Samuel Fisk Green (1822–1884) was an American medical missionary. He graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in

New York city New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He served with the American Ceylon Mission (ACM) in

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mo ...

, Sri Lanka during the period (1847–1873) when it was the British colony of Ceylon. During his tenure he founded the Sri Lanka's first medical hospital and school in what later became the

Green Memorial Hospital The Green Memorial Hospital is a non-profit hospital in Manipay, Sri Lanka. It was founded by Dr Samuel Fisk Green in 1848. It is a charitable hospital run by Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India The Jaffna Diocese is the Church of Sou ...

Manipay Manipay or Maanippaai ( ta, மானிப்பாய்) is an affluent town in the northern Jaffna District of Sri Lanka. The original name of Manipay is Periyapulam. It was a mission location when the American Ceylon Mission (ACM) came to ...

in the Jaffna peninsula. He translated and published over 4000 pages of medical literature from

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

as part of his efforts to train doctors in their native language. He was personally responsible for training over 60 native doctors of whom majority had their instructions in Tamil.

Early life

Green was born in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

, Massachusetts, to William E. Green and Julia Plimpton as the eighth of 11 children. After his secondary schooling, he was attracted to religion. In 1841 he went to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and joined the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

Episcopal Board of Missions. During this period he became interested in the medical profession and joined as a medical student and graduating as a doctor in 1845. In 1846, he joined the American Mission and along with a team of missionaries was sent to Ceylon now Sri Lanka. His brother was

Andrew Haswell Green Andrew Haswell Green (October 6, 1820 – November 13, 1903) was a lawyer, New York City planner, and civic leader. He is considered "the Father of Greater New York," and is responsible for Central Park, the New York Public Library, the Bronx ...

, who was instrumental in completing

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. Green retired to Green Hills, Massachusetts in 1873 due to ill health. He died in 1884.

Missionary work

After a four month trip from America, he moved to Ceylon via Madras Presidency in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in 1847. He initially served at the ACM mission at the

Batticotta Seminary The Batticotta Seminary was an educational institute founded by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)'s American Ceylon Mission at Vaddukodai, in the Jaffna Peninsula north Sri Lanka in 1823. It was founded as part of ...

. Although the locals were reluctant use his services, eventually with his capability he became well known for his medical skills. As he attracted a lot of patients and it distracted Batticotta seminaries primary task of education, he was moved to another ACM mission station in

in 1848. At Manipay, in addition to providing medical services to patients who came in search of him, he established the first medical school to teach western medicine to the Tamil people of Jaffna, thus opening, Sri Lanka's first medical hospital and teaching facility that became known as Green memorial hospital. Green Memorial Hospital was managed by the

Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India The Jaffna Diocese is the Church of South India diocese for northern Sri Lanka. The current bishop (known as the Bishop of Jaffna or the Bishop of the Church of South India in the Jaffna Diocese) is Daniel Thiagarajah. History The Church of S ...

(JDCSI) the successor organization of ACM. It celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Green Memorial Hospital, and the ACM medical mission, in October 1998.

Translating from English to Tamil

Initially when Dr. Green appealed for assistance for the publication of some medical books in Tamil, the colonial government refused aid. But after a decade, the same government doubled its aid and also requested Dr. Green to superintend the preparation and printing of Sanitary and Medical action related literature in Cholera times. Dr. Green wanted to prepare the trained physicians to stay in their native villages to help the locals instead migrating to find work within the colonial administration. To teach western medicine in Tamil, he had to coin technical terms in Tamil, translate western medical books into Tamil and write medical books in Tamil. This meant the development of medical and scientific Tamil as different from the established literary Tamil. There was also a need to write medical treatises in simple Tamil for the benefit of the common people – the layman.

Bibliography

Following is a list of his Translations from English into Tamil and the year of publication. ;Non-Fiction * ''Cutter’s Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene''. 204 pages 1857 * ''Maunsell’s Obstetrics'' 258 pages 1857 * ''Druitt’s Surgery'' 504 pages 1867 * ''Gray’s Anatomy'' 838 pages 1872 * '' Hooper's Physician’s Vade Mecum'' 917 pages 1875 * ''Dalton’s Physiology'' 590 pages 1883 * ''Waring’s Pharmacopoeia of India'' 574 pages 1884 * ''Well’s Chemistry'' 516 pages 1875

References

External links

Medical Missionaries in JaffnaJohn Plimpton Green Letters
Jefferson Digital Commons, Thomas Jefferson University {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Samuel Fisk 1822 births 1884 deaths People from Worcester, Massachusetts American Anglican missionaries American Ceylon Mission American expatriates in Sri Lanka Missionary educators Tamil scholars of non-Tamil background Christian medical missionaries Anglican missionaries in Sri Lanka Missionary linguists