[
    {
        "id": 206742,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1973",
        "page_number": 19,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "TRANSACTIONS OF THE\n\nCHINA MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY, 1845-6\n\nH. A. RYDINGS*\n\nThe connection between the China Medico-Chirurgical Society and the original China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society has been related elsewhere in the Journal (1). Until recently, however, it was not possible to learn much in Hong Kong about this predecessor to our own Society.\n\nNow the University of Hong Kong Library has obtained a Xerox copy of the Transactions of the China Medico-Chirurgical Society, from the original volume in the Library of the Royal Society of Medicine, one of only two copies recorded in the British Isles (2). This Xerox copy will be kept in the University's Hong Kong Collection. The volume runs to 80 pages, slightly smaller than those of this Journal, and the title page, here reproduced, gives the names of the officers and committee. Two names appear as Secretary because the first, Dr. B. Hobson, had to return to Europe for family reasons during his term of office (3).\n\nNot a great deal has come to light about most of these leaders of the medical profession in the early days of the Colony, though it has been possible to find out what each of them was doing in Hong Kong. Dr. Tucker, the first President, was Surgeon on H.M. Hospital Ship Minden, which arrived in Hong Kong on 7th June, 1843 from Chusan. He died on board the Minden on 10th Sept. 1845, whilst still holding the office of President, in which he was succeeded by Dr. Dill. Francis Dill was Hong Kong's second Colonial Surgeon, appointed to succeed Dr. A. Anderson in 1844 on a date so far unknown, but probably between 7th May and 25th June. He may also possibly be identified with the \"Mr. Dill, surgeon of the 'Atlas'\" mentioned in a letter of Dr. Robert Morrison dated March 19th, 1822 from Canton (4).\n\nThe Society's first Secretary, Dr. Benjamin Hobson, was in charge of the Medical Missionary Society's Hospital, first in Macao,\n\n* Mr. Rydings is Librarian of the University of Hong Kong and has been Councillor and Hon. Librarian of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society since 1965.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 206743,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1973",
        "page_number": 20,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "14\n\nH. A. RYDINGS\n\nbut moved with it to Morrison Hill where it reopened on 1st June, 1843. As already mentioned, he went home in June, 1845. This was because of the illness of his wife, who died on the journey (5). More details of Dr. Hobson's career may be found in a biographical sketch by Dr. K. C. Wong (6). It is interesting to note that prior to his return to China in 1847, Hobson married Mary, daughter of Dr. Robert Morrison, at Bath. Hobson's successor as Secretary, George K. Barton, was a partner with Thomas Hunter in the Victoria Dispensary. This also had premises in Macao, where Hunter was located. James H. Young was the junior partner in the Hongkong Dispensary in Queen's Road, the others being Peter Young (afterwards Colonial Surgeon in succession to Francis Dill on the latter's death in 1846), Samuel Marjoribanks (who was at Canton) and K. M. Kennedy. Dr. Young resigned as Treasurer and from membership in November 1845. Lastly Henry Holgate, according to Eitel, was appointed Colonial Surgeon in August 1841 by Sir Henry Pottinger, but his appointment was subsequently disallowed by the home Government, and his name does not appear in the official list of holders of that office. He presumably remained in Hong Kong in private practice (8).\n\nThese, then, were the men who guided the China Medico-Chirurgical Society during its brief existence. Of the six, Drs. Tucker and Dill died before the end of 1846, and Dr. Hobson had gone back to England, whilst Dr. J. H. Young had resigned.\n\nThe China Medico-Chirurgical Society came into existence at a meeting held at the residence of Dr. Dill on 13th May 1845, attended by eleven \"Medical Gentlemen of Hongkong.\" The objects of the Society were set out as\n\n\"1st—The bringing into more intimate intercourse [of the] Medical brethren in China, for the sake of giving and receiving information on Medical and Surgical subjects;\n\n\"2nd—The formation of a Library, where all the best periodicals and the most valuable standard medical works of the day can be had;\n\n“3rd—The discussion of topics relating more particularly to the diseases prevalent in China, and to the Native Materia Medica.\"\n\nThe annual subscription was $12. The Committee consisting of the three officers and three other members was to be elected half",
