Astronomical Chronology, the Jesuit China Mission, and Enlightenment History.

This article examines the use of astronomical chronology in Jesuit and secular works of history between the mid-seventeenth and mid-eighteenth centuries. It suggests that the highly visible adoption of astronomical records in historical scholarship in Enlightenment Europe by Nicolas Fréret and Voltaire was entangled with debates about Chinese chronology, translated by Jesuit missionaries. The article argues that the missionary Martino Martini's experience of the Manchu conquest of China was crucial in shaping his conception of history as a discipline. Political events that unfolded in seventeenth-century China had a marked effect on discussions about emergent world history in eighteenth-century Europe.

Missions, Humanitarianism, and the Evolution of Modern Global Surgery.

Modern global surgery, which aims to provide improved and equitable surgical care worldwide, is a product of centuries of international care initiatives, some borne out of religious traditions, dating back to the first millennium. The first hospitals (xenodochia) were established in the 4th and 5th centuries CE by the early Christian church. Early "missions," a term introduced by Jesuit Christians in the 16th century to refer to the institutionalized expansion of faith, included medical care. Formalized Muslim humanitarian medical care was marked by organizations like the Aga Khan Foundation and the Islamic Association of North America in the 20th century. Secular medical humanitarian programs developed in the 19th century, notably with the creation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (1863) and the League of Nations Health Organization (1920) (which later became the World Health Organization [1946]). World War II catalyzed another proliferation of nongovernmental organizations, epitomized by the quintessential humanitarian health provider, Médecins Sans Frontières (1971). "Global health" as an academic endeavor encompassing education, service, and research began as an outgrowth of departments of tropical medicine and international health. The American College of Surgeons brought a surgical focus to global health beginning in the 1980s. Providing medical care in distant countries has a long tradition that parallels broad themes in history: faith, imperialism, humanitarianism, education, and service. Surgery as a focus of academic global health is a recent development that continues to gain traction.

The Work of Oliver R. Avison in Comparison to that of Albert Schweitzer from a Post-Colonial Perspective.

Compared to Nobel Prize Laureate Albert Schweitzer, Oliver R. Avison is not well known. Seeking to achieve more international recognition for Avison, this article elaborates on Avison's work with hospital and educational institutions from a post-colonial perspective. Schweitzer and Avison each wrote their memoires in an autobiographical style, and this article deals primarily with those writings, which are published under the titles Out of My Life and Thought by Schweitzer and The Land of the Morning Calm by Avison. Schweitzer and Avison were contemporaries and worked in medical service in the colonial period. Thus, they have certain commonalities. However, this article will elaborate on how Avison approached his mission differently in order to promote sustainability, equality and subjectivity in his work. Avison carried out more than mere charity work, he also accomplished sustainable development of his hospital, as well as its affiliated educational institution. The current circumstances of Severance Hospital and Yonsei University in Korea, compared to that of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, are clear evidence of this. Avison's extraordinary missionary work did not reflect the more negative side effects of colonial heritage intertwined with mission work in the 19th Century. Avison's case should be better known as a model of ecumenical mission towards sustainable development.

Exchange of medicinal plant information in California missions.

