stomachache: "First, get a hen's egg, then make seven round holes in the shell and empty out the contents through these holes. Then dip the perforated eggshell under water and lift it quickly so that the water it holds will stream into the basin. Repeat this operation thirty-nine times until the basin has received forty shellfuls of water streamed through the seven holes. Finally, wash the sick baby in the basin thus filled, and there is nothing more to be done." The fact that the death rate among children is deplorably high does not change such belief. A man with boils must start confidently down the road, flinging over his shoulder nuts or raisins, and never looking behind though the city burn down. Whoever picks up one of these nuts or raisins, will, he believes, take with it his boils. To cure a fever get some wise old Armenian to bind the patient's wrist with cotton cloth. This is supposed to bind the fever also, and to render it harmless. In Arabia, where treatment is of the same kind, holes are burned in the body to let the disease out. Sick children are branded with red-hot bars, wounded limbs are chopped off and sealed with boiling tar. The chief surgical instrument among the common people of Syria is the jack-knife. Multitudes believe in the use of charms. Especially do they dread the " evil eye" and beads are used to rid themselves of 176 Syria its influence upon their houses and persons, or on their domestic animals. In times of sickness the neighbors are eagerly sought and all their advice taken as to medicine and diet. This is regarded as more reliable than that of the regular doctor. Usually no guard is taken against exposure to disease. One of the missionaries kindly laid his hands on the head of a child, not noticing an eruption on its face. He was going home to his wife and four little chil dren. "Take care! That child has the smallpox," said Miss Maria A. West who was traveling with the same company. He started as if stung by a scorpion. "Why did you not tell me? " he sternly demanded of the father, a native Christian preacher. "And he, good man, laughed at the idea of anyone being afraid of smallpox ! ' ' Fatalism prevails. The people meet every illness with a despondent spirit ; declaring almost hopelessly, —"It is from God." Means and methods of prevention are not thought of among the great mass of the people, for every sani tary law is disregarded. There is an indescribable want of cleanliness and order in their houses and per sons. It seems hopeless to introduce anything like comfort into their houses. Nevertheless Christianity has effected changes in the homes of many of our converts, where cleanliness and sanitation are found. The word "microbe " is well-known now in Arabic. When scientific prescriptions are written out and left with the patients, they frequently dissolve the 177 Opportunities paper in water, which they then drink and thus save the expense of going to the apothecary. They are utterly ignorant of medicine, its essential nature and effects. If a little does good, much will do more good proportionately, they think. As for dieting, it is not thought of. The pupils in our schools when ill ' ' turn with disgust from rice-water, gruels, and por ridges and long for the savory messes which they are accustomed to eat." Diseases of all kinds are most common. Suffering from poverty and sickness every where abounds. Unknown difficulties attend mission prescriptions for orientals. There is no provision for the care of the insane, the imbecile, and the epileptic, in Syria. Theophilus Waldmeier of the American Friends' Mission at Asfuriyeh has built the only hospital for the insane, or "Home for the Insane," as he prefers to call it, near Beirut, below Brummana, at the foot of Mount Lebanon. Being in Lebanon territory it is free from Turkish oppression, for since i860, after the massacre of the Druses, that section of Syria has enjoyed good laws and Christian government, which no other Turk ish province is so fortunate as to possess. The build ings were erected and are supported by funds from British, Continental, and American sources. Syria has been better supplied with medical helps than any other of our foreign fields, yet nowhere is the need greater, because it is one of the best forms of work to break down the Mohammedan fortifications of superstition and prejudice. Thirteen hospitals and fifteen dispensaries are under the United Free Church 178 Syria of Scotland, the English Medical Mission to the Jews, the Church Missionary Society, the London Society for the Propagation of Christianity among the Jews, the Moravians, the Jaffa English Mission, the Prussian Sisters, the American Presbyterians, and the Friends' Medical Mission to the Armenians, while the Mildmay Mission, the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, and the American Friends' Mission make up the total of the societies working for the medical aid of Syria. In Turkey, at Constantinople, and a few other places, a few hospitals and dispensaries are giving forth " light and life." These are not sufficient. Witness this account of Miss West's in her "Romance of Missions." She was ill at Marsovan, and when the others "no longer dared to trust their own skill, and study of medicine books, a messenger was dispatched to Yozgat, the nearest telegraph station, to summon the missionary physician from Sivas, seven days distant. Posting day and night, he accomplished the five days' jour ney in two, and when he received a telegram in re ply, started back as swiftly as he went. . . . Four or five days have passed and a second mes senger is dispatched to meet the first, and bring back news of the doctor. At last, he returns with the joy ful tidings that the ' hakim ' is on his way, and will arrive in an hour or two. " As the sun goes down the doctor throws himself from the jaded horse, and comes to the relief of the worn-out, anxious watchers, who can scarcely restrain their tears for joy, the responsibility was so great. 179 Opportunities But the crisis is just past, and the danger is over ; the life saved, Dr. West says, by prompt application of leeches to the head, which arrested fatal inflammation of the brain. " The people have heard of the • great hakim,' and Dr. West is constantly beset by crowds that, as in the time of our Saviour, are ' taken with divers diseases and torments ' ; the halt, the maimed, and the blind, and those that are ' possessed ' with — they know not what. Within a few days he performs many wonder ful surgical operations, and his fame spreads abroad ; the outer and inner courtyard overflows with per sistent claimants upon his attention, and the house is in a state of siege ! Doors are locked to prevent people of all sorts and conditions from swarming in every part, like some of the plagues of Egypt. And the tumult without, makes itself more or less felt within. In the midst of it all, there comes a tele gram, recalling the doctor to attend upon his own sick child. The news of his speedy departure flies like wild fire through the town ; a surging crowd collects in the streets round the missionary dwelling, each one holding up his little cup and clamoring for medicine ! The doctor, calm and undisturbed as usual, gives a few directions to his assistants, and promises the people to train one of their own number to be their physician, mounts his horse, and speedily disappears for a hurried march toward home." One of our workers, an expectant mother, sent for the physician in time of direst need, only to receive the reply that it was impossible to come. 1 80 Syria A mother, a missionary, found her two little chil dren ill ; one of them died. She then took the other and journeyed six days to the nearest doctor. " Too late," he said. She turned and journeyed back. The second day that child also died. The rest of the way she traveled with her dead child in her arms. There is no need to allow such things to continue. Why is it that so few lay them to heart ? We read of many deaths on mission fields. We feel sorry perhaps. If we inquired into the cause we would find the blame is here, in America — men and means are withheld. The Church of Christ " is asleep. She is indifferent, because ignorant. A drowsy person cannot cope with real peril. When a man is fully awake he is alive to the stress of circum stances. Oh ! I pray that our Lord Jehovah may wake up his people now. We have slept too long." At Tripoli the hospital hired in 1884, was replaced by a new building in 1892, after much opposition. The wards, accommodating twenty-four beds and an operating room, are built over a mission chapel, thirty- four by thirty-eight feet. The day school is also held in this building. (The patients must often suffer from this fact for all pupils in the Orient study out loud.) On the ground floor, there is a waiting room, and over it an assistants' and consulting room, a drug room, and a dark room for ophthalmic examinations. One ward of an American hospital would furnish the whole of our medical outfit in Syria. They can receive as in patients only surgical cases, for lack of room. The medical patients must find themselves accommodations 181 Opportunities elsewhere. The gospel is preached to the crowds of patients who assemble at the hospital and at the dis pensary, and long medical itinerating tours are taken to other parts of the field. Each day, before the medical work is begun, a religious service is held which Moslems and nominal Christians attend. Shickri Fakhuri preaches everyday before clinics, and also on Thursday evening. In the dispensary chapel he assists in dressings and surgical operations. Zamurrod Faris, a graduate of the girls' school, has charge of the work among the women in connection with the dispensary. Mrs. Harris writes : " The daily clinics continue large. Just now we have a Protestant ward, and it is refreshing to go into that room and to see the neatness and order, and the difference between these people and the others. One patient is the wife of a teacher, another was once my housemaid, and the other is a pretty little woman, member of the church in Safita — all are from Safita in fact. ' ' A man in Ras Baalbek, when asked what the sick did when Dr. Mary Eddy was not there, replied : " They are left in the house, and if they get well, good ; but if not, why we can but let them die. ' ' This is typical of all. In Quab Elias our preacher does considerable work among the sick, using the lit tle knowledge he has, and in Furzul our teacher is quite successful in treating the cases brought to his care. But these are all make-shifts and are under stood to be such. What would you do if illness oc curred in your family at a place where out of the 182 Syria whole year there are but twenty days in which a doctor can be secured, as at Hums last year; or twenty-two days, as at Hameth, when Dr. Harris was tarrying there ? This missionary doctor has been able to visit many regions of the country where the mis sionary without the doctor would find no welcome. The bigoted Maronite and the strange Nuseireeyeh welcome the physician and will receive from his lips or from those who accompany him words to which they would not listen under any other circumstances. All prescriptions have a verse of the Bible printed on them. When Dr. Harris spent some time in the summer of 1893 at Hadeth he had a most flourishing clinic. He insisted on a religious service before giving medical aid, and the priests of Hadeth and the near villages made strenuous efforts to keep their people away. But the people enjoyed the services as well as their physical improvement. The priest at Hadeth be sought his people not to attend these dispensary serv ices saying : " What do you go there for ? Is it for preaching? Come to the church and I will preach to you, — and if you think I cannot do it, I will get a preacher from abroad." A young woman living in one village applied for church membership at the nearest mission station. She had been converted at Dr. Harris's clinic. A woman who had watched an operation that saved a life, said : " Talk about the American doctor killing the living, he makes the dead alive ! " The priests began by excommunicating all who attended the serv- 183 Opportunities ices, calling our workers devils, snakes, monkeys, and forbidding anything to be sold to them, any water to be carried thern, or even any speaking with them. An old patient of the doctor's came one day to the village, and when he heard how even food was not procurable, he warned the people to beware how they treated these foreigners. Being a man of influence he hastened to send to the governor, who threatened them with soldiers. When the violent priest left, the people were glad and urged the doctor's return, offer ing to rent or build houses. " Many followed us on the road, weeping and blessing," writes Mrs. Harris. At another time, Dr. Harris traveled to Zeitun, ten days from Beirut, to relieve a deadly epidemic of typhus and dysentery. There were 7,000 people in the throes of starvation, their food, a soup made of grass and weeds, with occasionally a small amount of flour. This was during the Armenian massacres, and they had 8,000 or more refugees. They had suc ceeded, without any artificial fortifications, in defend ing themselves for four months against the enemy, when through the intercession of European consuls, honorable peace was proclaimed. The only physi cians nearer than Aintab — four days distant — were two Armenian doctors at Marash, and they were ill with typhus. Dr. Sheppard of Aintab, of the Amer ican Board, did heroic service, but he was obliged to return home, and Dr. Harris with two Syrian physi cians, educated at Beirut, and his assistant Shickri Fakhuri took up the work of relief. Through the generosity of the Red Cross Society of the United 184 Syria States, and the missionaries of Marash, they " fed the hungry, treated the sick, and in twenty-four days the epidemic was stamped out. ' ' Sixty a day had been dying. After they were fairly settled, the leading village priest received this letter. " To the Priests of Tula, and its People : " Our dear children. After presenting to you the divine benediction, we say it has come to our ears that some of you are thinking to rent your houses to the Protestants, and this is to inform you that His Holiness the patriarch forbids you to do so, and if you will do it, he will excommunicate you all. " Furthermore, we repeat if you do rent your houses to these Frangy Protestants, or sell to them, or have any dealings with them whatever, be ye priest or layman, ye are sure to suffer the penalty of the great excommunication. May we again repeat. Any one who opposes this order and permits these Protestants' to enter the house, at that very moment he is excom municated and cut off from the fellowship of Chris tians and must be absolved from this curse by His Holiness the patriarch before he can be restored to the benefits, blessings and fellowship of the Church. July 3, 1896. The humble Isttfanous' Aword, Bishop of Tripoli." Consternation prevailed, for the bishop had recently visited them, and he knew that the houses had been rented. The priest who had rented Dr. Harris the house went to beg the bishop to remove the curse. Upon payment of $8.88 this was done, provided the 185 Opportunities people did not attend the services or hold any religious conversation with the Protestants. However, the people disobeyed. Dr. Mary Pierson Eddy, daughter of the Rev. W. W. Eddy, D. D., of Beirut, went back to Syria to work as a physician in 1893. She had taken six diplomas, but must still have a permit to practice medicine in the Turkish Empire. She waited in Constantinople from August until December. There was no real question of her fitness, and the United States Minister pressed her claims solely on the ground of treaty rights. For more than a year the Russian ambassador had been trying to secure a similar decree for a Rus sian woman, but when in January, 1894, Dr. Eddy's legal degree of doctor of medicine and surgery was conferred, the Russian was still waiting. Behind this success lay a "rampart of prayer." The highest diploma hitherto granted was that of "learned woman." Medical examinations to women have al ways been refused, and without these the way was always open for jealous ecclesiastics or officials to in terfere with the work. By resolutely holding on, Dr. Eddy exempted herself from all this, and opened the door for others also. One year she rented a house in Sidon, and patients flocked from all quarters. Dur ing nine months she travels, visiting a large part of the field, and spending much time at important out stations. Describing the work at Ras Baalbek she wrote : "During this time (three weeks) I have performed over forty operations on the eye alone, and have seen 186 MARY FEIRSON EDDY-, M. D., FROM " REVIEW OF MISSIONS.' Syria about five hundred new patients. Yesterday I re moved a tumor, the operation lasting one hour and forty-five minutes. How my staid professors in New York would stand aghast at the boldness with which I undertake operations ! No aseptic surroundings, no clean hospital ward to put them in afterwards, but with God's blessing and the fresh country air and the utmost care and cleanliness during the operation, we obtain most excellent results. My assistant, and now my Bible woman also, can be depended on in any emergency and repay with untiring fidelity in the service of the patients the slight amount of attention I have been enabled to devote to training them. The robber Metawaly clan of Beit Dendesh, who occupy the forests west of us, are utterly lawless, regarding the rights of neither God nor man. Their neighbors, the Metawaly, are little better as regards religion, but do not steal except to supply their necessities. No one dares travel in any direction in this whole region alone and unarmed. " One's soul recoils from meeting such men of blood, whose records are those of violence and cruelty, but our safety in these parts depends entirely upon their good-will, and I constantly say to my helpers and to myself, 'These, too, must be won for Christ.' ' How can they believe on him of whom they have not heard ? ' Yesterday a delegation came from a neighboring village headed by two young men, dressed in Damascus silk, and heavily armed. They came from a Moslem Prince to ask me to go to visit a patient in their village." 