RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 20 H. A. RYDINGS other pests took their toll, the collection of the Medico-Chirurgical Society gradually became unwanted and unusable. Some remarks should be made on the incorporation of the Society into "the Asiatic Society of China" which soon became the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (21). First, why was such a step necessary, and second, to what extent did members of the former Society opt for membership of the new? In the account of the origin of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1) it is stated that the Medico-Chirurgical Society "in accord with the contemporary spirit of inquiry and the enthusiasm for better knowledge of Asia in general and China in particular, had contemplated setting up a Philosophical Society." Part of this story is recorded in the Transactions, p. 62-63. Dr. McGowan of Ningpo wrote a letter which was read at a meeting of the Society on 6th January 1846, "suggesting the addition of a scientific branch of this Society; or the formation of a Philosophical Society having a Medical Section. The matter having been briefly discussed it was the unanimous opinion of the members present... that the discussion of other scientific subjects should be left to other Bodies, of which members could avail themselves. ** However, this resolve to go it alone was not to be achieved. It is stated in the "Journal of Proceedings" regarding the setting up of the "Philosophical Society of China" (afterwards the China Branch of the R.A.S.) that "the number of members of a scientific body called the 'China Medico-Chirurgical Society' had been gradually diminishing, so as to render it difficult to obtain any meetings except at irregular and frequently long intervals" (22). At the preliminary meeting held on 5th January 1847 there were eight doctors present, namely Drs. Balfour, Young, Barton, Dill, Harland, Bankier, Grant and Fletcher. Only four of these can be positively identified on the membership list of the Medico-Chirurgical Society (Transactions, p. 78), which includes 38 names—though of course others may have joined in the intervening year—but it appears that these four and possibly others had formed a splinter group sympathetic to those who favoured the formation of a "Philosophical Society", in the older meaning of the phrase. There seems little doubt that the activities of the Medico-Chirurgical Society were on the wane, probably due to the death or departure of some of the more active members. Drs. Tucker, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 22 H. A. RYDINGS We began this review of the China Medico-Chirurgical Society with some account of those who were officers during the first year of its existence. It is therefore appropriate to finish with a look at the office-bearers of the 'Philosophical Society of China”, and to note how many of them had been associated with the former society. The original office-bearers (22) were: President Major H. P. Burn Vice-Presidents Dr. Kennedy Council Dr. Balfour A. Shortrede J. C. Bowring General Secretary W. F. Bryan Treasurer Curator Dr. Young C. T. Watkins Dr. Harland Dr. Barton There are five doctors on this list, of whom three are known to have been members of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, namely Drs. Kennedy, Balfour and Barton. The Dr. Young was probably Peter Young, the Colonial Surgeon, and not J. H. Young, who had been Secretary of the Medico-Chirurgical Society but had resigned. Dr. W. A. Harland, who read a paper on "The Chinese system of human anatomy and physiology" (23) at the meetings in September and October 1847, was later to become the Society's "devoted Secretary" (24), but is not included in the membership list of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, though he may have joined it after the list was compiled. A new set of office-bearers was appointed with the first change of name of the Society (21) and adoption of a constitution on 19th January 1847, with His Excellency Sir John F. Davis, Bart., F.R.S. as President: but that is another story. NOTES 1 [J. R. Jones] in JHKBRAS, v. 1, 1961, p. 1. 2 There are three copies recorded in libraries in the U.S.A., i.e. the National Library of Medicine at Washington; the Boston Medical Library; and the Library of the New York Academy of Medicine. 3 Trans. China Med. Chir. Soc., v. 1, 1845-46, p. 28. 4 Memoirs of the life and labours of Robert Morrison, comp. by his widow, London, 1839, v. 2, p. 148. 5 Chinese repository, v. 16, 1847, p. 187-9. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n Fisher, W M : Dr E J Stuckey and the Chinese Hospital at Noyelles-sur-Mer. A biographical fragment of World War I : unpublished: BA Hons. Thesis at Monash University: 1984 Griffin, NJ: The Use of Chinese Labour by the British Army : PhD thesis, University of Oklahoma : 1973 - held by the Imperial War Museum, London : Britain's Chinese Labour Corps in World War 1: Military Affairs : vol.XXXX No. 3 [Oct 1976] Jones, A. Philip: Britain's Search for Chinese Co-operation in the First World War : Garland Publishing Inc.: New York and London: 1986 Klein, Daryl Loisel, M : : La Chine de l'Empire Celeste [Chine des Han] en Terre Française - Picardie: 1995 : With the Chinks: Bodley Head: ca. 1918 Lucas, C : The Empire at War Maxwell, J : The Chinese Labour Corps: A précis of their participation in World War: Unpublished Mellor, Norman: With the Chinese Labour Corps - France 1918 Paton, Alec : Occasional Gunfire, Private War Diary of a Siege Gunner: Bishop-Laggett Publishing: London: 1998 Putkowski, J: British Army Mutineers 1914-1922 : Francis Boutle Publishers: 1998 Stevens, Keith : British Chinese Labour Corps Labourers Buried in England Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society: Vol. 29: 1989 Summerskill, M: China on the Western Front: pub by Michael Summerskill ================================================================================