登陆注册
5290900000030

第30章 LETTER V(1)

Portuguese Missionaries--A Chinese Hospital--Chinese Anaesthetics--Surgery and Medicine--Ventilation and Cleanliness--A

Chinese "Afternoon Tea"--A New Inspiration HONG KONG, January 10.

The year seems already getting old and frowzy. Under these blue skies, and with all the doors and windows open, I should think it midsummer if I did not look at the calendar. Oh, how I like blue, sunny skies, instead of gray and grim ones, and blazing colors instead of the dismal grays and browns of our nondescript winters!

I left Canton by the Kin-Kiang on Monday, with two thousand Chinese passengers and two Portuguese missionary priests, the latter wearing Chinese costume, and so completely got up as Chinamen that had they not spoken Portuguese their features would not have been sufficient to undeceive me. They were noble-looking men, and bore upon their faces the stamp of consecration to a noble work. On the other steamer, the Tchang, instead of a man with revolvers and a cutlass keeping guard over the steerage grating, a large hose pipe is laid on to each hatch-way, through which, in case of need, boiling water can be sent under strong pressure. Just as we landed here, about five hundred large fishes were passed through a circular net from a well in the steamer into a well in a fishing boat, to which all the fishmongers in Hong Kong immediately resorted.

(I pass over the hospitalities and festivities of Hong Kong, and an afternoon with the Governor in the Victoria Prison, to an interesting visit paid with Mr., now Sir J. Pope Hennessey to the Chinese Hospital.)

We started from Government House, with the Governor, in a chair with six scarlet bearers, attended by some Sikh orderlies in scarlet turbans, for a "State Visit" to the Tung-Wah Hospital, a purely Chinese institution, built some years ago by Chinese merchants, and supported by them at an annual cost of $16,000. In it nothing European, either in the way of drugs or treatment, is tried. There is a dispensary connected with it, where advice is daily given to about a hundred and twenty people; and, though lunacy is rare in China, they are building a lunatic asylum at the back of the hospital.

The Tung-Wah hospital consists of several two-storied buildings of granite, with large windows on each side, and a lofty central building which contains the directors' hall, the accommodation for six resident physicians, and the business offices. The whole is surrounded by a well-kept garden, bounded by a very high wall. We entered by the grand entrance, which has a flagged pavement, each flag consisting of a slab of granite twelve feet long by three broad, and were received at the foot of the grand staircase by the directors and their chairman, the six resident doctors, and Mr. Ng Choy, a rising, Chinese barrister, educated at Lincoln's Inn, who interpreted for us in admirable English.

He is the man who goes between the Governor and the Chinese community, and is believed to have more influence with the Governor on all questions which concern Chinamen than anybody else. These gentlemen all wore rich and beautiful dresses of thick ribbed silk and figured brocade, and, unless they were much padded and wadded, they had all attained to a remarkable embonpoint.

The hall in which the directors meet is lofty and very handsome, the roof being supported on massive pillars. One side is open to the garden. It has a superb ebony table in the middle, with a chair massive enough for a throne for the chairman, and six grand, carved ebony chairs on either side.

Our procession consisted of the chairman and the twelve directors, the six stout middle-aged doctors, Mr. Ng Choy, the Governor, the Bishop of Victoria, and myself; but the patients regarded the unwonted spectacle with extreme apathy.

The wards hold twenty each, and are divided into wooden stalls, each stall containing two beds. Partitions seven feet high run down the centre. The beds are matted wooden platforms, and the bedding white futons or wadded quilts, which are washed once a week. The pillows are of wood or bamboo. Each bed has a shelf above it, with a teapot upon it in a thickly wadded basket, which keeps the contents hot all day, the infusion being, of course, poured off the leaves. A ticket, with the patient's name upon it, and the hours at which he is to take his medicine, hangs above each person.

No amputations are performed, but there are a good many other operations, such as the removal of cancers, tumors, etc. The doctors were quite willing to answer questions, within certain limits; but when I asked them about the composition and properties of their drugs they became reticent at once and said that they were secrets. They do not use chloroform in operations, but they all asserted, and their assertions were corroborated by Mr. Ng Choy, that they possess drugs which throw their patients into a profound sleep, during which the most severe operations can be painlessly performed. They asserted further that such patients awake an hour or two afterward quite cheerful, and with neither headache nor vomiting! One of them showed me a bottle containing a dark brown powder which, he said, produced this result, but he would not divulge the name of one of its constituents, saying that it is a secret taught him by his tutor, and that there are several formulas. It has a pungent and slightly aromatic taste.