187 Opportunities On another occasion she contrasted medical work in Syria and America. "Often in my journeyings through my district — seven days' journey from north to south — I long for the companionship of some of my former associates who are serving in the tenement districts of crowded cities, or who form part of the staff of a richly endowed asylum or a stately, well- appointed hospital. I would show them Tyre and Sidon, glorious Lebanon, Yammouni the beautiful lake, hidden securely away below the Cedar Moun tain, Baalbek with her ruins, the sources of the Oron- tes, and many other historical spots where my tent has been pitched and days or weeks have been spent. Other towns I could point out where houses have been rented for hospital purposes, and more rooms taken in adjoining houses as patients increased. I could show them one room hired for a dispensary whose only window opened upon a fig tree, upon which the vil lage boys perched all day long in relays to watch our novel proceedings within ; another mountain eyrie where creeping things worked their way along through the loosely constructed roof, sending showers of dirt at unexpected intervals upon us at work below. Many other houses have I had during the past three trial years. Under spreading sacred oak, in palace and in peasant's hut the medicine chest and the ' Hakime ' are familiar objects now. " Well-appointed clinics in America have the ad vantage of fixed hours and many assistants to share the work, and in some measure the responsibility. Long before 5 a. m. on summer days my tent is sur- 188 Syria rounded by waiting throngs who wonder audibly, until I appear, ' Why the Hakime sleeps so late ! ' " My only leisure time is when I leave every thing and take a ride to the neighboring villages to visit homes from which patients have come. Clinic hours are often extended to 4 p. m. and then comes the irksome task of filling the long row of waiting bottles, for my sole assistant is a Syrian maiden who is doorkeeper, water-supplier, and general go-between. On operation days she is brave and helpful. When the last patient has been seen she restores order out of chaos and is ready to help with the pestle and spatula. Rapidly we work, and the mixtures, powders, eye washes, tablets and ointments, are labeled and again arranged in order. Is the day's work complete? No, indeed ; the evening has come and the village now claims us for its own. All day the patients have monopolized our time ; now all are welcome. The elders range themselves along under the large Bible pictures on the wall ; the children, wide awake with curiosity, fill every available inch. One little corner is kept near the window for the organ and myself. When the evening gathering or 'sahra' has been closed with hymns, Bible stories, and prayer, can we shut up the premises for the night? No, indeed; the messenger is to start before daybreak for the nearest post office. Home letters must be written; some dressings, drugs, or surgical appliances ordered from Beirut; some letter from a former patient seeking ad vice considered and answered. At last the package is sealed ; the insecure fastenings of doors and windows 189 Opportunities reinforced by strong nails ; then to the weird call of distant jackals and the nearer music of the ever-present village dog, sleep is wooed. "These interruptions one would hardly anticipate in New York. During my last tour of two and a half months, I had to suspend clinical work one day to cut short the career of a centipede across my floor. At another time waiting groups were startled by the sud den irruption of the robber chief who held the whole countryside in his sway. Accompanied by a dozen tall, fierce fellows, armed like himself to the teeth, they filed into the clinic room, seeking advice for one of their number who had an ugly scalp wound and a finger nearly severed. Their bold manner was sub dued by their novel surroundings ; they gazed curi ously at the alcove where native beds are usually piled and saw shelves well filled with bottles and boxes ; they looked at the many recesses where family stores are kept and beheld strange glittering instruments ; they turned to the deep window where the sterilizing instrument was doing its work of preparation and to the traveling chests arrayed for operation table. ' Mashallah ! ' says the leader. ' Has your country many daughters like you ? Truly our work is but to despoil and deface; yours is to restore and repair.' "Another stir at the door! my startled gaze falls upon the village bier which is being set down at the doorstep. Am I to be asked to help those past hope of human reach ? No hospital ambulance is here, so one soul with hope and faith yet strong within her has consented to be thus carried by her friends. We lift 190 Syria her tenderly into the room for a careful examination, and rejoice that in this case help can be given and full recovery obtained. A whisper from one of my old patients, ' A leper is at the gate ! ' The other patients refuse to let him come farther. ' Will the Hakime not come and look at him through the needle's eye or window of the gate?' Poor fellow 1 His maimed limbs are hardly covered by the rags which were his only portion when his relatives thrust him out from his former home. Food and clothing he needs most, as he is in the last stage of his awful afflic tion, and his voice is hardly audible as he pours forth blessings upon us amidst the recital of his woes. "The emoluments of my profession furnish the most trying problem I have to deal with, and in a shape which rarely tries the soul of an American phy sician. He who comes empty-handed is considered mean and miserly. From a mare, the gift of a Bed ouin prince, down to a snake skin I do not know any thing portable which has not at one time or another been presented to me. One season I had eleven lambs. At another time a hedgehog was found to be rather an unpleasant companion in our limited quar ters. Fido, our splendid watch dog would look at each new arrival with a knowing glance, which seemed to say: 'I don't mind if you do come; you won't be here long.' Fruit, fish, flowers, flesh of all kinds, deer, shells, birds, fossils, would be sent. As each of these received and accepted meant value double ex pected, the burden of obligation and of satisfying all expectations was too much, and now I receive nothing 191 Opportunities that I do not need and for which I cannot pay cash value on the spot. The same rule applies to the great feasts prepared by village magnates, which prepare the way for free treatment of all relatives of the donor and his neighbors. I have neither time nor strength for these irregular demands for my services. " As in America, the question, ' Who should receive free treatment ' is a difficult one. I require from those who come thus to bring a certificate of their in ability to pay for treatment and medicine, signed with the seal of the head of their religion, or of the sheikh of the village or our Protestant teacher in their place. When leaving town after a stay of several weeks I have accumulated a sheaf of papers bearing seals and signatures of the bishop, priests of every denomina tion, Mohammedan sheikhs and Metawaly scribes, with here and there a Bedouin's mark or a Circas sian's sign manual. We are troubled by no ' round ers,' and the gratitude of those helped is touching. In one place where I had straightened the cross-eyes of a number of maidens, a Moslem said to me ' You have provided those destitute ones with homes by your skill. You have laid up more merit in heaven, than if you had journeyed to Mecca.' From towns and villages which I have never yet been able to visit, come long formidable petitions entreating me to give them a share of our time. "Fame, fortune, social pleasures and position may keep some at home who would otherwise choose life on the foreign field, but the contrast my work affords in the opportunity freely to preach Christ to perishing 192 Syria souls makes me feel that all else is as nothing. Dur ing the stay of a month in one place in my last tour, I had six hundred patients from nineteen towns and villages. A faithful Bible woman seconded my ef forts to speak a word in season to each one. Some stayed for treatment two and three weeks, learning hymns and verses while waiting their turns in the clinic and in many cases carrying away a hymn book or Testament, which they had bought, to their distant homes. Religious literature is eagerly welcomed by many of the village priests, and in the clinic room many prayers have ascended for sin-burdened hearts. The responsibility of dealing with diseased bodies is great, but how much more wisdom is needed to point these poor, ignorant, oppressed, downcast people to him who has all power to heal and save. From early morning till the last evening caller has departed, my supreme aim in medical work is to commend my Master through my feeble efforts, and point those with whom I come in contact to him. Preparation and anticipation in America were pleasant, but the joy of the realization of my plans of service brings per fect happiness and ever-renewed joy to my heart." If any reader should come to the conclusion reached by one of Dr. Eddy's patients, a Bedouin woman, the toil, the preparation, and the many prayers that have made this book will not be in vain. She writes : " Yesterday a poor Bedouin woman came a three days' journey to see me. Oh, how terrible is the lot of these poor women of the wandering tribes of the desert ! This woman had never heard there 193 Opportunities was a Christ, and her deep interest in the tale of what he did for us was wonderful to watch. When she heard of his death she exclaimed : ' I will have blood sacrificed ; the choicest of my flock is his ! ' " She was much puzzled to hear that Christ had done it all and required nothing of her; that the perfect sacrifice had been offered once for all. She replied : ' But I must show my love. I will sew a robe for the poorest of my tribe, and tell him, "Master, I do this for thee, for thou didst so much for me." ' " How are we showing our love ? At Shweir, in the Lebanon, the United Free Church of Scotland has had a dispensary. This still con tinues though the work was transferred to our Board, but the medical missionary, Dr. William Carslaw, is still supported by the Scotch Mission. Dr. Ham- man, a graduate of our Beirut College, assists him. Cholera and malaria have slain their thousands in Syria, Turkey, and other lands. Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D. D., in "Among the Turks," gives some rules for treatment that have saved their thousands. We quote in full: — "ist. On the approach of the cholera, every family should be prepared to treat it without waiting for a physician. It does its work so expeditiously, that while you are waiting for the doctor it is done. " 2d. If you prepare for it, it will not come. I think there is no disease which may be avoided with so much certainty as the cholera. But providential circumstances, or the thoughtless indiscretions of some 194 Syria member of a household, may invite the attack, and the challenge will never be refused. It will probably be made in the night, your physician has been called in another direction, and you must treat the case yourself or it will be fatal. " 3d. Causes of attack. — I have personally in vestigated at least a hundred cases, and not less than three-fourths could be traced directly to improper diet, or to intoxicating drinks, or to both united. Of the remainder, suppressed perspiration would com prise a large number. A strong, healthy, temperate, laboring man had a severe attack of cholera, and after the danger had passed, I was curious to ascer tain the cause. He had been cautious and prudent in his diet. He had used nothing intoxicating. His residence was in a good locality. But after some hours of hard labor and very profuse perspiration, he had lain down to take his customary nap right against an open window through which a very refreshing breeze was blowing. Another cause is drinking largely of cold water when hot and thirsty. Great fatigue, great anxiety, fright, fear, all figure among inciting causes. If one can avoid all these he is as safe from the cholera as from being swept away by a comet. "4th. Symptoms of an attack. — While cholera is prevalent in a place, almost everyone experiences more or less disturbance of digestion. It is doubtless in part imaginary. Everyone notices the slightest variation of feeling, and this gives importance to mere trifles. There is often a slight nausea, or transient pains, or rumbling sounds when no attack follows. i9S Opportunities No one is entirely free from these. But when diar rhoea commences, though painless and slight, it is in reality the skirmishing party of the advancing column. It will have at first no single characteristic of Asiatic cholera. But do not be deceived. It is the cholera, nevertheless. Wait a little, give it time to get hold, say to yourself, ' I feel perfectly well, it will soon pass off,' and in a short time you will repent of your folly in vain. I have seen many a one commit suicide in this way. "Sometimes, though rarely, the attack commences with vomiting. But in whatever way it commences it is sure to hold on. In a very few hours the patient may sink into the collapse. The hands and feet be come cold and purplish, the countenance at first nervous and anxious, becomes gloomy and apathetic, although a mortal restlessness and raging thirst tor ment the sufferer while the powers of life are ebbing. The intellect remains clear, but all the social and moral feelings seem wonderfully to collapse with the physical powers. The patient knows he is to die, but cares not a snap about it. "In some cases, though rarely, the diarrhoea con tinues for a day or two, and the foolish person keeps about, then suddenly sinks, sends for a physician, and before he arrives, ' dies as the fool dieth.' " Course of Treatment. " i. For stopping incipient diarrhoea: i part of laudanum, i part of spirits of camphor, i part of tincture of rhubarb. 196 Syria Thirty drops for an adult on a drop of sugar, will often check the diarrhoea. But to prevent its return, care should always be taken to continue the medicine every four hours in diminishing doses — twenty- five, twenty, fifteen, ten, nine — when careful diet is all that will be needed. . (This is labeled Mixture No. i.) "In case the first dose does not stay the diarrhoea, continue to give in increasing doses thirty-five, forty, forty-five, fifty, at every movement of the bowels. Large 'doses will produce no injury while the diarrhoea lasts. When that is checked, then is the time for caution. I have never seen a case of diarrhoea taken in season which was not thus controlled, but some cases of advanced diarrhoea, and especially of relapse, paid no heed to it whatever. As soon as this becomes apparent, I have always resorted to this course. Pre pare a teacup of starch boiled as for use in starching linen, and stir into it a full teaspoonful of laudanum for an injection. Give one third at each movement of the bowels. In one desperate case abandoned as hopeless by a physician, I could not stop the diarrhoea until the seventh injection, which contained a teaspoonful of laudanum. The patient recovered and is in per fect health. At the same time I used prepared chalk in ten-grain doses with a few drops of laudanum and camphor to each. But whatever course is pursued, it must be followed up, and the diarrhoea controlled, or the patient is lost. " 2. Mustard Poultices. — These should be ap plied to the pit of the stomach, and kept on till the surface is well reddened. 