Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 691

1842.

Report of the Medical Missionary Society.

669

continuance of the same treatment as before, the arm gradually re- assumed its quiescent state, fever subsided, and the arm dressed but once a day. The poultices were dispensed with, and the patient al- lowed a more nourishing diet. Matter continued to discharge from the sinuses, which gradually got thinner and thinner till it became pure synovia; one had direct communication with the joint, the other with the integuments around. The latter soon closed, but the former remained open until within a week of his discharge. It was impossible to exert any pressure upon the head of the radius without endangering the skin which covered it, it was therefore allowed to remain in its position. For a month after admission the fractured bones were still loose, and a small part of the ulna at its middle half being exposed, was cut off, as its ragged edges wounded the skin. The fractured extremities ultimately united, and at the end of two and a half months after his admission, he was discharged with a partial use of the elbow-joint, and probably will erclong possess some power of rotating the hand. On more than one occasion there seemed no other prospect of saving his life than by amputation; and 1 attribute the cure to the healthy lymphatic temperament of the individual, and the perfect rest of the arm.

In drawing this report to a close, I cannot forbear mentioning that it has been an object to keep constantly in view the two-fold object of the Society, viz., to "Heal the sick, and to say to them that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you," as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded his disciples. The moral improvement of the patients has not been such as could be desired, but it has not al- together been neglected. Suitable portions of holy Writ, and select tracts, have been freely distributed, especially to the in-patients, who have for the most part read them with care; and to whom frequent occasions have been improved to explain the nature and importance of the truths they teach; and what is said to them of the vanity and wickedness of idolatry, and the holy doctrines of the Bible, if not believed, have at least been received with attention and respect. The native assistants who are in training to practice ultimately upon their own countrymen, with the light which the sciences of the west afford to them, will it is devoutly hoped, prove useful characters in this new era of China's political history. And every friend to the advancement of science and Christianity in this land, has now am- ple opportunity to assist in enlightening and benefiting the largest and most ancient kingdom in the world.