IN glancing over the record of cases we have treated in our dispensary here in Ying Shang Hsien during the last week, I notice many like the following: “Man of thirty-five. Ringworm on the scalp and body of eight months’ standing. That on body covers at least one square foot of skin surface. This case was cured by two treatments.” “Boy of eighteen. Has had malaria for six years. Malaria checked by three doses of quinine.” “Child of three. Has a large open sore of seven months’ standing in the left groin, prevents moving the leg. Came to dispensary five times. The sore was practically healed over when seen the fifth time.” “Boy of eighteen. Both legs and large areas on the body covered with foul sores resulting from itch of several years’ duration. Cured by cleansing sores once, followed by three applications of sulphur ointment.” “Woman of thirty-two complains of a hard tumor in the abdomen. Has had Chinese doctors stick needles into various parts of the body many times to get rid of the ‘poisons,’ but tumor remains. Examination shows a woman with thin abdominal walls, and the tumor proves to be the normal backbone.” “Man of thirty. Right eye much inflamed, front of the eye is bulged out and full of pus. Six months ago had sore eyes, a Chinese doctor stuck a needle (the needles used are large steel pieces like a darning needle, and before using are often wiped through the hair and lubricated) into front of eye. Following this the eye became worse and sight entirely destroyed.”
F. E. Stafford, evangelist in Shanghai. A former Pacific Press boy
The absolute worthlessness of those the Chinese designate doctors, combined with the fact that the people as a whole are densely ignorant not only of the cause of disease but of the first principles of hygiene and treatment of disease, accounts for the experience that comes to every missionary in the interior; that is, that whether in his station or on itinerary, he is continually sought by the sick and implored for help. Altho he may have no training in the recognition and treatment of disease, yet the knowledge he has and which is common to every layman in the home lands, enables him to treat and relieve a large number of their afflictions. In the matter of treating disease the ordinary missionary is as far superior to the Chinese doctor as the university-trained M.D. is superior to the ordinary layman in civilized lands.
Pastor F. A. Allum, in charge of Central China Mission
The help for this ignorance with its consequent suffering, physical incapacity, and loss of life, is proper education. By giving the young Chinese men and women in our workers’ training school instruction in hygiene and the cause and treatment of the common diseases prevalent in China, together with practical work, under direction, in a dispensary connected with the school, there will be turned out workers who will not only be teachers and evangelists but they will be veritable saviors to multitudes of sick and suffering in the communities where they are located.
The Crying Need
The need of just such training as is here outlined is felt by every Chinese evangelist and Bible woman throughout the field. Many of them keep on hand a supply of simple remedies and do what they can in relieving the sick. The Chinese evangelist located in the outstation that I am now visiting says there is seldom a day that he is not called upon to do what he can to relieve the sufferings of several sick people. They come to him with all kinds of diseases from the simple ones like itch and ringworm to the graver conditions like cancer, abscess of the liver, etc. Last week he was called to go and see a man who had an injured arm, the flesh of the upper arm having been blown away by the bursting of a gun, exposing to view the large blood-vessels and the bone for a distance of several inches.
Evangelical and Economical
Needless to say, this service to the sick and suffering is a practical expression of the spirit of the gospel and is a powerful factor in winning the idol worshiper, for it not only brings him within hearing of the gospel but by comparison it shows up the crudeness and vileness of his own religion.
A Group of Chinese Evangelists
Furthermore, workers with this kind of training may to a large extent be self-supporting, for there will be an income from their treating of the sick which tho it may be small yet will cover a good portion of their wage. With the almost universal poverty in China, any method that will solve, even in small part, the problem of the financial support of the large army of evangelists, Bible women, and teachers needed, is worthy of our best efforts in promoting and supporting.