197 Opportunities "3. The patient, however well he may feel, should rigidly observe perfect rest. To lie quietly on the back is one half the battle. In that position the enemy fires over you, but the moment you rise you are hit. "When the attack comes in the form of diarrhoea, these directions will enable everyone to meet it suc cessfully. "4. But when the attack is more violent, and there is vomiting or vomiting and purging, perhaps also cramp and colic pain, the following mixture, which we label Mixture No. 2 for convenience of reference, is far more effective and should always be resorted to. The missionaries, Messrs. Long, Trow bridge and Washburn, have used it in very many cases, and with wonderful success. It consists of 1 part of laudanum, 1 part of tincture of capsicum, 1 part of tincture of ginger, 1 part of tincture of cardamon seeds. (If more convenient, camphorated spirit may be sub stituted for the latter.) Dose, thirty to forty drops, or half a teaspoonful in a little water, and to be in creased according to the urgency of the case. In case the first dose should be ejected, the second, which should stand ready, should be given immedi ately after the spasm of vomiting has ceased. During this late cholera siege no one of us failed of controling the vomiting, and also the purging, by, at most, the third dose. We have, however, invariably made use of large mustard poultices, strong and pure, applied Syria to the stomach, bowels, calves of > the legs, feet, etc., as the case seemed to require. " Collapse. — This is simply a more advanced stage of the disease. It indicates the gradual failing of all the powers of life. It is difficult to say when a case has become hopeless. At a certain point the body of the patient begins to emit a peculiar odor, which I call the death odor, for when that has become decided and unmistakable, I have never known a patient to re cover. I have repeatedly worked upon such cases for hours with no permanent result. But the blue color, the cold extremities, the deeply sunken eye, the van ishing pulse, are no signs that the case is hopeless. Scores of such cases in the recent epidemic have re covered. In addition to the second mixture, brandy (a tablespoonful every half hour), bottles of hot water surrounding the patient, especially the extremi ties, sinapisms and friction, will often, in an hour or two, work wonders. "In case of sinking, brandy at intervals is all-im portant. I undoubtedly saved one valuable life by continuing its use with the other means during the whole night. At seven o'clock in the morning the patient fell into a quiet slumber and was saved. " Thirst. — In these and in all advanced cases, thirst creates intense suffering. The sufferer craves water, and as sure as he gratifies the craving, the worst symptoms return, and he falls a victim to the transient gratification. The only safe way is to have a faithful friend or attendant who will not heed his entreaties. The suffering may be, however, safely 199 Opportunities alleviated and rendered endurable. Frequent gar gling the throat and washing out the mouth will bring some relief. A teaspoonful of gum-arabic water, or of chamomile tea, may frequently be given to wet the throat. 'Sydenham's white decoction,' an English preparation, may also be given both as a beverage and nourishment, in small quantities, frequently. In a day or two the suffering from thirst will cease. In a large majority it has not been intense for more than twenty-four hours. "Diet. — Rice water, arrowroot, Sydenham's white decoction, crust water, chamomile tea, are the best articles for a day or two after the attack is controlled. Chamomile is very valuable in restoring the tone of the stomach. " The Typhoid Fever. — A typhoid state for a few days will follow all severe cases ; there is nothing alarming in this. It has rarely proved fatal. Pa tience and careful nursing will bring it all right. The greatest danger is from drinking too freely. When a patient seemed sinking, a little brandy and water or arrowroot and brandy have revived him. In this ter rible visitation of the cholera, we have considered ourselves perfectly armed and equipped, with a hand bag containing Mixture No. i, Mixture No. 2 (for vomiting, etc. ), a pound of pounded mustard, a bottle of brandy, and a paper of chamomile flowers, and a paper of gum-arabic. " There is one fact carefully to be observed. In no instance known to us did those who washed the cloth ing and bedding of a deceased patient escape a severe Syria and generally fatal attack. All such articles should first be boiled, the steam not inhaled, then rinsed in pure water and hung up to dry without trituration by the hand. In this hand-washing there is some ab sorption that is very peculiar." Dr. Hamlin says filth and fatalism are the two chief factors. Hundreds of cases of malaria he successfully treated with the following formula for twenty years : " i. Take two grains of tartar emetic and dis solve in a glass of water. Take one third of this each morning on waking. It will act as an emetic the first morning, if the dose is too small and one grain may be tried. The second and third mornings the effect will be less. " 2. Prepare twelve pills of quinine, three grains each. Take four of them each morning on waking, for three mornings, observing to give fifteen minutes to each pill before another is taken. " 3. For one week take the quinine in diminishing doses each morning, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four grains, after which stop the quinine, and for a fortnight take five to ten grains of carbonate of iron before each meal. Diet light, but nourishing, soups, boiled mutton, etc." In the East and in the West Dr. Hamlin records success for these treatments. 201 Summary of Medical Missionary Work SYRIA, TURKEY, ARABIA. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Van, Turkey H. D. Marsovan, Turkey H. D. Trebizond, Turkey medical work Mardin H. D. Cesarea, Turkey H. D. American Friends' Foreign Mission. Ramallah, Syria D. Bible Lands Missions' Aid Society. Marsovan, Turkey H. Jaffa H. Aleppo, Turkey D. British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Among the Jews. Adrianople, Turkey medical work Canadian Church Missionary Society. Nablus, Palestine medical work Church Missionary Society, English. Acca, Palestine medical work Kerak H. Gaza H. Nablus H. Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society. Damascus II. D. Nazareth D. Friends' Foreign Missionary Association, English. Brummana H. D. Abadiyeh D. Ras D. 202 Summary of Medical Missionary Work Kaiserwerth Deaconesses, German. Beirut Jerusalem H. Smyrna H. London Jews' Society. " SafedJerusalem H. D. Hebron H. 2D. D. Hebron Mildmay Mission. H. D. Presbyterian Church of England. Aleppo medical work Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Smyrna medical work Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, North. Beirut, Faculty of the Syrian Protestant College Medical Department. Rev. George F. Post, M. A., M. D., D. D. S. Harris Graham, B. A., M. D. Walter Booth Adams, M. A., M. D. Rev. Charles A. Webster, B. A., M. D. Franklin T. Moore, M. A., M. D. Beirut & Lebanon Itinerating D. Founded 1893 Mary Pierson Eddy, M. D. Tripoli H. D. Founded 1884 Ira Harris, M. D. Shweir D. William Carslaw, M. D. Reformed Church in America, Dutch. Busrah, Arabia D. Bahrein medical work Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Antioch medical work United Free Church of Scotland. Sheikh Othman, Arabia H. D. Tiberias H. D. Aden H. D. Constantinople, Turkey D. Safed, Palestine D. Budapest, Hungary D. 203 CHAPTER VIII AFRICA Dr. Wanless, in "The Medical Mission," says of work in this great land : " The medical mission in portions of the Dark Continent has been less satisfac tory from a medical standpoint than in some of the other great mission fields; nevertheless, it forms an integral part of missionary operations all over the land. Africa presents to Europeans the most trying of all climates ; it is the most disastrous to life of all mission fields. With the exception of parts of Egypt and South Africa it were a wise rule to limit the number of those who go as missionaries to those who themselves have a knowledge of medicine, or who could go accompanied by a physician. The suc cess of missions in Africa, from a human standpoint, notably depends more largely upon the inherent ability of the missionary to resist the inroads of Afri can fever than on any other physical qualification. " Owing partly to a better knowledge of the climate on the part of the missionary himself, and owing largely to the accumulated experience of medical missionaries and other explorers who have arduously labored to secure professional knowledge of the death-dealing districts in many parts of East, West and Central Africa, mission work is now carried on 204 Africa at less risk and loss of life than it once was ; and if for no other purpose than to care for the health of the missionary families, and by his presence to make things endurable, the medical missionary in Africa is indispensable. " Medical work for the natives, though apparently unattended with the physical results achieved in other fields because of the greater prevalence of superstition and the greater density of ignorance, is, despite these obstacles, fraught with gratifying consequences. A considerable number of hospitals and dispensaries have been established, and excellent physical as well as spiritual results have followed. The work is re ceived with growing intelligence, and is yearly be coming appreciated more and more for its own sake. "The horrible depravity, the frightful cruelty and the appalling ignorance of the people with regard to the causation and cure of disease, only serve to in tensify rather than limit the loudness of the appeal which the 'open sores' of the Dark Continent so strenuously and pathetically present. This great con tinent, with an area equal to North America and Europe combined, and until a few years ago largely marked on our maps as ' unexplored ' and ' sandy deserts,' is found to be teeming with a population of two and a half times that of the United States and to be surging all over with disease of every kind. Dur ing a day's visit to Port Said, Egypt, I saw scarcely a native whose eyes did not present ophthalmia in some form or stage. If this is the condition of a city where medical assistance is easily available, what must 205 Opportunities it be where disease abounds and no physician exists ? " African ' medicine men ' all over the land are a curse rather than a blessing to the people. They in crease rather than diminish suffering. All pain and sickness is looked upon as a judgment from God, and the most highly valued medicines are charms. All they know of medicine is associated with pain. A wound is plugged with rags or leaves. Rheumatic pains receive the heroic treatment of hot irons thrust into the affected parts ; fractures are allowed to unite without help or are handled freely instead of being kept at rest; teeth if extracted at all, are pulled in such a manner as to draw forth cries of intense pain. Tumors are freely punctured with sharp sticks. Everything must hurt to do good. The medicine man is an object of dread and fear, carrying around in his ' bag ' all manner of instruments of torture, and medicines having the ugliest and bitterest properties possible to obtain. "In the midst of this great continent a few scores of physicians, government and missionary (less than seventy-five of them medical missionaries) are labor ing, overwhelmed by the cruelty, and staggered by the ravages of disease all about them. They are faithfully fighting sickness and death but, alas, with what tremendous odds ! A hundred thousand physi cians would not be half sufficient to stem the tide of pestilence and plague that is constantly sweeping over the land. The call from Africa is imperative, pathetic, strenuous. Language fails to furnish terms with which to describe the fearful suffering, the ap- 206 Africa palling wretchedness that everywhere abounds as the result of cruelty and depravity. Ethiopia mutely stretches forth her hands toward the west for medical help. Fain would she stretch out her hands unto God but she knows him not. Fettered by the dark est superstition and enslaved by inconceivable igno rance and the most atrocious cruelty, she is still with out the light of the Cross and the knowledge of him who was called from her own borders and died to redeem the souls of her dusky children. Heroes have bled and died for Africa that they might plant in her the seed of the gospel. Multitudes are still needed who shall live and labor to reap the harvest now pre paring by the Lord of the harvest himself. Who will bear to Darkest Africa the banner of the Cross and physical relief ? ' ' Dr. Moffatt called a medical missionary a double missionary. "It was impossible to estimate the value of a missionary going out with a thorough knowledge of medicine and surgery. ' ' He knew, for Dr. David Livingstone was his son-in-law. We surely do not need to be told of the wonderful labors of Livingstone. One of his birthday utterances might well be recalled daily by all of us : "I will place no value on anything that I have or may pos sess except in relation to the kingdom of Christ. If anything that I have will advance the interest of that kingdom it shall be given or kept, as by giving or keeping it I shall most promote the glory of him to whom I owe all my hopes, both for time and eternity. May grace be given me to adhere to this." 207 Opportunities May the spirit of this man who passed out of time into eternity on his knees in prayer, be the spirit of the medical missionary everywhere ! In some regions they destroy lepers and those suf fering from unpleasant diseases. " The blind and de formed must shift for themselves." In Calabar and some tribes of Western Equatorial Africa, the birth of twins is considered so great a curse that the woman who bears them is disgraced for life ; she must throw them into the woods, where they are left to die. Hundreds of infants perish annually in this way. In Central Africa and on the coast hematuria and bilious fevers prevail with foreigners, also dysentery and liver abscesses. Dr. Dennis tells us in " Christian Missions and Social Progress " : " Throughout Africa the belief in the influences of evil spirits and their ever-active machinations is all-powerful. They are thought to people the very atmosphere and to dwell in a thousand otherwise innocent things which are commonplace features of every-day environments. They are sup posed to be forever busy in inflicting trouble and suf fering upon humanity. Some of them are good, but the great majority are evil and bent upon doing harm. Sickness or disaster or distress of any kind is consid ered due to their malign intervention. There are therefore two classes of individuals in African com munities whose supposed power is either dreaded or eagerly sought. One consists of those who are looked upon as capable of commanding the evil spirits and so controlling directly their activity. The other con- 208 Africa sists of those who have the power to banish them or render nugatory their influence. They are known re spectively as witches and witch doctors. Medical practice, therefore, is almost entirely in the hands of these witch doctors, magicians, diviners, medicine men, and devil doctors. They are usually shrewd, cunning and cruel, sometimes thoroughly demented, or it may be that possibly they are in some instances actually under the awful sway of demons, of whose mysterious activity in the dark realms of heathenism we know little and cannot therefore dogmatize. The service rendered by these weird characters, being a function which pertains exclusively to them, and con sisting, according to native ideas, of an actual con flict with malign spirits whose brooding terror rests upon every heart, is considered as of special value and regarded with reverential awe. The reign of such an awful delusion in the innermost consciousness of ig norant creatures is fearful to contemplate. We who live in the freedom of enlightenment can hardly im agine the dread charms of a life supposed to be in actual contact with demons, exposed to their whims and spites, their deadly anger, and their cruel malignity ! What an opportunity does all this offer for a species of demoniacal blackmail, and what power is given to one whose ministry is supposed to be an effective remedy for all the sorrows and woes of life. It is no wonder that they turn in their ig norance to one who is regarded as possessing the power to deliver and defend them in the desperate emergencies in which they find themselves." 