9 Doctors & God

Francis John Halford

Published by University of Hawaii Press 1954

9 Doctors & God

Francis John Halford
Illustrator: Keichi Kimura

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824884734

Overview
Contents

About this book

A doctor presents a lively account of nineteenth-century New Englanders who sailed upon a six-months voyage around the Horn as medical missionaries to the inhabitants of subtropical Hawaii. With them they took brides who had been strangers to them only weeks before. Stubbornly clinging to temperate-zone clothing, food, and traditions, these “parlor-raised Priscillas” faced mountainous household tasks. Meantime their husbands crossed treacherous channels and threaded perilous mountain trails to deliver missionary babies, to fight leprosy and smallpox, and to try to save the natives from the common cold and other newly introduced disease against which they had had no opportunity to build up a resistance.

The resentment of sailors and whaling captains at introduction of the Decalogue, the distrust of kings and chiefs, the jealousy of native medical practitioners—these were some of the obstacles which beset the missionary doctors. Relying upon bleedings, blisterings, purges, and emetics, they practiced in a day when anesthetics, antisepsis, and abdominal surgery were unknown. Theirs was a record of gallant dedication in the face of almost insuperable odds.

But this book is far more than a record of the hardships and triumphs of missionary physicians. It is an account of a critical era of rapid change within an island community struggling to survive the sudden impact of Western civilization.

9 Doctors and God is based largely upon the personal letters and private journals of the doctors and their wives—relatively obscure and highly fruitful sources of first-hand information. The result is a rare combination of scholarly research and spirited presentation—a splendid contribution to the annals of an eventful period of transition in Hawaii and America.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Editor's Preface Thomas Nickerson Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Photographs Publicly Available Download PDF	X
Foreword Nils P. Larsen Publicly Available Download PDF	XI
Part 1. Hawaii's First Physician
Chapter I. God and Native Medicine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Chapter II. Thomas Holman, Pioneer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
Chapter III. Ardent Spirits Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
Chapter IV. Whitening for Harvest Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Chapter V. Excommunication Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
Part 2. The Other Eight
Chapter VI. The Stork and Abraham Blatchely Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
CHAPTER VII. Gerrit Judd, King's Counsellor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
CHAPTER VIII. Dwight Baldwin, Doctor-Dominie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
CHAPTER IX. Versatile Alonzo Chapin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
CHAPTER X. Thomas Lafon, Abolitionist Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
CHAPTER XI. Naturalist Seth Andrews Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	168
CHAPTER XII. James Smith, Kauka of Koloa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
CHAPTER XIII. C. H. Wetmore, Herbs and Simples Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
PART 3. The Four Who Stayed
CHAPTER XIV. Smallpox and Leprosy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	210
CHAPTER XV. Planning for Posterity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
CHAPTER XVI. The Elegant Eighties Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
CHAPTER XVII. The Last of the Nine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	264
Appendix A. Excerpts from CLIMATE AND DISEASES OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS Alonzo Chapin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Appendix B. Excerpts from THE UTILITY OF THE BANDAGE Thomas Lafon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
Appendix C. NOTES ON NONMISSIONARY DOCTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
Appendix D. CHRONOLOGY OF MEDICAL EVENTS IN HAWAII, 1778–1899 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	290
Appendix E. POPULATION OF HAWAII Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
Appendix F. GLOSSARY OF HAWAIIAN WORDS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	296
Appendix G. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Copyright year: 1954
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 320

eBook

Published: May 25, 2021
ISBN: 9780824884734