BACKGROUND: Missions were established in California in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to convert Native Americans to Christianity and enculturate them into a class of laborers for Californios (Spanish/Mexican settler). The concentration of large numbers of Native Americans at the Missions, along with the introduction of European diseases, led to serious disease problems. Medicinal supplies brought to California by the missionaries were limited in quantity. This situation resulted in an opportunity for the sharing of knowledge of medicinal plants between the Native Americans and the Mission priests. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which such sharing of knowledge took place and to understand factors that may have influenced the sharing of medicinal knowledge. The study also examines the sharing of medicinal knowledge between the Native Americans and the Californios following the demise of the California Missions. METHODS: Two methods were employed in the study: (1) a comparison of lists of medicinal plants used by various groups (e.g., Native American, Mission priests, Californios) prior to, during, and after the Mission period and (2) a close reading of diaries, reports, and books written by first-hand observers and modern authorities to find accounts of and identify factors influencing the exchange of medicinal information. RESULTS: A comparison of the lists of medicinal plants use by various groups indicated that only a small percentage of medicinal plants were shared by two or more groups. For example, none of the 265 taxa of species used by the Native Americans in pre-Mission times were imported into Spain for medicinal use and only 16 taxa were reported to have been used at the Missions. A larger sharing of information of medicinal plants took place in the post-Mission period when Native Americans were dispersed from the Missions and worked as laborers on the ranches of the Californios. CONCLUSIONS: Sharing of information concerning medicinal plants did occur during the Mission period, but the number of documented species was limited. A number of possible factors discouraged this exchange. These include (1) imbalance of power between the priests and the Native Americans, (2) suppression of indigenous knowledge and medical practices by the Mission priests, (3) language barriers, (4) reduction of availability of medicinal herbs around the Mission due to introduced agricultural practices, (5) desire to protect knowledge of medicinal herbs by Native American shaman, (6) administrative structure at the Missions which left little time for direct interaction between the priests and individual Native Americans, (7) loss of knowledge of herbal medicine by the Native Americans over time at the Missions, and (8) limited transportation opportunities for reciprocal the shipment of medicinal plants between California and Spain. Three possible factors were identified that contributed to a greater sharing of information between the Native Americans and the Californios in the post-Mission period. These were (1) more one-to-one interactions between the Californios and the Native Americans, (2) many of the Californios were mestizos whose mothers or grandmothers were Native Americans, and (3) lack of pressure on the part of the Californios to suppress Native American beliefs and medicinal practices.

Missionaries, measles, and manuscripts: revisiting the Whitman tragedy.

The missionaries Marcus Whitman, a doctor, and Narcissa Whitman, his wife, and twelve other members of the Waiilatpu Mission were murdered in November 1847 by a small contingent of the Cayuse Indians in the Oregon Territory. The murders became known as the "Whitman Massacre." The authors examine the historical record, including archived correspondence held at the Yale University Libraries and elsewhere, for evidence of what motivated the killings and demonstrate that there were two valid perspectives, Cayuse and white. Hence, the event is better termed the "Whitman Tragedy." A crucial component, a highly lethal measles epidemic, has been called the spark that lit the fuse of the tragedy.

Medical missionaries in China: John Glasgow Kerr (1824-1901) and cutting for the stone.

With the introduction of Western medicine into China by Anglo-American medical missionaries in the early 19th century, Reverend Dr Peter Parker at the Canton Ophthalmic Hospital pioneered surgical operations in Chinese patients. The subsequent development of surgery for bladder stones at this institute by Parker's successor Dr John Kerr and colleagues is described.

[Schofield and the first spread of western medicine in Shanxi].

After the Second Opium War, the signing of the Tientsin Treaty and the Peking Treaty legitimized the missionary activities and authorized the missionary the rights to enter inland China for propagating their religious doctrines. In the late 1870s, the"The extraordinary famine of the Ding Wu year"and the subsequent epidemic provided the opportunity for missionaries to enter Shanxi. Dr. Schofield, sent by the China Inland Mission, arrived in Taiyuan in 1880, set up clinics and practised there. He died of typhus after treating a typhus patient in the summer of 1883. Schofield stayed and practised in Taiyuan for 2 years and 8 months. Later, the China Inland Mission and other missionaries donated to establish a Shanxi's first western medicine Hospital to commemorate Schofield. The medical activities of Dr. Schofield enlightened and promoted the Shanxi people's understanding of western medicine.