209 Opportunities The Rev. John Leighton Wilson, D. D., is quoted by Dr. Dennis as saying : " Witchcraft is a prominent and leading superstition among all the races of Africa, and may be regarded as one of the heaviest curses which rests upon that benighted land. A person en dowed with this mysterious art is supposed to possess little less than omnipotence. By his magical arts he can keep back the showers and fill the land with want and distress. Sickness, poverty, insanity and almost every evil incident to human life are ascribed to its agency. Any man is liable to be charged with it. Every death which occurs in the community is^ ascribed to witchcraft, and some one consequently is guilty of the wicked deed. The priesthood go to work to find out the guilty person. It may be a brother, a sister, a father ; there is no effectual shield against suspicion. Age, the ties of relationship, official prominence and general benevolence of character are alike unavail ing." The treatment of a dying African woman, a Christian, will illustrate some of the Dark Continent's ways. She was of the West Africa Mission. When very ill, unable even to support her head, they carried her from the bed outdoors, and held her in a chair, while heathen incantations were practiced round her. A few hours after, when some of the Christian women went to see her, she, in great exhaustion, recounted what had been forced upon her, and added : " Don't fear the curses that are heaped upon you by my family ; come to see me while I stay. Nothing can come be tween me and my Saviour." Just before dying she REV. ROBERT HAMMILL NASSAU, M. D., u. D. Africa exclaimed: " Oh, I see myself brought nearer, made purer and purer. I see Jesus — my Jesus." An earnest plea has again and again been made for a woman medical missionary for village visitations and medical work among the native women and children at Baraka. There is no response. A man at Benito was declared by his friends be witched, and after his death they opened his body and insisted that they had proof that he had been killed by witchcraft. The house in which he died was pulled down and the garden destroyed. Dr. Nassau tells us that: "Native priests are also the native doctors in Africa. I think that probably they do have some drugs of medicinal value ; but their theory is that the drug is efficient only because of the spirits they associate with it, and which, enter ing into the body of the sick person, drives out the evil spirit that caused the disease. I suppose in cases where the sick man gets well that the drug was really good. There are barks and leaves that they use that have unquestionable medicinal value ; but they will not tell a stranger from what tree the leaf or bark comes. The special brand of medicine that would be most useful to them would be surgery, because the na tive doctors know nothing about surgery. The na tives have frightful abscesses which ought to be opened, but the doctors do not know where to cut them." Dr. Nassau described a native doctor trying to find a bul let that had penetrated a man's breast. He " made a perpendicular incision in the man's chest, extending down to the last rib, and then he cut diagonally across Opportunities and actually lifted the walls of the chest and groped among the vitals for the ball. He got it, but the patient was dead." Disease and death are said to be the results of some person's malign influence. Only one person is ex empt from suspicion, and that is the chief himself. The witch-doctor tells the patient that some one, rela tive, neighbor or friend, has exerted witchcraft and caused the disease by means of something put into the food. In some places this is to be extracted, by the doctor sucking the skin of the supposed seat of evil ; and when sleight of hand and mouth has pro duced the deleterious agent, the bark of a noxious tree, branch of a shrub, or anything else, will be ex hibited to the astonished gaze of the sufferer as the cause of all his ills. Dr. Soga of the United Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Mission tells this. In the Presbyterian West Africa Mission at Benito, Mrs. Reutlinger and Miss Christensen dispense medi cines, for there is no doctor, the patients paying in whole or in part for the drugs. The mission at Batanga (a center of work and a gateway to the interior) urged the erection of a small and inexpensive hospital, the small native structure, hospital by courtesy, that had been erected by the native Christians and by them presented to the mis sion, having proved inadequate. There is now a hospital with twenty-four beds, also a dispensary. Great pride is taken in the cement floor of the hos pital, a unique feature in West Africa. Those who know of insect life there will appreciate the exceeding Africa value of that floor. The foreign traders who are treated are charged a fee, which is turned into the mission treasury. The value of the medical work is so great that it has given the mission a high standing in the community and with the German government. Of the medical work the people say, there is "plenty, plenty." The harder a medicine hurts, the more good they think is in it ; and remedies rejected at home because of the pain they give, are here very good. "The patients cry and make a great noise, but they like it just the same, and think they will be well soon. One man had a tumor on his hand and insisted upon having it cut open, and, although we knew it would go away by the action of the medicine administered, we were afraid he would get a native to cut it, so the doctor operated for him ; and now we have to treat the wound, for of course it broke out into an ulcer. But he is better pleased than if we had not allowed him to have his own way. Some of the natives can be trusted to take medicine themselves, but most of them must come to the dispensary for treatment. Everything used about the sick is called 'Medicine,' even putting on a bandage is 'Mekin Medicine.' " At Efulen, five days' journey from the coast, Dr. Silas F. Johnson found a region comparatively healthy, where the people were unwilling to pay even a trifle for medicine, although often able to do so. Few cases of malarial fever are found. Many of the peo ple have ceased to believe in witches, saying they be lieve on God. The witch-doctors ceased to practice 213 Opportunities in this line of towns, and three helped with the work of building Dr. Johnson's house and at different times called on him for treatment. A hospital also was built, both house and hospital being of simple, inex pensive style. (The hospital cost $25.00.) In pur chasing materials for building and superintending the work the missionaries gained much language practice and cultivated their acquaintance with the people. Medical work is slowly gaining ground there. At Elat in July, 1897, a dispensary was opened. The first day one hundred people came. A Red Cross flag was explained to them and at 2 p. m. it was hoisted on a flag-staff, to indicate that the dispensary was open. Schoolboys and station workmen ex cepted, everyone must pay something for treatment. A small native building was next put up to answer for a hospital. Very soon people from the nearest towns and from those at a distance came for treatment. The outlook for this kind of work seems to be encourag ing. The first three months nearly one hundred dif ferent patients were treated. Efulen is about seventy miles southeast of Batanga, and was opened for work in 1893 ; Elat is seventy-five miles east of Efulen, and Lolodorf ninety miles northeast of Batanga. By trains, such distances would mean a few hours on comfortable cars. In Africa, when one has to be carried from one place to another, in great agony of body, to consult one of our scattered physicians, they mean twenty miles a day for several days, each of which prolongs the suffering and delays recovery. This was the experience of one woman missionary in 214 DISPENSARY AT ELAT, W. AFRICA. Africa the interior, where the only possible traveling costume for a woman is a bathing-suit. Imagine what she must have endured on a hundred mile trip, painfully jolted against tree trunks. The following is a description of medical missionary touring : "A few days ago we went itinerating up the Gaboon River. In one of the towns the people were making medicine, which looked like mud. They seemed afraid of us at first, and I felt half afraid of them, they looked so wild, some having ruffled bushes of hair five inches long. Dr. Bennett gained their confidence little by little, and we were invited into the palaver house, where he made them laugh heartily by showing them his magnet, pen, etc. Then he had a very attentive audience as he talked to them on God's plan of salvation. There is a woman palaver between another town and this. It gave me a very strange feeling one night to hear the war-horns, songs and drums. This, with sand-flies, cockroaches and centipedes, makes one realize it is Africa. I am thankful to be here. We love the people so much, and Jesus longs for their hearts. One man was so pleased with the doctor's treatment that he twice offered to pay an extra franc." In a letter to a Christian Endeavor Society we read : " The darkness in Africa is so great that at times I al most think I can feel it. Superstition, fetishism, witchcraft, have a terrible hold on the people. A man comes to my dispensary with disease far advanced. He says : ' I have a witch, I have tried to kill the witch, I cannot succeed ; you try ! ' 21S Opportunities " A man comes in from the bush with many charms hanging on him. I ask : ' What is this for ? What is that for? ' He laughs good-naturedly and replies : — "'I am on a journey; this small deer horn is biang esoli (biang is Fang for medicine) ; it makes me invisible to any enemy I may meet in the path ; if he shoots at me the bullets will not harm me, that is biang esoli ! ' " A small piece of hard wood hangs from bush rope tied around his waist ; that helps to show him a safe path through the forest. A leopard tooth hangs from a cord around his neck; this is 'gun medicine' — it will make his gun shoot straight. A piece of iron with a tooth from a night civet fastened in it, gives him fortune in trade. A piece of old wood with a few nails in it, prevents people from cheating him; another iron charm tells him how to find the man who has wronged him. A small horn with a hole in its apex, he uses to communicate with the spirits of war, which let him know by signs whether he would better make a palaver with certain other people or not. Another leopard tooth would tell him if he should fight. He takes a bowl made from a small log, fills it with water and holding the leopard tooth high in the air, allows it to drop into the bowl. Then, if the point of the tooth points in the direction of the town of his enemies he will do well to fight them, but if the root of the tooth faces toward the town, he will surely lose in a fight. "In the garden round my house grow banana and plantain trees, guavas, orange and papayas. 216 Africa Beautiful birds, butterflies and insects fly round at this season of the year, and the children bring me hundreds of objects of many rare and new varieties. After a long tired day, a few moments given to pre serving and arranging specimens often eases an aching head, perhaps driving off a fever. The best thing in Africa, to avoid sickness, is to trust God and keep busy. " Sin and superstition in all their worst forms are at the very doors of the mission to-night. Listen to the drums beating as I write. It is in the town of the ' Nge ' people ; they are jubilant. Why ? This morn ing one of their young men returned in his canoe with a girl stolen from another town. Now he has another woman to toil for him, while he sits in the palaver house all day and boasts, ' I have stolen a girl from the Esibiken people. I did it all myself ; what a great man, what a real man am I.' To-morrow, per haps, men will talk the 'palaver,' and then people will be shot in the darkness of night, or walking the forest path near the town ; and those people shot are usually women. Why always women? I asked a man this question once, and he said it was more safe to shoot at a woman ; she had no gun ; a man might shoot back. "Let me talk with you, Endeavorers, through this letter, once again as when you tried to excel in kind ness to the medical student who was preparing for foreign service. It is the memory of your kindness that gives me confidence to plead for your prayers, that laborers and means be forthcoming in plenty to 217 Opportunities advance Christ's kingdom here on earth ; laborers willing to go anywhere for our Master — even to Africa. " May it comfort you to know, that often when sick, in perplexity, the mail from home has arrived and I have taken the little package which was for me, and shutting the door, sat down and read your letters ; somehow when I had finished, I did not remember that I had ever been sick, perplexed or weary, but found myself filled with new courage, thanking God for friends, realizing that loving hearts beat for me at home, and my own heart was filled with new longings to do better and more consecrated work for God and Africa." The veteran medical missionary, Dr. Nassau, has been a worker in Africa since 1861. He never has had the African fever, though exposed in insalubrious places, camping out in sun and rain. He was first stationed in the Island of Corisco. Then he lived and labored in French-Congo territory for many years among the Benito people. Kangwe in 1871 was his next home, then Talaguga ; next Baraka, now he is stationed at Batanga where his work recently has been chiefly Bible translation and revision, and church work. He ascribes his long years of work to the fact that he formed a precautionary habit of fortifying himself by proper treatment before going into danger, instead of waiting until he had contracted fever and then beginning treatment. He regards medical knowledge as almost indispensable. "In Africa," he says, "one needs quinine, though 218 Africa it can easily be overdone. Lemon juice in a cup of good strong tea will frequently remove biliousness and avert more serious complications. I do not believe in alcoholic stimulants. They can never be used with safety in Africa as a beverage." Mr. Douglass M. Thornton of the C. M. S. Soudan Mission in his invaluable volume " Africa Waiting " quotes these "Rules for the Preservation of Health in the Tropics." They are taken from "Guide to Health in Africa," by Surgeon-Major T. H. Parke. :— " Water. — All drinking water, no matter how sparkling and pure, should invariably be boiled, to insure its freedom from dangerous constituents. Cold weak tea, without sugar or milk, is best for the march. Water should always be drawn from up-stream, and from the center if possible. Two grains of permanga nate of potash to the quart purifies water. If muddy use alum. "Sun. — No precautions can be too great for pro tecting the head from the direct rays of the sun. The use of a proper headdress and umbrella, also a spinal pad for morning and evening sun, is judicious. " Chills, draughts, sitting in damp clothes, espe cially when heated after violent exercise and copious perspiration, also cooling of the body suddenly in any way, are certain to be followed by fever. "Sleep as far as possible off the ground and always under mosquito curtains at night. "Diet should be plain; meat, fish, vegetables, well-boiled fruit, rice and cereals. " Alcohol during the day is most dangerous. 219 Opportunities " Tub in the early morning, or at the end of a march, before cooling ; never while digestion is going on, and always tepid if possible. " Camp. — Select highland plateau near water sup ply. Do not disturb the soil. Avoid ravines. Never camp to leeward of a swamp unless separated by a belt of trees or a river. Site of latrine should be se lected immediately on halting, and covered with a hurdle and sods so as to exclude flies, leaving only a few openings about one foot square. Directly after the tent is pitched, hoe a gutter close to the walls. " Cleanliness. — Hair should be cut short. " Clothing. — The bodily temperature should be kept as equable as possible. Loosely-fitting woolen clothes are preferable. Light Kamarband should be worn day and night. On halting after a march, put on a wrapper so as to cool gradually. Get under cover and change, if possible." The success of the work anywhere must be ac counted for, as by Miss Seth-Smith of Tangier : " In the medical work I am astonished myself, at the re sults I get sometimes, and I know it is because I pray much over all my cases." Dr. W. L. Thompson, of East Central Africa, A. B. C. F. M., says : "In the medical arm of the mis sionary service, I fully recognize that their great need is a change of heart, and that this must come through a view of the Lamb of God and knowledge of his dying love. But how is this to be brought to them ? It is not enough that we tell them of Christ's love. The story will seem but an ' idle tale ' to them unless 220 Africa they see that love exhibited in living form before their eyes. In what other way can we so readily do this, as in relieving their physical sufferings ? As we look at them, living in their wretched huts, with scarcely any clothing, they seem to us to be destitute of all things, but this is not their view of their condition. In re gard to these things they are well satisfied. Should we give them clothes they would not look upon it as an act of charity, for they feel no need in this line. They would not feel that we were sacrificing anything for their good, for they look upon us as possessing in exhaustible wealth. They would simply consider that we wished to win their favor, probably for some special end. But in regard to their physical sufferings they do feel a need ; they often suffer, hopeless of re lief, and if relief is given they feel that that is some thing to be thankful for, that they have been be friended. They become more ready to listen when shown their great needs and the provision which has been made for them. " Then many of their most debasing and ensnaring superstitions are connected with their theories and treatment of disease, and to meet these superstitions it is desirable that we should clearly understand the subject with which they are connected. So firmly is the belief in these superstitions fixed in their minds that one who has professed Christianity for years, and has appeared to 'run well,' feels impelled, when some sickness or calamity comes upon him, to seek help from some of these superstitious rites. Nor is this so strange when we think how much superstition still Opportunities finds place in Christian lands, and even among Chris tian people of those lands; but there it is limited by public sentiment to less obnoxious forms, while here it rules as a cruel tyrant. The belief in witch craft is very firmly established. Where one becomes sick, some one must be to blame. The offender must be ' smelt out ' and when discovered is most cruelly treated. How can such