June 10 RC#2

In April 1841, medical missionary Reverend Peter Parker, M.D.,
addressed an enthusiastic audience gathered at a special meeting of
the Boston Medical Association. His subject was "the condition and
prospects of the hospitals of China." He described his own work at the
hospital he had established in the foreign factory district outside
the
city walls of Canton where he offered free treatment for both rich and
poor. At P'u Ai I Yuan (Hospital of Universal Love, as it was known in
Chinese) Parker and his colleagues used western surgical techniques as
a means to facilitate religious conversion. Medicine, Parker believed,
could be the "handmaid of religious truth," and he held regular
religious services for his patients.

While he had, at best, modest success attracting converts to
Christianity, the hospital had fostered tremendous goodwill among the
Chinese. It was a bright spot amid the gloomy period of
Western-Chinese tension that led to the outbreak of the Opium Wars
between Great Britain and China. Forced to flee Canton because of
these rising
hostilities, Parker returned to the United States to raise money and
interest in his operations. In the spring of 1841, he spoke to many
religious societies, a few medical bodies, and even the United States
Congress, where he preached to members of the House and Senate and
lobbied legislators on the need for diplomatic relations with China.
In his talks, Parker described the state of medical and surgical
knowledge—or, rather, scientific ignorance—in China. Despite the
surgical feats of legendary ancient doctors such as Hua T'o of the
third century A.D., surgery did not develop to any great extent in
China. Some accounts attribute this to Confucian precepts about the
integrity of
the body and proscriptions against any form of mutilation or
dismemberment; others emphasize the pharmacological tendencies within
traditional Chinese medicine and a preference for moxas and other
caustic plasters.

Whatever the cause, it was undoubtedly the case that Parker's surgical
practice tapped into a huge unmet need. Almost as soon as he opened
his Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton, as it was known in English, he
acquired a reputation as a surgeon of such skill that the hospital
quickly became a general hospital. Parker and his small staff handled
thousands of cases each year, treating more than fifty thousand cases
by the 1850s. His hospital became the model for other medical
missions, and Parker and his British colleagues formed the Medical
Missionary Society of China to coordinate the efforts of all the
western
hospitals springing up in the trading ports of Asia. Parker earned his
reputation performing operations to remove tumors and cataracts—forms
of surgery with relatively good odds of success and ones that could be
accomplished quickly, important in an era without anesthetics. Because
of the absence of surgery in China, a large number of patients were
afflicted with mature tumors (typically five to thirty-five years old)
of a size seldom seen in Europe or the United States. Parker was able
to help these patients in ways previously thought impossible in China.
He has thus been credited with bringing Western medicine to the most
populous country on Earth.

1. The author mentions Hua T'o in the third paragraph most probably in order to

a) underscore the need for modernization of nineteenth century Chinese medicine

b) trace the history of important figures in Chinese medicine

c) call attention to the lack of leading physicians in nineteenth century China

d) celebrate the historical achievements of Chinese physicians

e) defend Chinese medicine against unfair criticism

2. According to the passage, all of the following are true of Peter
Parker EXCEPT

a) He was skilled as a surgeon.

b) He believed that the poor deserved quality medical treatment.

c) He felt disdain for the medical practices of nineteenth century China.

d) He lobbied intensely to bring Western medical knowledge to China.

e) He did not achieve his missionary goals in China.

3. The primary purpose of the passage is to

a) discuss the status of the medical profession in China before the
arrival of Peter Parker

b) argue that China could not have gained modern medical knowledge
without the influence of Peter Parker

c) demonstrate the need in China before the nineteenth century for
outside medical knowledge

d) challenge the predominant view of nineteenth century Chinese medicine

e) examine the circumstances of the introduction of Western medicine
to nineteenth century China