Peter Parker (June 18, 1804 – January 10, 1888) was an American physician and a
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
who introduced Western medical techniques into
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
China, at
the city of Canton. It was said that Parker "opened China to the gospel at the point of a lancet."
Early life
Parker was born in
Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popu ...
, in 1804 to an orthodox
Congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
family. His parents were farmers. Parker received a B.A. degree from
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1831, and his
M.D.
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...
degree from the
Yale Medical School
The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813.
The primary te ...
, then called Medical Institution of Yale College, in 1834. In January 1834, he completed his theological studies at Yale and was ordained as a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister.
China
![Dr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Dr._Peter_Parker.jpg)
In February 1834, Parker (phoneticized in Cantonese: 伯駕) traveled to
Canton, where he had the distinction of being the first full-time Protestant medical missionary to China. In 1835, he opened in that city the Ophthalmic Hospital, which later became the Guangzhou Boji Hospital (
the Canton Hospital
The Canton Hospital () or Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton, also known as the Canton Pok Tsai Hospital, was founded by Protestant medical missionary Peter Parker (1804-1888) in Canton, China on November 4, 1835. The hospital treated thousands of pati ...
). Parker specialized in diseases of the eye, including
cataract
A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble w ...
s, and also resected
tumor
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
s. Parker also introduced Western
anesthesia
Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), ...
in the form of
sulphuric ether.
Although the hospital was intended particularly for the treatment of eye diseases, it was soon found impracticable to exclude patients with other maladies. Over 2,000 patients were admitted the first year. Parker often preached to the patients, and trained several Chinese students in the arts of medicine and surgery, some of whom attained considerable skill.
Merchant
David Olyphant
David Washington Cincinnatus Olyphant (March7, 1789June10, 1851) was an American trader in the Far East and "the father of the American Mission to China". He was an elected member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) ...
of
Olyphant & Co. allowed Parker to use one of his warehouses as a hospital "so that patients could come and go without annoying foreigners by passing through their ''
hongs'', or excite the observations of natives by being seen to resort to a foreigner's house, rendered it most suitable for the purpose."
In 1840, on the occurrence of hostilities between England and China, the hospital was closed, and Parker returned to the United States. He met and married Harriet Colby Webster during this time period. Returning to China with his new wife in 1842, he reopened the hospital, and it was thronged as before.
[ He served as president of the ]Medical Missionary Society of China The Medical Missionary Society in China was a Protestant medical missionary society established in Canton, China, in 1838.
The first work of the society was to support the ophthalmic hospital in Canton run by Dr. Peter Parker, a medical missionary ...
after his mentor Thomas Richardson Colledge
Thomas Richardson Colledge (11 June 1797 – 28 October 1879) was an English surgeon with the East India Company at Guangzhou (Canton) who served part-time as the first medical missionary in China, and played a role in establishing the Canton ...
. Dr. John Glasgow Kerr
John Glasgow Kerr (1824–1901) was an American medical missionary and philanthropist who helped establish the Canton Hospital, also known as the Ophthalmic Hospital, in Canton, China.
Kerr was born in Dunkinsville, Ohio and graduated from ...
followed Parker in running the Medical Missionary Society Hospital.
In 1844, Parker worked as Caleb Cushing
Caleb Cushing (January 17, 1800 – January 2, 1879) was an American Democratic politician and diplomat who served as a Congressman from Massachusetts and Attorney General under President Franklin Pierce. He was an eager proponent of territoria ...
's main interpreter during the negotiations of the Treaty of Wanghia
The Treaty of Wanghia (also known as the Treaty of Wangxia; Treaty of peace, amity, and commerce, between the United States of America and the Chinese Empire; ) was the first of the unequal treaties imposed by the United States on China. As per ...
with the Qing
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
Empire. In 1845 he became a secretary and interpreter to the new embassy from the United States, still keeping the hospital in operation. In the absence of the minister, Parker acted as chargé d'affaires
A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...