a superstition be better met than by showing them — placing before their eyes — the agents of disease, showing how it may be intro duced into animals with the same deleterious effect that it produces in human beings ; that its growth and development is as definite and regular as is that of the corn in their fields, the ticks in their cattle, or the in testinal worms with which they all are familiar ? " Closely related to the overcoming of superstitions, is the gaining of confidence in the missionary and his message ; and here the influence of skillful treatment of their sick is of great importance. Not only does a right use of medical skill convince them of our kindly regard, but the triumphs of modern medical science often have the impression of miracles to them. And why may they not legitimately serve a similar pur pose to these poor heathen that the miracles of Christ and his apostles did to those whom they taught and do to us? Christ doubtless delighted in relief of physical suffering when consistent with spiritual good ; but it seems equally certain that he had a much higher object in view, in the performance of miracles — to draw the attention of men to the great truth he had to offer them and to convince them that he Africa spoke with authority. ' If ye believe not me, believe the works.' Aside from this object, it seems doubtful whether miracles would ever have been wrought merely for the relief of physical suffering. Why should not the miracles of modern medical science help to accomplish these great ends for the heathen world ? " The relevancy of the above considerations should, it seems, be established by the fact that in the absence of the medical missionary all missionaries in this land feel compelled to treat disease. If they never have given any attention to the subject of medicine, they are led to do so at once upon entering upon mission work. All such work, if skillfully performed, is found useful ; and of course the greater the skill employed (other things being equal) the more good may be looked for ; while in like manner, the results of un skillful efforts may be prejudicial to the cause. "It is suggested that medical work may have its perils on the secular side. It would seem to me that if there is danger here, it must be in the fact that men who are not really consecrated may be more attracted to this than to other departments of missionary work ; though that danger is not confined to this department of the work." Africa has but one medical missionary for each 3,500,000. These are allotted to him by our indif ference and inadequate supplies. Africa had forty- three hospitals and one hundred and seven dispensaries in 1901. 223 Summary of Medical Missionary Work American Baptist Missionary Union. Leopoldville, Lukunga medical work Banza Manteka H. D. Mukimvika H. Sanitarium American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Amanzimtote H. Chisamba D. Kamundongo H. D. Sakanjimba D. Baptist Missionary Society, English. San Salvador, Upper Congo 2 D. Watben I D. Bolobo, Upper Congo I D. Yakusu D. Brethren's Mission, English. Casa Holandeza, Benguella medical work Bible Lands Missions' Aid' Society, English. Tetuan D. Church Missionary Society, English. Cairo H. 2 D. Onitsha, Niger R. H. D. Khartum II. Obosi D. Hausaland medical work Mzizima, Mombasa Is. East Equatorial Africa Rabai Mombasa H. D. Kikuyu medical work Taveta, Mombasa D. Jilore H. Changombe, Mombasa D. Mengo, Uganda H. D. Frere Town D. Toro, Uganda D. Mamboia H. Ngogwe, Uganda D. Mpwapwa D. Gayaza, Uganda D. Kisokwe D. This medical work has central hospitals with dispensaries at the near-by towns or villages. 224 Summary of Medical Missionary Work Church of Scotland Mission. Blantyre H. Domasi D. Friends' Foreign Missionary Association, English. Antanarivo, Madagascar D. Faravokitra, Madagascar D. Mandvidrano, Madagascar medical work Imperial East Africa Company's Mission. Kibwezi medical work Kaiserwerth Deaconesses, Germany. Cairo, Egypt H. D. Queta, W. Africa medical work Alexandria, Egypt H. D. Dar-es-Salanam H. D. Capland medical work La Mission Romande, Swiss. Elim, Transvaal H. London Missionary Society. Niamkolo, Lake Tanganyika Fianarantson, Madagascar H. 2 D. Kawimbi, Lake Tanganyika D. Betsileo, Madagascar 3 D. Kamboli, Lake Tanganyika Mildmay Mission, English. Tangier D. Missionary Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Gen eral Synod, U. S. Muhlenburg medical work North Africa Mission, English. Tangier, Morocco 2 H. 2 D. Susa, Tunisia D. Casablanca, Morocco H. D. Tripoli D. Tetuan, Morocco 2 D. Alexandria, Egypt D. Norwegian Missionary Society. Antsirabe, Madagascar H. Antanarivo, Madagascar H. D. Morondava, Madagascar D. 225 Opportunities Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, North. Founded Batanga Mary Laffin H. D. 1895 R. M. Johnston, M. D. Rev. R. H. Nassau, M. D., D. D. Efulen H. 1896 Silas F. Johnson, M. D. Elat H. D. 1898 A. B. T. Lippert, M. D. Benito D. 1891 W. S. Lehman, M. D. H. L. Weber, M. D., station unassigned. Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, South. Luebo, Congo medical work United Presbyterian Church of North America. Assiut medical work Tanta medical work Rabat Medical Mission. Rabat, Morocco medical work Sociiti Des Missions Evangiliques Chez Les Peuples Non Chritiens. Sepula, Zambezi H. Senegal medical work Lessouto medical work Society for Propagating the Gospel, English. Umtata, South Africa medical work Delagoa Bay, S. E. medical work Durban, Natal medical work Swedish Missionary Society, Massowah, Abyssinia medical work Swiss Missionary Society. Elim, Transvaal H. 226 Summary of Medical Missionary Work Universities' Mission to Central Africa, English. (The Livingstone Mission on Lake Nyassa.) Likoma H. Magila H. (Steamer on Lake Nyassa Kota Kota D. with special sick bay and Karamba D. hospital accommodations.) Zanzibar H. Baruza H. United Free Presbyterian Church, Scotland. Duke Town, Old Calabar H . D. Unwana, Old Calabar D. Bomvanaland medical work Bandawe, Lake Nyassa H. Karonga, Lake Nyassa medical work Livingstonia Institute H. Umsinga, Natal H. Lovedale, Kaffraria H. Zenana Bible and Medical Mission Society, English. Durban, Natal D. 227 CHAPTER IX WHERE LITTLE IS DONE There was no medical mission work in Mexico un til July, 1891, when Levi B. Salmons, B. D., M!D., began work. He was sent by the Methodist Episco pal Board, North. In 1896 he began to build his hos pital, Casa de Salud del Buen Samaritano, at Guan ajuato. "At that time there was no denominational effort for the use of medical missionary work among Roman Catholic nations," so writes Dr. Salmons in a personal letter. "This work succeeded in such a way as to have an influence upon other denominations and several others have added this sort of work to their missions in this country and others are preparing to do so. We are working in two cities and two county-seat towns, with four dispensaries, a hospital and a nucleus of a sanitarium for patients from the United States." The Southern Methodists have a hospital at San Luis Potosi and at Monterey. The former has fifteen beds. The Adventists have a fine sanitarium and also another place, on the same methods but for the poor which they call a " meson " in Guadalajara; the Cumberland Presbyterians have a medical worker in the person of a woman physician in the State of San Luis Potosi. 228 Where Little is Done In Central America, at Santo Tomas, Chicaste- nango, Guatemala, Mr. C. F. Secord, an independent missionary has a dispensary. The Moravians also have medical work. Mrs. Campbell in 1893, at Zitacuaro describes some of her experiences : " In no home where I vis ited was there a floor other than the ground. The beds were boards with a mat on them or a mat on the floor. At one home I gave a daughter some medi cine from our now famous homceopathic medicine- ' chest, and it is quite amusing to see the different cases that have since come to be cured. One man had a growth over one of his eyes. To-day a woman came who can hardly breathe ; I looked over my doctor- books, and finding what I thought she needed went home with her and administered a hot foot-bath (I always prescribe baths, if nothing more), and put a hot poultice, made of unbaked tortillas, on- her chest. I then spread out her palm-leaf mats on the floor, and put her to bed under a sheet and pair of blankets which I had brought with me, after giving her a little medicine and leaving her more. The woman living in the same house prayed for her recovery. From the explicit description you can imagine what we are do ing in this line. I long in some of these visits to be able to say : 'Jesus Christ hath healed thee; take up thy bed and walk.' " Manuel Aguas, a hero and martyr, who himself gave medical advice to the poor of the City of Mexico, wrote thus six months before his death — a letter which still applies to us : "I must say that all you who com- 229 Opportunities pose the true Church of Christ in that country neigh boring to ours, are partly to blame for our misfortunes. I know that you are true Christians ; I know that you have imparted to Spain your generous protection ; I know that you send your missionaries to remote parts of the world, such as Syria, where you generously and disinterestedly aid the gospel work. Why, then, have you for so many years forgotten your brethren who, by your very side, have been without the bread of the divine word ? Why do you allow them to perish and sink, day by day, into deeper ignorance and fanaticism ? It is well and good that you should ex ercise your charity with those people to whom you send the light of the gospel, however distant they may be ; but this is no reason why you should leave the Mexicans by your very side in the darkness of idola try. I am sure that you and your friends will agree with me that it is necessary to do what is possible in order that the true religion may be extended through out this, my native land. If you think on this subject with earnest prayer to God, your consciences will call upon you to fulfill this duty as Christians. God has not in vain bestowed on your wealthy church riches, nor in vain has he endowed you with generous hearts." South America has almost no work of the kind. The Missionary Pence Association has medical work up the Tocantins River, Brazil. The South American Missionary Society (Allen Gardiner Mission) has a medical mission at Bocas del Torro, Central America, a dispensary at Chaco, Paraguay, a cottage hospital 230 Where Little is Done and dispensary at Cholchol, Chile, a hospital and dis pensary at Pernambuco, Brazil ; the Moravian Mis sionary Society of Germany has a hospital and dis pensary at Paramaribo, Surinam ; and the Presbyterian Board has a dispensary at Sao Paulo, Brazil, under Dr. H. M. Lane. The South American Evangelical Society has medical work in Uruguay. Rev. Mr. Norwood of the American Bible Society has taken with him to Buccarramango, Colombia, a doctor, and already the benefits are great. "The native doctors are worthless," says a missionary who suffered at Barranquilla. "A medical missionary would have wonderful opportunities, if only to take care of the other missionaries." At Barranquilla, Colombia, in 1896, about two thousand died from measles " chiefly from neglect." In "Medical Missions at Home and Abroad," speaking of the needs, a business man is mentioned who was asked how he liked Barranquilla. He replied : " Like it ! could anyone like to live in hell ? Nothing but the hope of making money could keep me here a day." In Colombia, among the Orinoco Indians (for whom no work medical or evangelistic has yet begun) a sick boy is laid on the bed in his mother's hut. Over his bed is a rope ever in sight, to be used for strangling him should death seem near. The witch doctor called in, sits a day and a night at the boy's side, singing a weird song and rattling sacred dust and pebbles in a gourd to charm away evil spirits. On leaving he says to the mother : " Your boy is suf fering from the sins of his father and of his ancestors ; 23 r Opportunities if the sin is great I cannot heal him ; we shall see this evening." If, on his return he says the sin is too great, the mother herself must strangle him. Only so will his spirit have happiness beyond. If she hesi tates or shrinks and lets him die in peace, in the land of death he would ever have great tortures. In Chile, one of our missionaries found a country family adoring the photograph of an English physi cian of Valparaiso as their patron saint. He found that this man had years ago successfully treated their grandmother, without pay. When several months after her recovery she and her husband took him a present of chickens and turkeys, this photograph was given her. Candles were being burned and prayers said to him. Titus Coan described, in his "Adventures in Pata gonia," a sick man being treated by an Indian doctor. " He was sitting on his patient, moaning, wailing sucking his thumbs, striking his breast, blowing through his fists, sucking the face and eyebrows of his patient, blowing upon him, and rattling over his head two bags of dry skins, in the form of junk-bottles in which were a large quantity of pebbles." This was kept up a long time, and Mr. Coan concluded that the savage believed in the possession of evil spirits and that these wild and superstitious measures are practiced to exorcise them. Dr. Wanless in his valuable little book "The Medical Mission " says : " From a purely missionary standpoint South America is one of the very needy fields of the world. This immense continent right at 232 Where Little is Done our very door with 38,000,000 of people within an area of 7,000,000 square miles — nearly twice the size of Europe — has within its priest-ridden borders mil lions of souls as destitute of saving Christianity as the darkest pagans of Africa. " South America, divided into fourteen countries, includes people of nearly every race and language, in cluding the degraded Fuegians of Cape Horn, who when discovered had drifted so far from old traditions that they retained no word for God. The Spanish and Portuguese element is politically dominant while the red men constitute the main stock of the popula tion. Her cities are among the gayest and grossest in the world. South America groans under the tyranny of a priesthood which in its highest forms is unillu- mined by the gospel, and in its lowest is proverbially and habitually drunken, extortionate and ignorant. "In a land where Roman Catholicism is so terribly intolerant of other faiths and so tyrannical, especially with regard to Protestantism, the task of disarming prejudice and of securing desirable approach is obvi ously a most difficult one. Hence the medical mission is of peculiar value among such people. " In most of the South American republics there are native practitioners, who, though comparatively large as regards numbers, are poor as regards effi ciency. In some of the republics, medical laws re quire an indigenous degree or the passing of state examinations in order to practice. (In Brazil full medical examinations in Portuguese must be passed.) In other parts of the land practically no restrictions 233 Opportunities to physicians with a North American degree exist. Chiefly among the aboriginal tribes in remote districts are medical missions most needed and desirable, but even in the great cities they would certainly become a potent influence for good. In South America, per haps more than in any other field, the possibility of self-supporting medical missions obtains. Here is a country exhibiting fields and opportunities for Chris tian medical work and possessing a variation of scenery and climate that leaves few without excuse, who, on the ground of temperament, constitution or circumstances may be providentially hindered from undertaking work in a more remote and trying climate. "South America is indeed the 'Neglected Con tinent.' She is morally soaked in sin; she is physic ally rotting with disease. While her ignorant millions are either surfeited with superstition or held in the ab ject thraldom of death-dealing depravity, with suffer ing enough in this life and practically no hope for the life to come, with notorious overcrowding of physi cians in the Northern Continent and in view of the needs and obligations of the Southern, might not the former spare a regiment or two of her Christian physicians for this field of spiritual desolation and physical cor ruption ? Thus we might happily interpret the ' Mon roe Doctrine ' and obey the higher doctrine of loving our neighbor as ourselves." Rev. T. S. Pond of Caracas, Venezuela, says the crying need is for a great evangelical crusade from the North, which requires besides teachers, preachers and an able press for all of South America, "Hospitals, 234 Where Little is Done at first on a moderate scale, employing native physi cians so far as possible, but trained nurses from the North capable of training their own assistants." The frontispiece shows a Pilgrimage to the Wonder working Virgin of Andacollo, Chile. Every year at Christmas as many as 50,000 persons have been known to crowd into the small village of Andacollo, to visit the only building of importance, which in size, beauty, and grandeur ranks with the most cele brated Roman Catholic temples in the world. From many countries they crowd in to worship the gor geously decked Virgin. They say men and women have been healed of long-standing diseases by her. The priests' gains are never less than $20,000. Rev. W. E. Browning, Ph. D., of Santiago, Chile, gives the above facts. A wonderfully interesting medical mission is that to the Deep Sea Fishermen. Dr. Wilfred Grenfell is the brave English doctor who has charge of five hos pital ships among fishermen, sometimes off Heligoland, then off Germany, up as far as Holland, and again off Denmark, also visiting Labrador. In four vessels hospitals have been built, swing cots erected for frac ture cases, medicine and sets of instruments and splints obtained. A specially devised stretcher was placed on each ship to facilitate the removal of the injured to the hospital ships. Christian doctors are regularly ap pointed for each. "Heal the sick" in letters of gold was put on the port bow, and " Preach the Word " on the starboard. All the mission skippers and mates, and many others as well, are trained in ambulance 235 Opportunities work, and now one and all are capable of rendering first aid to the wounded, by which many limbs, lives, and much suffering have been saved on the vessels where there is no doctor. Two hospitals on the coast of Labrador, two hun dred miles apart, under the Moravians, each with a medical missionary and a matron, are doing work in this same connection, a small steamer serving each hospital, and bringing the sick to and fro. In Alaska there is some medical mission work. At Sitka is a hospital with twenty beds, under the Home Board of the Presbyterian church. Only a nurse is in charge now. At the Point Barrow Mission, now transferred to Cape Smyth, fifty miles away, Rev. H. R. Marsh, M. D., is doing medical work. He has not a hospital, but can accommodate twelve beds. In the native homes, a patient ill with lung fever or pneumonia has no chance of recovery. " The Episcopal hospital at Skagway has been pro vided with an operating room, a bathroom, two rooms for private patients, the main room plastered," etc. Such details make us realize how inadequately the work in general is provided for when they are so emphasized. Dr. P. J. H. Lerrigo, of St. Lawrence Island, in the United States Government Report on "Education and Reindeer in Alaska," says : " The Eskimos are required by the rigors of their natural surroundings to make perhaps a more determined and arduous strug gle for existence than any people in the world. Their horizon is limited, their possibilities meager, and their * Dr. Nellie S. Shulcan has since been appointed (Sept., 1902). 