The surgery and medicine are totally uninfluenced by European science, and are of the most antiquated and barbaric description. There was a woman who had had a cancer removed, and the awful wound, which was uncovered for my inspection, was dressed with musk, lard, and ambergris, with a piece of oiled paper over all. There was also exhibited to us a foot which had been pierced by a bamboo splinter.

同类推荐
  • 吴子兵法

    吴子兵法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 王梵志诗集

    王梵志诗集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 石霜尔瞻尊禅师语录

    石霜尔瞻尊禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 迦叶仙人说医女人经

    迦叶仙人说医女人经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 魏晋世语

    魏晋世语

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 天竞仙途

    天竞仙途

    仙途难行,谁竞先机?这一个,脉乱经奇,通仙路上波云诡,且看我独尊!那一个,生而为魔,美人心肝琉璃胆,奇阵动风云!这一个,妖血沸腾,万夫难敌红发凛,酒尽豪气生!那一个,乾坤在手,大道尽处觅长生,推衍算弘轮!
  • 天台山志

    天台山志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 花语绝恋之离落梨花(全)

    花语绝恋之离落梨花(全)

    (梨花的花语:纯情、纯真的爱、一辈子的守侯)孤苦无依,无人理,便叫离儿。她本以为自己会在李府里安度一生,无奈为了对自己百般好的小姐,代她出选秀女。什么都过人的她不想要去争什么,也不愿当什么妃嫔美人,只想像小姐一样守着一个人度过一生。但在勾心斗角的皇宫里是做不到你不范人,别人就不范你的。往往你越是越什么都不在乎的话,就要被人利用陷害了。离儿她有着自己心中一个简单的愿望,忍受所有的风暴,只想等到期满之时,出了这深宫,找个所爱之人共度此生。但她这个小小的愿望都不能实现,她稀里糊涂就失身了,却不想自己居然失身给个公公!这要她怎么办?如何是好啊……身虽无缎络绸衣,素雅青衣更显柔美;发虽无银钿金钗,清素木簪难掩青丝;杨柳细腰尽显娇,夜伴水声暗香自来;未见其面心已动,不知女子是美是丑?一个阴谋套着另一个阴谋,这到底又是谁的阴谋?当答案揭晓的那一刻,改变的是什么?—————————————————————————————————————————————好友宝贝要幸福——《穿越之美男要嫁我》搞笑轻松小文文~~~http://m.wkkk.net/a/83795/漫落群号:50761847(加时请写一个漫落的小说名)
  • 花儿与少年 花儿美美走世界

    花儿与少年 花儿美美走世界

    《花儿与少年》是国内第一档明星真人秀旅游节目,在节目中,五位美丽的中国女性:郑佩佩、张凯丽、许晴、刘涛、李菲儿吸引了众多观众的视线。这五位女性,代表着中国女性美丽的五个侧面,节目的播出,让不同年龄段的女性,都燃起了“美美走出去”的渴望。“穷游世界”是年轻人的梦想,而作为女人,还要懂得在旅行中善待自己、宠爱自己,这样才能通过旅行让自己变得更美丽。这本书中,介绍了五位“花儿”的独门旅行秘籍,也从她们每个人的角度出发,揭示了女人在旅行中最美的那一面。同时,书中还独家收录了对五位明星和导演的贴身访谈,除了详解很多幕后“八卦”,更道出了一档优质真人秀节目的良苦用心。
  • 幻风林
  • 穹顶之下的骑士

    穹顶之下的骑士

    这并不是讲述一个人的传奇,而是描绘了一群人的故事。科幻与奇幻的交织,过去与未来的因果,或许它不能登峰造极,但是它会给你不同的感觉。ps:本版本简介是为了感谢,(香烟配不上咖啡)这个,第一个说喜欢我书的人。ps2:作者是个错字兽,多多包涵。(要是章节没有修改时限就好了)(:-()
  • 末世之我的妹妹

    末世之我的妹妹

    “恭喜宿主,您被本系统选中,现在开始,你将要肩负起拯救末世所有软妹子的责任,您准备好了吗?”
  • 活色生香

    活色生香

    《活色生香》收入“青春短得不能再穿了”、“1977年的青春”、“为小品默哀”、“崔永元也不过如此”、“周扒皮的老婆变成雪”等文章。
  • 蓝灵界

    蓝灵界

    星际战甲就直接自己在家自己拿在哪就是就是计算机技术
  • Lavender and Old Lace

    Lavender and Old Lace

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。