. In 1855, finding his health seriously impaired, he again returned to the United States.[
The 1844 treaty stipulated that it could be renegotiated after 12 years, and in 1856, president ]Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...
sent Parker to China in order to revise the treaty and gain more concessions from the Qing Empire. Parker was unsuccessful in this endeavor. He worked in this capacity until Pierce left office. In 1857, his health again failing, he returned to the United States.[
]
Lam Qua portraits
While in China, Parker met Lam Qua
Lam Qua (; 1801–1860), or Kwan Kiu Cheong (), was a Chinese painter from the Canton province in Qing Dynasty China, who specialized in Western-style portraits intended largely for Western clients. Lam Qua was the first Chinese portrait painte ...
, a Western-trained Chinese painter. Parker commissioned Lam Qua to paint patients at the Canton Hospital with large tumors or other major deformities. Some of the paintings are part of a collection of Lam Qua's work held by the Peter Parker Collection at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library
The Harvey Cushing and John Hay Whitney Medical Library is the central library of the Yale School of Medicine, Yale School of Nursing, and Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.
History
The Library was built in 1941 as a Y-shape ...
at Yale University. Parker left these portraits to the Pathology Department of the Yale Medical School, which later gave them to the library.
United States
After his final return to the United States, Parker and Harriet had one son, Peter Parker Jr., in 1859. In the 1860s, the couple moved to the townhome on Lafayette Square that is known today as the Peter Parker House
The Peter Parker House, also known as the former headquarters of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, is a historic row house at 700 Jackson Place NW in Washington D.C. Built in 1860, it is historically significant for its association ...
. From here the couple regularly hosted notable figures in Washington, including Supreme Court justices, members of Congress, and President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
.
Parker became a regent of the Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
in 1868, a corporate member of the American Board in 1871, and was a delegate of the Evangelical Alliance
The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and societ ...
to Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
the same year to memorialize Tsar Alexander II
Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Fin ...
in behalf of religious liberty in the Baltic provinces
The Baltic governorates (russian: Прибалтийские губернии), originally the Ostsee governorates (german: Ostseegouvernements, russian: Остзейские губернии), was a collective name for the administrative units ...
. He was president of the Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
branch of the Evangelical Alliance in 1887. He died on January 10, 1888, in Washington, D.C.
Writings
Among his publications were:
* ''Reports of the Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton'' (Canton, 1836–52)
* ''Journal of an Expedition from Singapore to Japan'', an account of his visit to the Loo Choo islands and Japan in 1837 (London, 1838)
* ''A Statement Respecting Hospitals in China'' (London, 1841)
* ''Notes of Surgical Practice Among the Chinese'' (1846)
* ''Eulogy on Henry Wilson
Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was an American politician who was the 18th vice president of the United States from 1873 until his death in 1875 and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...
'' (Washington, D. C., 1880)
References
Further reading
* George B. Stevens and W. Fisher Markwick
''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 and Chicago: Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society (1896).
* Edward V. Gulick. ''Peter Parker and the Opening of China''. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Harvard Studies in American-East Asian Relations 3, 1973). .
External links
Peter Parker collection
Medical Historical Library, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Yale University
Peter Parker Papers
Medical Historical Library, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Yale University
Lam Qua's Portraits of Peter Parker's Patients
Medical Historical Library, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Yale University
*Chang, J
''A reconstructive surgeon's taste in art: Dr Peter Parker and the Lam Qua oil paintings''
Ann Plast Surg. (1993)
* Christopher Gundman, "Peter Parker," ''Biographical Dictionary of Christianity in China'
*Heinrich, Ari Larissa. ''The Afterlife of Images: Translating the Pathological Body Between China and the West,'' Chapel Hill: Duke University Press, 2008
* Edward H. Hume, Hume, Edwardbr>''Peter Parker and the Introduction of Anesthesia into China''
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences (1946)
*Rachman, Stephe
Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, Vanderbilt University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Peter
1804 births
1888 deaths
American Presbyterian missionaries
19th-century American physicians
Christian medical missionaries
Presbyterian missionaries in China
People from Framingham, Massachusetts
Yale School of Medicine alumni
American expatriates in China
19th-century American diplomats
Ambassadors of the United States to China