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        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
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    },
    {
        "id": 206745,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1973",
        "page_number": 22,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "16\n\nH. A. RYDINGS\n\n6th August 1845. DILL, Francis “A brief account of the nature, causes, symptoms, treatment and morbid appearance of the fevers incident to Europeans in the Island of Hong Kong\" p. 29-41.\n\n7th Oct. 1845. BARTON, George K. “On diseases of the liver as observed amongst Europeans resident in India and China, with remarks upon their comparative infrequency in the latter country\" p. 45-56.\n\n3rd March 1846. BARTON, George K. \"On some cases of varolous and vaccine inoculation in conjunction\" p. 63-66. These papers were each followed by discussions, which are briefly recorded. There are also records of other meetings which consisted mainly of case studies.\n\nIt will be noted that there is a concentration upon Europeans as patients, presumably because hospital facilities (other than the mission ones) were provided principally for the European community, and also because the Chinese would prefer to consult their own doctors. However, there are mentions of Chinese patients on p. 61 and in the second of Dr. Barton's papers. It is appropriate that dysentery should have been the subject of the first paper, delivered by Dr. Little, since this has already been mentioned as the most prevalent disease. The interest in India has also been alluded to, and can easily be understood when one looks at the catalogue of books available in the Society's library (Transactions, p. 78-9): out of 24 periodicals no less than 7 originated in India. Some or all of these had probably been received on an exchange basis. The East India Company apparently first established medical facilities in China, primarily for the benefit of its own personnel, with the appointment of Thomas Arnot as resident surgeon at the factory in Canton in 1758 (13). It was therefore natural for the first medical men in Hong Kong to look to their colleagues in India for advice and exchange of publications.\n\nApart from the clinical studies listed above, another matter of interest is an investigation into the nature of mineral waters from Foochow. On p. 57-8 of the Transactions is transcribed a letter from Rutherford Alcock, H.B.M. Consul at Foo-chow-foo, dated September 13th 1845, to the Secretary of the Society, in which he promises to send samples of two different kinds of hot spring waters, the first odourless, tasteless and about 120°, which Alcock likens to those of Wildbad in the Black Forest; the other sulphurous,",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 206750,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1973",
        "page_number": 27,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "CHINA MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY\n\n21\n\nDuggan and Francis Dill had died (the Dr. Dill mentioned in the last paragraph as present at the meeting on 5th January 1847 was R. Dill), Dr. Hobson was in England, and J. H. Young and Dr. Gilbert had resigned. At least nine members were not resident in Hong Kong, in addition to the two honorary members, the Earl of Auckland and Rutherford Alcock. Several of the remainder were naval or military men who had quite likely been posted elsewhere. In such circumstances it would indeed have been difficult to keep the society going.\n\nThe meetings recorded in the Transactions were held on the following dates:\n\n1845. May 13. Preliminary meeting.\n\nMay 16. Committee meeting.\n\nJune 3. President's introductory address.\n\nJuly 1. Business meeting, followed by Dr. Little's paper.\n\nJuly 8. Special meeting on Dr. Hobson's proposal to establish a medical school.\n\nJuly 15. Committee meeting.\n\nAug. 6. Dr. Dill's paper.\n\nSept. 9.\n\nOct. 7.\n\nNov. 4. Special meeting on a proposed building fund. Dr. Barton's paper on diseases of the liver. Various matters, including Alcock's letter, and clinical discussion.