236 THE OPEUATING BOOM. SITKA MISSION HOSPITAL. HEAD NURSE AND NATIVE ASSISTANTS. Where Little is Done food supply decidedly precarious. Gradually they are proving inadequate to the fight, and if the record of the past two years is to be repeated, the indications are that St. Lawrence Island at least will be depopu lated in the course of a generation. "The filth of their general surroundings is well known, no arrangement whatever being made for the disposal of the bodily excrement. The spaces be tween the houses are a wilderness of corruption, dis carded skin garments of the filthiest nature, bones, rags, the decaying carcasses of dogs, and other masses of animal putrefaction, the odor of which is most un savory and the sight enough to sicken all one's aesthetic sensibilities. "Inside the houses the accumulated expectoration of germ-laden sputum has rendered the upper soil most unhealthful, and the germs and grease cleaving to the walls and supports form a happy hunting ground for any sportive bacterium which may feel inclined to propagate his species in undisturbed felicity. " In the living rooms, which are curtained from the main dwelling by heavy reindeer hides, the condi tions are even more favorable to the growth of micro scopic fauna. The rooms are small, the dimensions being, in width, about eight feet, in height, five feet, and varying from ten to fifteen feet in length. Near the top of the anterior curtain a small hole about four inches in diameter is cut, which is alleged by the native sanitarian to be for the purpose of ventilation. Needless to say, it is entirely inadequate, and the seal-oil lamps by which the apartment is lighted and 237 Opportunities heated keep the temperature at an almost insufferable heat, while the air becomes heavy with the carbon dioxide, organic matter, and moisture thrown off from the lungs of the occupants. When the front curtain is raised clouds of steam issue forth as from a Turkish bath, and to enter the room from the cold of the outer house at times gives one the sense of suffocation. Their beds are reindeer hides, upon which the sputum of a sick person will often fall and dry. With the exception of a loin cloth, they wear no clothes in the living room, which is, perhaps, the reason of the high temperature maintained. "In ordinary health habit makes these conditions by no means insupportable, and if the Messingaman could always remain in good health his house would, perhaps, be a model of comfort and convenience (from a Messinga standpoint), but when he becomes sick, particularly of diseases involving the respiratory tract, and experiences difficulty in breathing, he im mediately thrusts his head from under the reindeer curtain to obtain the relatively fresh air of the outer room ; consequently his head, neck, and shoulders, frequently his whole chest and even abdomen, are bared to the playful touches of the spring zephyrs which blow through the doorway, the hole in the roof, and cracks in the walls, causing a thousand drafts and counterdrafts. If he happens to have a high fever, this is particularly agreeable to him, and he allows the cooling, sometimes icy, breeze to blew over him. What wonder that his friends and rela tives have the melancholy duty of bearing him to the 238 ' Where Little is Done mountainside and laying him to rest with the bones of his fathers ! These are the conditions that make pneumonia an almost certainly fatal disease among this people. " The skin diseases are of many kinds, but chiefly appear in the form of superficial spreading erosions about the folds of the skin and the extremities ; also papular and pustular eczemas. It has been claimed by many that these difficulties are entirely of venereal origin, but I am of the opinion that unhygienic living is a larger factor in their etiology. " Their garments are never cleansed, and are hardly susceptible of cleansing, being composed of rein deer hides and the skins of birds ; consequently the excretions of the skin are not absorbed, and the glands become obstructed. Associated with this is the fact that they do not consider it necessary to bathe the body, and only on rare occasions do the face and hands receive any such attentions. " Their food, particularly during the winter months, is very largely of a nitrogenous nature, and the excess of waste products resulting therefrom overtaxes the excretory functions of the skin. My observation has been that when the whaling vessels arrived and com menced trading flour and other carbohydrate foods the demand for skin medicines moderated very largely, although it had continued unabated through out the winter. This would seem to indicate the dietic origin of the diseases. It should be borne in mind, however, that these remarks are only of a tentative nature, being based upon the limited observation pos- 239 Opportunities sible during one year. The subject requires much further investigation and experiment before definite conclusions can be arrived at. Of course syphilis does enter to some extent into the causation of the skin diseases, many of the worst cases being entirely traceable thereto, but the contention is that it is not a constant factor. " The skin affections will undoubtedly continue in the present ratio — that is, affecting about ioo per cent of the community — until the people can be induced to adopt habits of comparative cleanliness, and be fur nished with washable under-garments and sufficient food of a vegetable nature, as flour, beans, oatmeal, etc. It is not proposed that these things be supplied to them gratis, as the spoils of their hunting and the product of their handicraft furnish them with ample means to provide these necessities. The only thing required is the opportunity of disposing of their goods at a reasonable basis of trade. " Respiratory diseases, apart from those accompany ing the epidemics, are also exceedingly common. The usual coughs and colds are as common as among white people, or more so. There are occasional cases of pleurisy and severe bronchitis, while tuberculosis follows many of the less dangerous maladies. The former do not, as a rule, prove serious, except in the way of preparing the soil for more fatal disorders. Of the latter no one has died during the year, but there are several cases which must succumb sooner or later. * * * * # sje "Under the existing conditions, however, dispensing 240 Where Little is Done medicines to such cases is a mere travesty upon med ical practice. No persuasion will induce them to pro tect their chests and heads. So long as strength re mains they will get up and move about the house, and often sit outside upon the ground for hours. On one occasion I found the chief, Assoona, who was suffer ing from pneumonia, sitting down about half-way to the beach with his two little boys beside him, his strength having utterly given out. In some cases they refuse the medicine because it does not immediately make them strong and well. " The wonder is, not that so many die, but that some live. During the epidemic so far twenty-four persons have died of pneumonia, being considerably over fifty per cent of the total number of cases, but had they been white persons it is safe to say that the like con ditions would have resulted in a mortality of one hundred per cent. " The chief difficulty encountered here in the man agement of pneumonia is, obviously, the construction of their houses, which requires them to suffer great exposure in satisfying the craving for air, which the accompanying dyspnoea entails. In addition to this are lack of proper diet and attention to personal hygiene. Often the patient can get no more suitable food than raw walrus or seal meat, or, at the best, hard pilot bread soaked in warm water, or, by unusual good fortune, coffee, which is not a substance to be guile the waning appetite of a sick person, or to sup port his flagging energies. Of course he lapses into a worse condition of uncleanliness than usual, for his 241 Opportunities suffering renders him by no means anxious to try such unwonted exercise as bathing, even if he be not phys ically incapacitated. "While his friends at times feel considerable concern for his safety, their sympathy does not lead them to such extreme lengths as assisting him in the matter. While they make some effort at disposing of the ex cretions, they do not understand the necessity of great care in this regard, and are particularly careless as to the expectorated matter. "It is hopeless to think of remedying these evils while the patients are left in their present houses. The only remedy which suggests itself is the building of a hospital to which severe cases might be transferred and given the benefit of proper treatment under med ical attention and the care of a trained nurse. It seems hardly probable that the limitations of the De partment's appropriations could include such a scheme, but to a philanthropically inclined person seeking a channel for the disposal of ready money where it would be sure of producing great good, the opportunity is one pregnant with possibility. "Another fact having a most emphatic bearing upon the subject is the number of vessels plying in these waters which do not carry a physician, and have little or no facility for the treatment and care of persons who may be injured or taken ill during the voyage. To take a case in point : On June 30th, the Progress, of Vladivostock, Captain Gunderson, dropped anchor off the north shore, with flag at half mast, and sent a boat ashore asking me to come off. Upon the vessel 242 Where Little is Done I found a Chinaman who had been accidentally wounded by a loaded rifle which had been hanging upon the side of the companionway. The wound was a very severe one, with extensive laceration, and no one on board understood the proper treatment. The accident had occurred the previous day and the powder and dirt blown into the wound resulted in septic infection. He was brought ashore for treat ment, the Progress proposing to return for him later. The mission premises are small, and being occupied by three persons, it was necessary to arrange quarters in the schoolroom for the injured man. I need not enlarge upon the requirements for the treatment of extensive septic wounds with general systemic in fection, but certainly the means at hand were by no means of the best, or the most conducive to a quick recovery. The impossibility of thoroughly sterilizing the dressings, the lack of proper instruments for opera ting the wound, and solutions for cleansing, rendered the treatment far more difficult and protracted than should have been the case. " I have been informed by Captain Tilton, of the steam whaler, Alexander, that upon two vessels of the whaling fleet deaths have occurred this spring, pre sumably from the epidemic difficulty which has so devastated the native communities in this region. It is quite possible that a hospital at this point might have prevented such sad casualties. The construction and maintenance of such a hospital need not neces sarily involve a large outlay of money. An initial expense of $5,000 would probably provide a frame 243 Opportunities building with accommodations for twenty patients, and the appurtenances attaching to hospital work; after which an outlay of about $5,000 per annum would be sufficient to maintain the establishment. "In addition to the medical work, there is a con siderable amount of minor surgery to receive atten tion; ulcers, boils, carbuncles, and more or less in cised and lacerated wounds are the common surgical complaints, the drawing of teeth being a constant re quirement. Wounds frequently occur while hunting, sometimes of quite a serious nature." Medical mission work has been begun on Porto Rico. At San Juan, Grace Williams Atkins, M. D., is at work, Jane H. Harris, M. D., joining her in September, 1902. The needs are so great, the igno rance is so great, that a plea has been sent forth for a hospital. Plans have been made for one at a cost of $8,000. Compared with the cost of those in the United States, this seemed too small an estimate, but no heating is required, few blankets, no mattresses, only canvas cots. Should there be any delay in filling such needs ? Japan, where Dr. Hepburn (the first medical mis sionary of the Presbyterian Church) was the first to settle, is said by some to need no medical missionaries. Dr. Dennis says in " Christian Missions and Social Progress": "The social disorganization attendant upon the transition from an old to a new order may be largely responsible for the failure to care properly for those in distress. There is at the present time great need of charitable organizations in Japan. The 244 THE THUE MEMORIAL SANITARIUM, TOKYO. Where Little is Done poor are sadly neglected, as well as the many lepers, and although hospitals and charitable institutions are being established, it is to be hoped that the Japanese will soon institute more systematic and adequate pro vision for their dependent classes. ' ' He quotes from Rev. D. S. Spencer of the Methodist Board South : " Hospitals for the sick, dumb, deaf, etc., are all new in Japan. If the Japanese fail in caring for these classes it happens rather out of lack of system and knowledge of how to aid them than out of indifference to their wants." In the rural districts and to some extent among the masses in the cities, old barbarous customs similar to those in China and Korea prevail. Disease is often ascribed to evil spirits, especially to the spirit of a fox or a badges. Japan is civilized but still heathen. The larger proportion of its educated people are heathen, or worse — agnostics, infidels. The people want all our civilization, our science, medical and surgical, but no Bible, no God, no Saviour. Their own medical work may be large but it is without Christ. It offers no hope to the sick and suffering. It has none to offer. The True Memorial Sanitarium at Tokyo, was founded by Mrs. M. T. True, after witnessing the sufferings of a missionary friend who died without trained attention. Here classes of nurses have been and are still being trained. They are in great de mand. The sanitarium was designed for high class Japanese ladies, who would not go to the general hospitals, and yet required especial attention. Mrs. 245 Opportunities Kei Okami, M. D., has charge, and the whole plant with all its beautiful grounds and buildings has recently been presented to the Presbyterian Board. Many missionaries have been thankful for its comforts. Some of these Christian nurses trained by Mrs. True (the dearly loved missionary who was, the Jap anese said, "Just like ourselves") in the Tokyo Hospital won quick recognition by the doctors, be cause their word could be relied on. The heathen nurses cared not for truth. One nobleman brought there terribly burned, found in the peace and tender care of one of these women matter for unspeakable wonderment. Why was she so uniformly kind? he wished to know. It was Christ in her, she told him ; and the poor, debauched, suffering man found in Christ rest and peace. When his whole family were afterwards baptized with him, the tears streamed down his frightfully scarred face as he confessed before men how Christ had sent him to the hospital to find him. Dr. Wallace Taylor of the Congregational Board says : " After my work had become well-known, in no other way could I reach so many persons and exert so wide an evangelical influence as through medical work. Take my report for 1892, when I individually treated and exerted an influence on nearly 2,500 persons, many of them from distant and widely scat tered places in the south and west of the empire ; I had nearly 13,000 consultations — saw professionally over 800 persons in their homes and made over 2,500 visits to the homes of patients, carrying our Christian influence with us, as a Christian man must, — and this 246 Where Little is Done it will be seen, gives an opportunity of influence under peculiarly favorable circumstances that few clerical missionaries in this country enjoy, though they do a large amount of touring. "It is true it is largely a work of seed-sowing and others gather the harvest ; but it is not void of its le gitimate fruits, instances of which frequently come to my knowledge. Several men who do considerable touring have frequently remarked to me that they find persons almost wherever they go who have been to my clinic and that many of them know quite a little in re gard to the Christian doctrine, having heard it while attending the dispensary or hospital. "I believe in keeping everything in native style so far as I can, and hence we are in close contact with the people, and more in harmony with Japanese life, and our own services are largely within their means." The Protestant Episcopal Church has a self-support ing hospital at Osaka. The Mission Hospital at Tokyo is in charge of four Japanese physicians who give their services. The Alumni Register of the University of Pennsyl vania gives the history of the first medical missionary to Japan, James Curtis Hepburn : — " One of Pennsylvania's oldest living sons is Dr. James Curtis Hepburn, who received his medical de gree in 1836. He has devoted his life to foreign mis sionary work. At the present time Dr. Hepburn and his wife live in East Orange, N. J. Dr. Hepburn was born at Milton, Pa., March 13, 1815. His father was Samuel Hepburn, lawyer, who graduated from Prince- 247.