I02 Kenneth S. Latoiircttc, 



to Singapore, the school was held continuously for a number of 

 years. ^''^ 



A fourth society formed by the foreign residents in China had 

 its origin in Parker's medical work. He reached China in 1834 

 and opened the Ophthalmic Hospital in 1835. In October, 1836, 

 Parker, Cooledge (an English merchant), and Bridgman, feeling 

 that the time had come for further action, issued a pamphlet 

 suggesting that a society be formed to aid in the medical work.^°^ 

 Nearly a year and a half later, in February, 1838, the "Medical 

 Missionary Society in China" was formed. Its object was to 

 "encourage gentlemen of the medical profession to come and 

 practice gratuitously among the Chinese, by affording the usual 

 aid of hospitals, medicine, and attendants : but .... the sup- 

 port or remuneration of such medical gentleman [was] .... 

 not at present within its contemplation.""'^ The Ophthalmic 

 Hospital was at once taken over,^"^ and thanks to the generosity 

 of Howqua and the efforts of Olyphant, was put on a secure 

 basis and in a permanent home.^*'" Because of the impossibility 

 of caring for all who would have applied, treatment was largely, 

 although not exclusively, confined to eye diseases. Even with 

 these limitations, the wards were crowded, and many patients 

 had to be turned away.^*"' In April, 1838, at the society's request, 

 Parker opened a hospital at Macao. At first it met with much 

 suspicion,^"' but this gradually disappeared and in 1839, Dr. Wil- 

 liam Lockhart, of the London Missionary Society, was appointed 

 to devote his entire time to it.^°* Dr. William B. Diver, an 



'"'Ch. Rep., 10:582; 11:337. 



^""Proposition for the Formation of a Medical Missionary Society in 

 China, Ch. Rep., 5:371. See too, Stevens, Life of Parker, p. 134. 



^"^ Formation of the Medical Atissionary Society in China, Feb. 21, 1838, 

 Ch. Rep., 7:32-44- 



^"^ Ibid., and Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 2i2iZ-3i7- Lockhart, Med. Missny. 

 in China, p. 124. 



^"^ Lockhart, Med. Missny. in China, p. 174. See description of the 

 hospital in Downing, The Stranger in China, 2: 11-14. 



^"■^ Report of Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton, Jan. i to June 30, 1838, 

 showed 1,025 patients admitted during the six months. Ch. Rep., 7:92-95. 



^"^ First Rep. of the Med. Missny. Soc.'s Hospital at Alacao, July 5- 

 Oct. I, 1838, Ch. Rep., 7:411-419. 



"'«Ch. Rep., 7:551. 



