The important role played by medical services in the preaching of the Gospel in China was undeniable. Anglo-American missionaries entered Canton in the early 18th century and introduced modern Western medicine to China. Reverend Dr Peter Parker, founder of medical missionaries to China, was more than that, far more advanced than his predecessors including Drs Pearson, Livingstone and Colledge. He was an enthusiastic missionary of exceptional ability and vigour as witnessed his labours at the Canton Ophthalmic Hospital. His 20 years in the medical field unexpectedly paved the way for his future career as a diplomat in the American Legation.
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StevensGBMarkwitchWF. The life, letters and journals of the Rev. and Hon. Peter Parker, M. D., missionary, physician and diplomatist, the father of medical missions and founder of the Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton, Boston, MA: Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, 1896.
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ParkerP. Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton: first quarterly report, from the 4th of November 1835 to the 4th of February 1836. Chinese Repository IV Canton. From May 1835 to April 18361836, pp. 461–473.
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Heinrich L. The afterlife of images: translating the pathological body between China and the West: the pathological body: Lam Qua’s medical portraiture. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008, pp.39–112. The gallery of images painted by Lam Qua, uncle of Parker’s pupil Kwan To is in the possession of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library – Peter Parker Collection, http://www.yale.edu/library.
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ParkerP. Statements respecting hospitals in China, preceded by a letter to John Abercrombie, MD, VPRSE, by Rev. P. Parker MD, medical missionary of the American Board of Foreign Missions in China, Glasgow: James MacLehose, 1842.
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ThomsonJC. Obituary: Rev. Dr Peter Parker MD, first medical missionary to China. China Medical Mission Journal1888; 2: 169–172.
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TuckerSW. The Canton Hospital and medicine in nineteenth century China 1835-1900. PhD Thesis, Indiana University, 1982, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1991.
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ParkerP. Notes of surgical practice among the Chinese, Edinburgh: Sutherland and Knox, 1846.
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ParkerP. Seventh quarterly report of ophthalmic hospital at Canton. Chinese Repository VI Canton1839–1840, pp. 433–445.
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HumeEH. Peter Parker and the introduction of ether anaesthesia into China. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences1946; 1: 670–4.
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ParkerP. Fourteenth report of ophthalmic hospital at Canton for 1845 to 1847. Chinese Repository XIX Canton1849, pp. 33–43.
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ParkerP. Fifteenth report of ophthalmic hospital at Canton for 1848 and 1849. Chinese Repository XIX Canton1849, pp. 253–253.
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WongKCWuLT. History of Chinese medicine, being a chronicle of medical happenings in China from ancient times to the present period, 2nd ed. Shanghai: National Quarantine Service, 1936.
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ThomsonJO. Urinary calculus at the Canton Hospital, Canton, China based upon three thousand five hundred operation. Surgery, Gynecology, Obstetrics1921; 32: 44–55.
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ParkerP. Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton: seventh report, being for the term ending the 31st December 1837. Chinese Repository VI Canton. From April 1837 to May 18381838, pp. 433–445.
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ParkerP. Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton: the eighth report including the period from January 1st to June 30th 1838. Chinese Repository VII Canton. From May 1887 to April 18391839, pp. 92–106.
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ParkerP. Tenth report of the Ophthalmic Hospital, Canton, being for the year 1839. Chinese Repository VIII Canton. From May 1839 to April 18401840, pp. 628–639.
22.
Parker P. Thirteenth report of the Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton, including the period from the 1st January 1844 to the 1st July 1845. Chinese Repository XIV Canton. From January to December 1845 1845:449–464. Parker’s collection of these stones, together with his personal papers and other memorabilia were bequeathed to the Yale University Library Peter Parker Collection.
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ParkerP. Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton: fourth quarterly report, for the term ending on 4th November 1836. Chinese Repository V Canton. From May 1836 to April 18371837, pp. 323–332.
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ParkerP. Second report of ophthalmic hospital at Canton. Chinese Repository V1836–1837, pp. 72–85.
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ParkerP. Eighth quarterly report of ophthalmic hospital at Canton. Chinese Repository VII Canton 1840–1841:, 92–106.
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ThomsonJC. Rev. Peter Parker, MD. First medical missionary in China, and Kwan A-to, first Chinese surgeon. China Medical Missionary Journal1888; 2: 169–172.
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ParkerP. Report of the Medical Missionary Society containing an abstract of its history and prospects, and the report of the hospital at Macao for 1841-42; together with Dr Parker’s statement of his proceedings in England and the United States in behalf of the Society. Chinese Repository XII CantonFrom January to December 18421842, pp. 188–206.
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WongKC. Lancet and cross: biographical sketches of fifty pioneer medical missionaries in China: Peter Parker, Shanghai: Council on Christian Medical Work, 1950, pp. 4–9.
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SpenceJ. To change China: Western advisers in China 1620-1960: Peter Parker bodies or souls, Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1969, pp. 34–56.
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