Venezuela's melting pot: 1500-1800 / O melting pot venezuelano: 1500-1800 / El melting pot venezolano 1500-1800

Not much is known about the demography of the native population of Venezuela in Colonial times. Until mid-17th century, some factual information may be gained from the narratives of the first conquistadores, missionaries and colonists, as well as of authors writing in later times of the Colony, but with access to original sources. After mid-17th century, some quantitative information of demographic relevance was collected by the Jesuit, Capuchin and Franciscan missionaries and, in the last decades of the 18th century, by the colonial administration and the religious authorities. The native population declined, from between 200,000 and 500,000 inhabitants at contact (guesstimates of modern authors) to perhaps 120,000 in 1800, according to Humboldt's estimate. It is possible that the initial decline became steeper after the first smallpox pandemic of the 1580s and continued, at a slower pace, until the Independence. As in other regions of South America, marriage was early and almost universal, and the high ratio of births to deaths seems to indicate a high potential for growth, interrupted by frequent mortality crisis. A competing cause of the decline of the natives was the process of mestizaje that intensified with the increase of the population of European and African origin.

Pouco se sabe sobre a demografia da população nativa da Venezuela dos tempos coloniais. Até meados do século XVII, algumas informações factuais podem ser obtidas por meio das narrativas dos primeiros conquistadores, missionários e colonizadores, assim como de autores 221 Bacci, M.L. Venezuela's melting pot: 1500-1800 R. bras. Est. Pop., Belo Horizonte, v.34, n.2, p.199-221, maio/ago. 2017 do final do período colonial com acesso a fontes de documentos originais. Até meados do século XVII, alguma informação quantitativa foi coletada pelos missionários jesuítas, capuchinos e franciscanos e, na última década do século XVII, pela administração colonial e pelas autoridades religiosas. A população nativa, que era de 200.000 a 500.000 habitantes (estimativas de autores modernos), diminuiu para talvez 120.000 em 1800, de acordo com a estimativa de Hambold. É possível que o declínio inicial tenha se tornado mais acentuado após a primeira pandemia de varíola de 1580 e tenha continuado, em um ritmo mais lento, até a Independência. Como em outras regiões da América Latina, os casamentos eram precoces e quase universais, e a elevada taxa de nascimentos sobre mortes parece indicar um alto potencial de crescimento, interrompido pelas frequentes crises de mortalidade. Uma causa competitiva para o declínio da população nativa foi o processo de mestiçagem intensificado com o aumento da população de origem europeia e africana.

Nuestro conocimiento sobre la demografia de la población autoctóna de Venezuela durante la Colonia es limitado. Hasta la mitad del siglo XVII, las narraciones de los primeros conquistadores, de los misioneros y de los funcionarios ofrecen algunas escasa información y lo mismo puede decirse de algunos autores que escribieron en tiempos posteriores con acceso a fuentes originales. Después de la mitad del siglo XVII, la información de tipo cuantitativo se debe a los misioneros capuchinos, jesuitas y franciscanos, y, en las últimas décadas del siglo XVIII, a la administración de la Colonia y a la Iglesia. Algunos autores contemporáneos estiman la población autóctona al contacto entre 200.000 y 500.000 habitantes, que se redujo a 120.000 en 1800, según las evaluaciones de Humboldt. Es posibe que el declive inicial se haya accelerado por causa de la primera pandemia de viruela en la década de 1580, y que haya continuado a un ritmo más lento hasta la independencia. Como en otras poblaciones de América del Sur, los nativos de Venezuela se casaban muy temprano, y muy pocos permanecían solteros, además de que la razón muy alta entre nacimientos y defunciones indica un potencial de crecimiento demográfico muy elevado, interrumpido por frecuentes crisis de mortalidad. Una concausa del declive demográfico de la población autóctona fue seguramente el proceso de mestizaje, muy acelerado como consecuencia del crecimiento de las poblaciones de origen europeo y africano.

Dr John Dickinson (1832-1863): The man behind the bird.