\n\nDec. 2. Letter from the Earl of Auckland, case studies and clinical discussion.\n\n1846. Jan. 6. Dr. McGowan's letter on a Philosophical Society, and discussion of the analysis of the mineral waters from Foochow.\n\nFeb. 6. Case studies by Dr. Dill,\n\nMar. 6. Dr. Barton's paper on Varolous.\n\nApril 7. Clinical discussion.\n\nIn the Friend of China, later meetings were announced for May 5, August 4 and Nov. 3, 1846. Thus the frequency dropped from the initial monthly (plus Committee and special meetings) to quarterly, so the statement in the \"Journal of Proceedings\" regarding the setting up of the \"Philosophical Society of China\" because of the difficulties of obtaining frequent meetings of the earlier society was justified. The successor society, on the other hand, was able to hold monthly meetings during its first year.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
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    },
    {
        "id": 206922,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1973",
        "page_number": 199,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "TRANSACTIONS\n\nOF THE\n\nCHINA-MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL-SOCIETY,\n\nFOR THE YEAR 1945-6.\n\nPRESIDENT.\n\nALFRED TUCKER, Esq.\n\nSECRETARIES.\n\nB. HESSON, Esq., M.B.\n\nGEORGE K. BARTON, Esq.\n\nTREASURER & LIBRARIAN.\n\nJ. H. YOUNG, Esq.\n\nCOMMITTEE.\n\nFRANCIS DILL, Esq., M.D.\n\nGEORGE K. BARTON, Esq.\n\nHENRY HOLGATE, Esq.\n\nVOLUME I\n\nVICTORIA, HONGKONG:\n\nPRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE \"HONGKONG GAZETTE,\"\n\n1\n\n1846.\n\nPlate VIII. The title page of the first Transactions of the China Medico-Chirurgical Society. 1846.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 206973,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1974",
        "page_number": 44,
        "title": "RAS-1974",
        "content_text": "38 \n\nH. J. LETHBRIDGE \n\nsize—we hear the gong, and set off along its passages into the dining room. It is a regular hall, 50 or 60 yards long. The far side is broken by a row of French windows opening on to the stone verandah, which looks out over the harbour. A double row of great white punkahs, down the whole length of the place, swing slowly. The bright blazing sunshine outside is tempered by green blinds, let down over the arches of the verandah. Thirty or forty Chinese \"boys\" in complete and flowing white, keep up a perpetual come and go in their attendance on the tables. These suitably imposing surroundings became the setting for Mayréna's Hong Kong adventure.\n\nMayréna, the China Mail animadverted, ‘from an ardent pietist became a man of the world... He became an admirer of the opera and with royal prodigality distributed tickets to his friends'. The 'Queen' with her dames d'honneur were welcomed frequently at the Hotel, the 'Queen' arriving in a chair with four bearers, draped in regal sashes. Hong Kong, of course, was electrified by Mayréna's theatrical coups; but money was not forthcoming from the amused public. J.J. Francis, for example, was almost persuaded to finance a company for the working of the new kingdom but at the last moment backed out; other astute European businessmen refused to invest. But the King continued to make friends, to enchant his visitors, and to hold nightly revels in the public rooms and tap-rooms of the Hotel. After all, Mayréna, a great showman, provided splendid entertainment for a dull little Colony, accustomed to a stale diet of 'At Homes' and stodgy dinner-parties.\n\nUnluckily, Mayréna's waking hours were dogged by one Afong, a Chinese shopkeeper from Haiphong, who had supplied a large number of uniforms for the King's warrior hosts and had come to Hong Kong to present his bill. The jaunty Mayréna at first ‘gave it out that the Chinaman was a member of a syndicate that wished to advance him money; but as this story would hardly hold for long, the Chinaman was finally appeased'. It soon became clear, then, that Mayréna was not a man of substance, that his schemes were insubstantial, and that he was simply an amusing adventurer, good for a convivial debauch but hardly a sound partner in any serious business venture.\n\nIt was, however, the editor of the China Mail, George Murray Bain, who really brought about Mayréna's downfall by a systema-",
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        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077",
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