- Opportunities ton College in 1803. Mr. Hepburn resided most of his life in Milton. He died in Lock Haven, Pa., in 1865. Dr. Hepburn's mother was Ann Clay, daugh ter of Rev. Slator Clay, pastor of Swede churches in Norristown and Perkiomen. Dr. Hepburn was grad uated from Princeton College in 1832, and imme diately entered Pennsylvania Medical School. After graduation he practiced in Norristown, Pa. Here he met Miss Clara M. Leete, to whom he was married on October 27, 1840, at Fayettesville, N. C. "Dr. Hepburn had always cherished the idea of devoting his life to foreign missionary work, and so, under the guidance of the Presbyterian Board of For eign Missions, he and his wife set sail for China, late in 1840, by way of the Cape of Good Hope. The sea voyage lasted one hundred and twenty-five days. Arriving at Singapore, Dr. and Mrs. Hepburn were soon actively engaged in hospital work among the na tives. The Opium War having been lately concluded between England and China, the missionaries went to Amoy, China, and remained there until 1846; at that time Dr. Hepburn broke down in health and was forced to return to America. He settled down in New York City, and there established a lucrative practice. It may be of interest to state here that Dr. Hepburn was well acquainted with the late Dr. Divie Bethune McCartee, '40 M., University of Pennsylvania, from the time of Dr. McCartee's arrival in China. Dr. McCartee is well-known to Pennsylvanians as a teacher, physician and missionary in China and as an oriental linguist of distinction. 248 C. HEPBURN, M. D., THE FIRST MEDICAL MISSIONARY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD. FROM "ALUMNI REGISTER," U. OF PA. Where Little is Done ' ' Dr. Hepburn and his wife were not content to re main in America, for they felt that their services were needed in the East. Accordingly they again set sail for China, April, 1859, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Shanghai late that same year. Dr. Hepburn was there taken suddenly ill, and it was necessary to move him to Yokohama, Japan. When he and his wife arrived there neither knew much of the language, and they were received with suspicion. Mrs. Hepburn was the first American woman mission ary to enter Japan, and her appearance caused much astonishment and curiosity. " For a long time the foreigners were under sur veillance of the Japanese, and their lives were con stantly in danger. An assassin was hired to kill Dr. Hepburn, and lay in wait for him, but when the na tives realized that the doctor and his wife were intent on doing good and not to be discouraged, hostilities ceased, and a friendship began. A surgical operation, performed by the doctor on a native, had much to do with the change of basis. A man had his arm badly shattered, and Dr. Hepburn was ordered by the local authorities to treat the case. His success brought him fame and hard work, for the lame and sick came for miles to see the foreign doctor who could cure as if by magic. "In connection with his arduous duties in medical and religious fields, Dr. Hepburn yet had time to col laborate in the compilation of a Japanese dictionary. The dictionary was copyrighted by the Japanese Gov ernment, and passed into many editions. For six 249 Opportunities years he worked upon a translation of the New Testa ment from Original Greek into the Japanese language in combination with three other students. When this great task had been completed, in cooperation with three other foreign missionaries Dr. Hepburn trans lated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Japanese. His distinguished services were recognized by Lafay ette College in 1869 by its bestowal of the degree of LL. D. "In 1892, after thirty-three years of active and val uable work in missionary fields, Dr. and Mrs. Hep burn decided to return permanently to America. The farewell testimonial meeting tendered them by resident natives and resident missionaries was an impressive tribute well deserved. " Dr. Hepburn and his wife saw Christianity get its first foothold in China and Japan, and helped it in its growth, and now can look on thousands of natives worshiping in Christian churches. They are enthu siastic over mission work, and believe that more than ever workers are needed, and that Japan is on the eve of a religious revival such as has never been seen in any other country." The Presbyterian Church has withdrawn from the medical work, except for the True Sanitarium ; the last doctor being Dr. D. B. McCartee at Tokyo, who went out in 1843 and after working latterly chiefly on the Bible died in San Francisco July 17th, 1900. Miss West visits in the public hospital. She writes : " This visiting in the hospital has been of con stantly increasing interest. Some who had known 250 Where Little is Done many months or even years of weary suffering, found peace and rest in Jesus our Saviour, and spent their last days in quiet hope, at last passing away without that fear of death which is so strong in the heart that does not know our God. One of the oldest women, a woman of rare tact, deep sympathy and devoted spirit, has gone weekly, as a friend, to help comfort and cheer the sick, and has followed into their homes many who have tasted long enough to long for more of the Bread of Life." Of another native worker, Miss Gardner wrote that she told the attending physicians and nurses when she was ill in the hospital, of Jesus, sending messages and leaflets to the patients in her own and neighboring wards. In the Philippines work has also begun. At Iloilo, J. Andrew Hall, M. D. is stationed, and at Duma- guete, H. W. Langheim, M. D., both under the Presbyterian Board. The Methodists also have begun some medical work. Alice Byram Condict, M. D., says that the Philip pines equal Japan in area, but their population is only 10,000,000, to 40,000,000 in Japan. She ascribes this to the fact that four out of five children die before reaching ten years of age. " When sanitary laws are better understood by the natives, and they have be come fully Americanized, the native increase of popu lation may be expected." She thinks the population would then be like that of China or Japan. Ditches have been breeding fever and dysentery. The moats of Manila "reek with slime and send out pestilential 251 Opportunities odors (1899). The Spanish authorities say that the sewage of the city has been collecting here for three hundred years." In the "Report of a Visitation of the Philippine Mission," written in December, 1901, Rev. Arthur J. Brown, D. D., Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, says that " medical work is as necessary in the Philippines as in other lands, except, of course, in Manila. There the number of phy sicians in private practice is already considerable, and it will doubtless increase. There are several large and well-equipped military hospitals, in which civilians are, within reasonable limits, received as private pa tients, an excellent woman's hospital for foreign women, public hospitals for lepers, fallen women, contagious diseases, etc. Drug stores are numerous, and the sanitation of the city is admirably looked after by an efficient Board of Health. The Govern ment intends to see that necessary facilities are pro vided in Manila. There is, therefore, no special field for medical missions in the capital, unless private Christian philanthropy may at some later time, and without drawing upon missionary resources, choose to establish a Presbyterian hospital after the model of similar institutions in our own home cities. In the provincial towns, however, medical work is as need ful as in many other mission fields. The masses of the people know as little about the proper treatment of diseases as those in China, and they suffer as much from them. True, there are in the larger towns a few Spanish or Mestizo physicians, while in several places 252 Where Little is Done the army surgeons have been exceedingly kind to both foreigners and natives. But such service is neces sarily confined to a few places, is purely professional, does not reach the poor, save in vaccination during some smallpox scare, and, in the cases of the Span iards and Mestizos is, as a rule, painfully unsympa thetic and incompetent. The relief thus afforded is far less than in India, where the legitimacy of medical missions is unquestioned. " Our Board early recognized this need, and De cember 18th, 1899, it authorized 'the opening of medical work in the Philippines as soon as the best place or places shall be found therefor.' Both Iloilo and Dumaguete have been properly designated as such places. " In Dumaguete nothing has yet been done, as Dr. Langheim, the newly appointed medical missonary, had not arrived when I left. But there is a good field awaiting him. There is no physician of any kind, native or foreign, except the army surgeon, and a small drug store kept by a native represents the only permanent medical aid." In the Assembly Herald for July, 1902, is a later word about the medical work of Dumaguete, however. " The medical work is developing almost before I am ready to take hold of it. I am looking for a suitable location for a dispensary, but up to the present time, have not been able to find one. "The provincial and municipal authorities (Fili pinos) are much interested in my work. I have been called to attend the wife and children of our provincial 253 Opportunities governor, and have been looking after the sick persons at the provincial jail, was also called upon by the provincial Board to advise in cases of smallpox in some of the neighboring towns. " I have to report that I have accepted an appoint ment from the Philippine Commission to the office of president of the Board of Health of the province of Oriental Negros. This position was first offered to me by the provincial governor, and later by a petition signed by every provincial and municipal authority, as it was necessary to take immediate action because of the efforts of other physicians to secure the ap pointment. I accepted with the consent of the other members of the mission. It seemed wise to accept for several reasons, first, for the good of the institute (Sillirnan), and second for the ways in which the med ical work of the mission might be aided by my hold ing such an appointment. ' ' The large majority of our students are sons and relatives of the provincial and municipal officials and the municipality of Dumaguete is paying the tuition of three or four students, therefore, because of this relation between the officials and the school and their seeming earnest desire to have me accept, it seemed wise to do so. My position will bring me in contact with the officials of twenty-four towns of the province, thus giving me a splendid opportunity to work in the interests of the school (the first mission school in the Philippines). Dr. Hills, the army surgeon, and I are the only physicians in Dumaguete, and there is only one other medico in the province. Had I declined 254 J. A. HALL, M. D., ILOILO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. Where Little is Done the appointment, a new man and one who knows the language, would have been sent in here. This might not be important a year hence, but now before our work is thoroughly established and I am not familiar with the language, I feel that the less competition we have, the better will be our opportunity to lay founda tion for future work. The man who would have been sent, is an ex-contract army surgeon who was stationed here for more than a year, and while he is popular with the natives, he has a most unsavory reputation among those who attempt to maintain any high stand ard of morality, and it is the opinion of the Christian people of Dumaguete that his return to the town would be a detriment to our mission work. For your further enlightenment, I will state that the work will not interfere with my own mission work, — this is thoroughly understood by all concerned, it is also understood that I am to hold the appointment for one year only." Dr. Brown's Report further states : " In Iloilo, we already have a hospital, which is a model for a new institution, that might well be imitated in other places. Instead of calling on the Board for an appropriation, Dr. Hall and Mr. Hibbard canvassed the local com munity, setting forth the advantages of a hospital in such effective ways, that the entire sum requisite was subscribed, Chinese, Filipinos, Mestizos, Spaniards, Americans and Englishmen, contributing. The amount was not large, but in that respect, also, Dr. Hall showed his good sense. An expensive institution was not required at first ; land was leased for two 2S5 Opportunities years at three dollars, Mexican, a month, and for $550, Mexican, a neat building of bamboo and nipa was erected. It includes a dispensary, reception room, operating room, and two small wards of four beds each, one for men and one for women. The dis pensary attendance has already reached 150 in a single day, and the hospital is powerfully aiding the mission work. In-patients pay ten cents a day for their food, but no regular fee has been fixed for the dispensary, patients simply furnishing their bottles and paying something or nothing, as they are able, usually the latter. A native helper and his wife live in the hospital and every patient hears the gospel in some form, either from Dr. Hall, Mrs. Hall, or the helper and his wife, sometimes by all four. "There are medical missions and medical missions. Dr. Hall rightly believes in and practices the latter. He does not argue ' that the ordained man should look after the souls while he cares for the bodies.' He talks with individuals, leads prayer meetings, con ducts inquirers' classes, and takes his turn in preach ing. The suffering patient is thinking not of his spiritual, but of his physical disease. To him the foreigner who can relieve that is the great man — al most a god sometimes. If the medical missionary leaves the treatment of the spiritual malady to some one else who, perhaps, is personally unknown to the patient, and who even if known, has no special claim upon him, the patient inevitably concludes that the physician himself regards the spiritual as of compara tively minor importance. I believe that everywhere, 256 Where Little is Done as in Iloilo, the medical missionary should have direct charge of and actively participate in the evangelistic work of the hospital and dispensary. He may have assistance, but the spiritual influence of the physician in charge should pervade every department. Such medical work will be a powerful factor in disarming prejudice and opposition, in creating evangelistic op portunities, and in reenforcing the general work and purpose of the mission. For such medical work, there is ample room and great need in dealing with the antipathies of a semi-Romish, semi-heathen popu lation. Unquestionably our hospital has powerfully promoted the conditions which have made both the Baptist and the Presbyterian work so successful in the province of Iloilo. " I asked not only missionaries of our own and other Boards, but army surgeons, whether women physicians were needed in the Philippines. The an swers were unanimous in the negative, all physicians, both military and civil, declaring that women patients are as accessible to men physicians as in America, and that they do not show the slightest reluctance to call upon them. This being the case, and the population of Iloilo and Dumaguete not being large enough to justify the maintenance of two physicians, there is no present necessity for sending women medical mission aries to the Philippines." 