The surgeon/naturalists Dr John Kirk, Dr Charles Meller and Dr John Dickinson, associated with the Zambezi Expedition (1857-1864) under the leadership of Dr David Livingstone are, like him, credited with the discovery of new species' of birds. A raptor, Falco dickinsoni, is named after Dr John Dickinson. Dickinson, born in the north east of England, trained in medicine in Newcastle upon Tyne. He volunteered to join the Universities' Mission to Central Africa and arrived as part of a second group to join Bishop Frederick Mackenzie, then attempting to build a Mission in Magomero, on the Shire Mountain Plateau in modern Malawi. Livingstone and Mackenzie had sown the seeds of disaster for the first UMCA venture while Dickinson was on his way to Central Africa, and his one meeting with Livingstone was trigger to a chain of events that threatened the whole expedition. Shortly after Dickinson's arrival in Magomero, Bishop Mackenzie and a fellow traveller, Reverend Henry de Wint Burrup, died. Magomero was abandoned and the remaining missionaries retrenched in Chibisa's Village on the River Shire. There, where Dickinson did most of his bird collecting, on 17 March 1863, he died of blackwater fever. Livingstone and Kirk were present at the burial. A marble cross at Chikwawa in Malawi is marker to the event that occurred on the day of Dr John Dickinson's 32nd birthday.

[Foreign firms and dissemination of western medicine in China before the Opium War].

From the beginning of the 19th century to the Opium War, by taking the advantages of free entering and departing China, and to protect themselves, the foreign firms introduced vaccination technique into China. This is the beginning of the introduction of western medicine to China. After 1807, following the arrival of protestant missionaries, foreign firms became the stronghold for the missionaries to conceal their missionary status so as to propagate the principles of Christianity. With the aid of the business firms employee's legal identity, the missionaries started their activities of delivering western medicines and practices. Later, the business firms gained commercial profits through the subsidizing medical services and infiltration. Although western medicine objectively improved the medical conditions in China and promoted the modernization of Chinese health career, but it cast an important aspect of western aggression against China at the same time.

Medical missionaries to China: the antecedents.

Notwithstanding the traditional belief that disciples of Jesus Christ introduced Christianity into China, conclusive evidence showed that it was the Nestorian missionaries who entered China in AD 635. Alongside commercial contacts between the West and China during the prosperous T'ang dynasty (618-906), trepanation, bloodletting and the universal antidote theriac were introduced from the Byzantium Empire. Nestorian Christians built churches throughout China and offered some form of medical services. During the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty (1260-1368), foreign physicians were present in the Royal Court; the most famous was the astronomer, linguist and physician Ai-hsieh (Isaiah), Head of the Imperial Medical Bureau. With the fall of this dynasty, Christianity, being primarily the faith of a foreign community, naturally fell into oblivion. It was not until the sixteenth-century's Age of Discovery when a safe sea route to China was found that a new phase of Christian missionaries began.

Healthcare and warfare. Medical space, mission and apartheid in twentieth century northern Namibia.

In the year 1966, the first government hospital, Oshakati hospital, was inaugurated in northern South-West Africa. It was constructed by the apartheid regime of South Africa which was occupying the territory. Prior to this inauguration, Finnish missionaries had, for 65 years, provided healthcare to the indigenous people in a number of healthcare facilities of which Onandjokwe hospital was the most important. This article discusses these two agents' ideological standpoints. The same year, the war between the South-West African guerrillas and the South African state started, and continued up to 1988. The two hospitals became involved in the war; Oshakati hospital as a part of the South African war machinery, and Onandjokwe hospital as a 'terrorist hospital' in the eyes of the South Africans. The missionary Onandjokwe hospital was linked to the Lutheran church in South-West Africa, which became one of the main critics of the apartheid system early in the liberation war. Warfare and healthcare became intertwined with apartheid policies and aggression, materialised by healthcare provision based on strategic rationales rather than the people's healthcare needs. When the Namibian state took over a ruined healthcare system in 1990, the two hospitals were hubs in a healthcare landscape shaped by missionary ambitions, war and apartheid logic.