OBITUARY NOTICES. 
491 
PETER PARKER. 
Peter Parker, who had attained some distinction in the 
two different professions of divinity and medicine, was one 
of the original founders of the Philosophical Society of Wash¬ 
ington, in 1871. He was born in Framingham, Mass., June 
18, 1804. He was educated at Yale College, where he was 
graduated in 1831; and he was a graduate of the medical 
department in 1834. He was at the same time a student in 
theology, and a few years later was ordained and sent to 
China as a missionary by the American Board of Foreign 
Missions. He made a diligent study of the Chinese lan¬ 
guage, and established at Canton a hospital for the treat¬ 
ment of diseases of the eye, which he found to be quite fre- 
(Juent in that city. Other classes of disease were soon 
admitted into the hospital, and in the first year he had re¬ 
ceived and cared for 2,000 patients suffering with various 
afflictions. His skill and success as a surgeon made his 
hospital quite famous, and he trained several natives in 
medicine and surgery to act as his assistants. During this 
time he was as diligent in the care of the spiritual as of the 
corporeal requirements of the people around him, and prac¬ 
ticed his function of preacher no less zealously. 
In consequence of the disturbed condition of affairs in 
China during England’s memorable “ opium war ” with that 
country, Dr. Parker returned to the United States in 1840. 
Two years later he revisited Canton and reopened his hos¬ 
pital. In 1845 he resigned his position under the American 
Board of Missions in order to give uninterrupted attention 
to his very large clientage of patients. Having acquired a 
good practical acquaintance with the Chinese language, he 
was selected as secretary and interpreter to the United States 
legation in that place, and in the absence of the United 
States minister, he also acted as charge d’affaires ad interim. 
In 1855, to obtain a needed rest and recuperation for his 
overtaxed strength, he again returned to his native country, 