257 Summary of Medical Missionary Work MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, ALASKA, ISLANDS. Cumberland Presbyterian Church. San Luis Potosi medical work Methodist Episcopal Church, North. Guanajuata H. Romita D. Silao H. Methodist Episcopal Church, South. San Luis Potosi medical work Moravian Missionary Society, German. Paramaribo, Surinam medical work Missionary Pence Association, English. Up the Tocantins River, Brazil medical work Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, North. Sao Paulo, Brazil D. H. M. Lane, M. D. Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, South. Pernambuco, Brazil medical work South American Evangelical Mission. Uruguay medical work 258 Summary of Medical Missionary Work South American Missionary Society, English. Cholcol, Chile (Auracanian Mis.) H. D. Chaco, Paraguay H. D. Pernambuco, Brazil H. D. Bocas del Toro, Central America medical work CANADA AND LABRADOR. Canadian Methodist Missionary Society. Port Essington, Canada H. D. Port Simpson, Canada H. D. Rivers Inlet, Canada H. D. Church Missionary Society. Blackfoot Crossing, Saskatchewan H. D. Claxton, Canada H. D. Onion Lake, Canada medical work St. Peter's, Canada H. D. Metlakahtla H. D. Mission to the Deep Sea Fishermen. Battle Harbor, Labrador H. D. Indian Harbor, Labrador II. D. Society for Propagating the Gospel, English. Lytton, Canada H. D. ALASKA. Methodist Episcopal Mission. Unalaska A. W. Newhall, M. D. Moravian Mission. Bethel Rev. J. H. Romig, M. D. Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, North. Sitka H. Nellie S. Shulean, M. D. Gambell, (St. Lawrence Island) D. E. O. Gambell, M. D. Cape Smyth, Point Barrow Rev. H. R. Marsh, M. D. 259 Opportunities Protestant Episcopal Mission. Skagway H. Rampart H. Circle City H. Nome II. JAPAN. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Kobe D. Osaka H. 2 D. American Friends' Board of Foreign Missions. Tokyo H. D. Church Missionary Society, English. Hakodate D. Kumamato H. D. Foreign Christian Missionary Society. Akita 2 D. Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society. Osaka H. D. Kioto D. Tokyo H. 2 D. Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society. Nagasaki II. D. Independent. Kyoto H. D. Tokyo 4 D. Tokyo II. D. ISLANDS OF THE SEA. Porto Rico. Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. San Juan Grace Williams Atkins, M. D. Jane H. Harris, M. D. The Philippine Islands. Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society. Medical work 260 Summary of Medical Missionary Work Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. Founded Iloilo H. 1901 J. Andrew Hall, M. D. Uamaguete medical work 1902 H. W. Langheim, M. D. DUTCH EAST INDIES, ETC. Mennonite Missionary Society, Netherlands. Kedoeng-pendjalin, Java D. Mergaredja, Java D. Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. Djokjakarta, Java H. D. Rhenish Missionary Society in Barmen, Germany. Gumbu Humene, Nias D. Dutch Missionary Society. Surabaya, Java H. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Kusai, Micronesia medical work New Hebrides Mission, Australia. Ambyrn, New Hebrides H. D. Santo, New Hebrides D. Presbyterian Church of Victoria, Australia. Hogg Harbor, New Hebrides medical work St. Philip Bay, New Hebrides medical work Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. Ambyrn, New Hebrides medical work United Free Church of Scotland. Aneitum, New Hebrides medical work Fiji medical work Futuna, New Hebrides medical work Madeira medical work 261 STATISTICS OF HOSPITALS, DISPENSARIES, AND PATIENTS TREATED ANNUALLY HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES Location. goo, * 1 2 O a» "H-c S I a. 0 a £3 O'-S « Africa ... Alaska Arabia Canada and Lab rador ... Ceylon . ... China Formosa . . India Korea Madagascar . Malaysia . . Mexico .... Palestine .... Siam and Laos . . South America . . Syria ..... Turkey 43 3 1 7 10 4 128 3 in 8 83322 11 673 6 10 107 44 9 1110 245 3 25*5 '7'5 9752 21 1311 5 ¦7'3 5.326 191 840 335393 34,523 632 22,503 782 1,444 329 410 97 3,655 1,015 263 1,2261,094 I39,283 7,380 22,620 5-J76 9,324 685,047 4,948 842,600 35-'9528,968 19,349 8,3806,338 72,88138,646 14,644 2,794 27,68537,778 486,459 27,525 13,122 10,86515,911 1,674,571 17,524 2,453,020 68,84574,224 40,277 47,943 7,221 2,885 184,156120,577 25,986 4,041 62,877 88,076 Proportionate " estimate for 45 hospitals and 113 • dispensaries not reporting 1 , . . 379 783 75>°58 10,111 2,009,036 338,744 5,426,105 1,016,322 Totals . 379 783 85,169 2,347,780 6,442,427 Hospitals. 1The following Hospitals and Dispensaries included in the 379 and 783 mentioned above failed to report statistics: Hospitals. Dispen saries. Madagascar Malaysia 1 Oceania 1 Palestine Siam and Laos South America 2 Syria Africa 18 Alaska 2 Canada and Labrador.. 4 Ceylon 2 China 6 Formosa 1 India 6 Japan 1 Korea 1 3« 3 4 3 26 Dispen saries. 3 Totals 45 "3 From "Centennial Survey of Foreign Missions," by the Rev. Tames S Dennis, D. D. Mission to Lepers in India and the East FIELD OF OPERATIONS INDIA, BURMA, CEYLON, CHINA, JAPAN AND SUMATRA Churches and Societies in connection with the work (21 in all). Basel Missionary Soci ety. Canadian Baptist Mis sionary Society. Church Missionary So ciety. Church of Scotland. Foreign.Christian Mis sionary Society. Friends' Foreign Mis sionary Society. German Evangelical Miss. Society, U.S.A. Stations INDIA, BURMA, CEYLON American Baptist Mis sionary Union. American Board of For eign Missions. American Mennonite Mis sion. American Methodist Epis copal. American Presbyterian. American United Presby terian. Baptist Missionary Soci ety. Allahabad, N.W.P. Alleppey, Travancore. Almora, N.W.P. Ambala, Panjab. Asansol, Bengal. Attingal, Travancore. Baba Lakhan, Panjab. Baidyanath, Bengal. Bhagalpur, Behar. Bombay. Calcutta. Chamba, Panjab. Calicut, Malabar Coast. Chandag, Pithoragarh, Chandkuri, C.P. [N.W.P. Colombo, Ceylon. Dehra, N.W.P. Dhamtari, C.P. Dharmsala, Panjab. Ellichpur, Berar. Harda, C.P. Jabalpur, C.P. Lohardugga, Bengal. Ludhiana, Panjab. Madras.Mandalay, Burma. Mangalore, Malabar Coast. Maulmain, Lr. Burma. Miraj, Bombay P. Moradabad, N.W.P. Mungeli, C.P- Muzaflarnagar, N.W.P. Nasik.Neyoor, Travancore. Patpara, C.P. Gossner's Evangelical Lutheran Mission. Kurku and Central In dia Hill Mission. London Missionary So ciety. Reformed Presbyterian. United Free Church of Scotland, Wesleyan Missionary Society. Zenana Bible and Med ical Mission. (62 in all) Poladpur, Kolaba Dist. Poona. Piu, Kolaba Dist. Purulia, Bengal. Raipur, C.P. Ramachandrapuram. Raniganj, Bengal. Rawal Pindi, Panjab. Rurki, N.W.P. Sabathu, Panjab. Saharanpur, N.W.P. Sehore, Bhopal. Sholapur, Bombay P. Tarn Taran, Panjab. Trevandrum, Travan core. Udaipur, Rajputana. Wardha, C.P. Foochow, Fuh-Kien. Hangchow, Che-Kiang. Hiao Kan, Hankow. Lake Toba, Sumatra. CHINA, JAPAN, AND SUMATRA Fu, Fuh Kien Ning Kien. Kucheng, Fuh-Kien. Yen Ping Fu, Fuh- Kien. Kumamoto and Tokio, Japan. Lo Ngwong, Fuh-Kien. 263 Asylums or Hospitals of the British Society (27 in all) INDIA AND BURMA Pui, Kolaba District. Purulia, Bengal. Ramachandrapuram.Raniganj, Bengal. Rurki, N.W.P. Sholapur, Bombay P. Wardha, C.P. Alleppey, Travancore. Asansol, Bengal. Bhagalpur, Bengal. Calicut, Malabar Coast. Chandag, Pithoragarh. Chandkuri, C.P. Lohardugga, Bengal. Mandalay, Upper Burma. Mangalore, Malabar Coast. Miraj, Bombay P. Mungeli, C.P. Neyoor, Travancore. Patpara, C.P. Poladpur, Kolaba Dis trict. CHINA AND JAPAN Hangchow, Che-Kiang I Kucheng, Fuh-Kien. I Hiao Kan, Hankow. (3)- | Tokio, japan. Homes for the Untainted Children of Lepers (14 in all) Almora, N.W.P. Asansol, Bengal. Attingal, Travancore. Chandkuri, C.P. Lohardugga, Bengal. Mungeli, C.P. Neyoor, Travancore. Mandalay, Upper Bur ma. Poladpur, Kolaba Dist. Purulia, Bengal. Raniganj, Bengal. Roha, Kolaba District. Tarn Taran, Panjab. Hangchow, Che-Kiang, China, Lo Ngwong, Fuh-Kien, China. Allahabad,N.W.P.(Nynee Asylum). Almora, N.W.P, Ambala, Panjab. Chamba, Panjab. Dhamtari, C.P. Aided Institutions (18 in all) Maulmain, Lr. Burma. Moradabad, N.W.P. Muzafiarnagar, N.W.P. Nasik. Raipur, C.P. Dehra, N.W.P. (Mac- Laren Leper Asylum). Ellichpur, Berar. Kumamoto, Japan- Lake Toba, Sumatra. Ludhiana, Panjab. Saharanpur, N.W.P. (2). Sabathu, Panjab. Places open to us for Christian Instruction Baba Lakhan, Sialkot, Panjab. Calcutta. Colombo.Dharmsala, Panjab. Madras.Matunga, Bombay. Poona. Rawal Pindi, Panjab. Sehore, Bhopal. Yen Ping Fu, China. Tarn Taran, Panjab. Trevandrum, Travan core. Kien Ning Fu, China, Lo Nguong, China. The number of inmates in the Society's Homes— adults and children— is about 1,900; those in aided institutions, about 2,400. Children in our own Homes, about 400; children in aided institutions, about 200. Total number receiving help, about 4,600. From " Without the Camp." 264 >>£. EnOaTvio H 3§S ft' ^ O t •t V c3 *t * 1 ,13 o ^» 0 \ ) 1c I -' CJ ^ ~S^*ir V- ofl J' '3 S-C • ""¦^^S*^. o? * X Su o - > IP o ,_o -t- .*: r^ o z -s¥ oo 2 • o 'rv <^*J j JGensan x*^Pjeng«P '& Chemulp°5 OilL Cnun-rfnj® f1 r"%oa KOREA 268 ¦3 ."St I I X 6)p «0 < \ Ptf.-S . • :¦« 13 •s ? "I y* . : : ©\ W : » .S " * . 1 «* 3-J " i 3 "0 *" a. ^"*N^-\jf • ^ ^ ^•Q* 4\ V°^ IP Q fci "V 12 tl X 1-^ 4 269 13^ on sama acal*' - Valparaiso ;'.S„,H u Csneepciorv ? ^ SOUTH AMERICA o 271 Ind ex Acupuncture, 21, 42. Africa, work in — Baraka, 211; Batanga, 212; Benito, 211, 212; Efulen, 213; Elat, 214; Summary, 224-227. Ai Keo, no, Alaskan life, 236-244. " work, 236 ; Summary, 259, 260. Allahabad, India, 127-9. Allen, Dr. N. H., Korea, 22. Ambala, India, 133. Chamberlain, Dr. Jacob, India, , 4, 135-139- China, work in, Canton, 4, 12, 47, 49, 51-54; Chinanfu, 64-68; Chining Chow, 68; Hainan, 55, 56; Hunan, 55; Ichowfu, 68; Lien Chow, 54, 55 ; Ningpo, 56- 61 ; Nodoa, 56; Paotingfu, 62, 63; Peking, 61-63; Sam Kong, 54, 55 ; Soo- chow, 61; Tungchow, 64; Summary, 77-82. Anwangi, 20. Arabia, Medical ideas in, 176; Chieng Mai, Laos, 98, 100- Summary of work done, 203. 103, 110, ill. Bangkok, Siam, 83-85, 93. Barranquilla, South America, 231. Batanga, W. Africa, 212. Beginning Work, 26-35. Beirut, Syria, 165-171. Benito, W. Africa, 211, 212. Birth customs in other lands, 123, 124, 148, 208. Chieng Rai, Laos, 113. Chile, South America, 232, 235- Chinanfu, China, 64-68. Chining Chow, China, 68. Chinese characteristics, 69, 70. Cholera, 18, 19, 56, 87-89, 1 1 8- 1 20; Dr. Cyrus Ham lin's Rules for Cure, 194- 201. Bradley, Dr. D. B., Siam, 83, Christmas in Syria, 165-169. 84, 100. Brazil, 231, 233. Canada and Labrador Sum mary, 259. Canton, China, 4, 12, 47, 49, 51-54- Central America, work in, Costof Hospitals, n, 12, 13, 23, 229. 130, 132, 152, 181, 214, 256. 273 Church of England, Medical Mission Work of, n. Classes, Medical, 23, 25, 29, 36, 129, 159, 170. Cochran, Dr. J. P., Persia, 148, 151, 152, 155. Colombia, South America, 231. Index Deep Sea Fishermen, Mis sion to the, 235-236. Devil worshipers, 120. Diseases of countries, 17, 18, 44, 99, 100, 118, 121, 147, 178, 205, 208, 234. Dumaguete, Philippines, 253- 255- Eddy, Mary P., M. D., 186- 194. Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, 47, 48. Efulen, W. Africa, 213, 214. Elat, W. Africa, 214. Episcopal medical work, 13. Eskimo, 4, 236-244, Evil eye, 121, 125, 148, 176. Face, Change in, 6. Famine, III, 132, 184. Father of Medicine, The, (Siam), 92, 93. Fees, 64, 66, 96, 154, 159, 170, 191, 192. Ferozepore, India, 135. First Medical Class for Women, 118. First Woman Medical Mission ary, 117. Foot-binding, Ciiina, 72-74. Furniture of hospitals, 96, 102, "3, 135, 153- Fusan, Korea, 17, 24. Ginseng, 21. Grant, Dr. Asahel, Persia, 6, 145, 148. Gratitude, 8, 10, 71, 90, 100. Guanajuato, Mexico, 228. Gutzlaff, Dr., 83. Hainan, China, 55, 56. Hamadan, Persia, 151, 160, 161. Health Rules, 121, 194-201, 219-220. Hepburn, Dr. J. C, Japan, 247-250. Hospitals at home, II, 12, 13, 188. Hospital lessons, 6, 7, 54, 55, 56, 93, 128. House, Dr. S. R., Siam, 84-90, 96. Ichowfu, China, 68. Iloilo, Philippines, 253, 255- 257- Inadequate supplies, 54, 55, l'5, 133, 135-139, 157, 162, 179-183, 188, 206, 223, 232-235. India, First missionaries, 117 ; Work in Allahabad, 127- 129; Ambala, 133; Fer ozepore, 135; Lahore, 133; Miraj, 130-132; Sabathu, 134; Sangli, 129; Sum mary, 140-144. Infanticide, 72, 122. Insane Asylums, 13, 39, 51- 53, 94, 146. 178. Islands of the sea, summary, 260-261. Itineration, 7, 20, 25, 32, 96- 99, III, 112, 156, 157, 161, 162, 186-194, 215-218. Japan, Work in, 244; Sum mary, 260. Japanese Nobleman, A, 246. Julfa, Persia, 147, 151. " Kalamazoo, The," Siam, 98. 274 Index Kerr, Dr. J. G., China, 4, 49- 53- Korea, The opening of, 22 ; Work in, Fusan, 24; Pyeng Yang, 23; Seoul, 22, 27-32, 35 ; Taiku, 24 ; Summary, 3»- Korean Bible translation, 35, 36- Lack of Sanitation, 18, 94, 95, 177, 236-244. Lahore, India, 133. Lakawn, Laos, III. Lampoon, Laos, 112. Language study, 27, 28, 33-35. Laos, Work in, Chieng Mai, 98, 100- 103 ; Chieng Rai, 113; Lakawn, in; Lam poon, 112; Nan, 114, 115; Pre, 112; Summary, 116. Largest work, 4, n, 12, 49, 126. Lepers, 100, 134, 162, 191, 208. Lien Chow, 54, 55. Livingstone, Dr. David, Africa, 3, 2°7- Love of Christ, 54, 193-194, 220-222. Malaria, Dr. Cyrus Hamlin's Rules for Cure, 201. Manila, Philippines, 251, 252. Manuel Aguas, Mexico, 229, 230. McCartee, Dr. D. B., China and Japan, 56-61, 248, 250. McGilvary, Rev. Daniel, IX D., Laos, 99, 112. Medical training, 4, 10, 56, 67. Medicine men, Africa, 206, 309-211. Mexico, Work in, 229 ; Sum mary, 258. Miraj, India, 130-132. Moffatt, Dr., Africa, 207. Mortality, 17, 39, 85, 118. Nakawn, Laos, 94, 97. Nan, Laos, 114, 115. Nassau, Dr. R. H., Africa, 211, 218, 219. Native doctors, 21, 40, 41, 42, 44, 104, 120, 206, 232. Native medical treatment, 21, 29, 40, 41, 42, 74-76, 103, 146, 147, 206, 210. Native students, 36, 63. Needs, 14, 15, 39. Newton, Dr. John, 134. Neyoor, India, 126. Number of hospitals, 12, 39, 118. Number of medical mission aries, II, 14, 16, 39, 125, 223, 233, 234. Nurses, Trained native, no, 246. Operations, 4, 23, 24, 28, 37, 43, 5°, 58> I24, 147, '66- 168, 183, 186, 187, 211. Opium, 74, 135, 160. Opposition, 183, 185. Orinoco Indians, Colombia, South America, 231. Paotingfu, China, 62-64. Parker, Dr. Peter, China, 47- 49- Patagonian customs, 232. Paucity of work in South America, 231. Payment, 8-10, 24, 66, 115, 275 Index ¦53, '54, i58> 159, 191- 192, 256. Peking, China, 61-63. Persia, Work in, Hamadan, 151, 160, 161 ; Tabriz, 155, 156; Teheran, 157-160; Urumia, 145, 148, 149, 152- 155 ; Summary, 164. Petchaburee, Siam, 93, 94, 95, 96. Philippines, Work in, Duma guete, 253-255; Iloilo, 253, 255-257 ; Manila, 252; Sum mary, 260, 261. Photograph worship, Chile, 232. Physicians, 14, 15,39,42, III, 125, 171. Pilgrimage to Andacollo, Chile, 235. Porto Rico, 224. Post, Dr. George E., Syria, 165, 170, 171. Pre, Laos, 112. Prescriptions, Native, 21, 74- 76, 92, 126, 176. Pyeng Yang, Korea, 23, 34, 35- Quality of Medical Mis sionaries, 2, 4, 5, 10. Quinine, 18, 69, 99, 218. Rajaburee, Siam, 96. Receipts, Native, 43, 74-76, 92, 176. Responsibility, 10, 133. Results, 22, 71, 93, 94, 100, 127,130,149-151, 154,188- 194, 220. Retrenchment, 135-139. "Rhythm of the Pulse," 41. Sabathu Leper Asylum, India, 134. Sam Kong, China, 54, 55. Sangli, India, 129. San Juan, Porto Rico, 244. Sao Paulo, Brazil, 231. Self-support, 115. Senneh, Persia, 162. Seoul, Korea, 22, 27—32, 35. Siam, Work in, Nakawn, 94, 97 ; Petchaburee, 93, 94, 95, 96 ; Pitsanuloke, 95 ; Ra jaburee, 96; Summary of Malay Peninsula, 116. Siamese Twins, 83. Sitka, Alaska, 236. Skagway, Alaska, 236. Smallpox, 19, 20, 43, 44, 177. Soochow, China, 61. South America, Work in, 230, 231 ; Summary, 258, 259. Speaking trumpet efforts, 5. Spirits, 19, 44, 86-89, 92, 104- 109, 114, 208-210. Suffering, 58, 121, 147. Superstitions, 18, 19, 20, 69, 87-92, 176, 235. Supply of physicians, 14, 15, 118, 125, 223, 234. Syria, Work m, 178, 179; Beirut and Mt. Lebanon Traveling Dispensary, 186— 194; Schweir, 194; Tripoli, 181, 182; Summary, 202, 203. Syrian Protestant College, Beirut, 170-172. Tabriz, Persia, 155, 156. Taiku, Korea, 24. Teheran, Persia, 157-160. Theory and Practice, Native, 276 Index 91, 104, 146, 176, 206, 208, 211, 212, 221. Training of physicians, 10, 23, 29, 36, 53, 67-68, 118, 133, 134, 159-161, 163, 170-172. True Memorial Sanitarium, Tokyo, Japan, 245. Tungchow, 64. Turkey, Work in, 179; Sum mary, 202, 203. Undermining Buddhism, 84. Urumia, Persia, 145, 148, 149, I52-I55- Vaccination, 45, 100, 118. Value of hospitals, 6-8, 55, 67, 68, 101, 102. Van Dyck, Dr. C. V. A., Syria, 172-174. Virgin of Andacollo, Chile, 235- " Visitation of the Philippine Mission," 252, 255-257. Witchcraft, 105, 120, 211, 215- Women, 72-74, 121-124, 125, 132, 142, 147, 148, 157, 158, 173-175- Women Physicians in the Philippines, 257. "Wrath matter,'' 70. Zitacuaro, Mexico, 229. 277 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 05465 8837