Peter Parker (physician) - China

China

In February 1834, Parker 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). Parker specialized in diseases of the eye, including cataracts, and also resected tumors. Parker also introduced Western anesthesia 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 suffering from 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.

In 1840, on the occurrence of hostilities between England and China, the hospital was closed, and Parker returned to the United States. Returning to China in 1842, he reopened the hospital, and it was thronged as before. He served as president of the Medical Missionary Society of China after his mentor Thomas Richardson Colledge.

In 1844, Parker worked as Caleb Cushing's main interpreter during the negotiations of the Treaty of Wanghia with the Qing 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. 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 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.