By "Sino Peter the Great, the reorganizer of ntetings of the Russian Medical So-
Russia, could also be called the father ciety in Paris which boasts many of Russian medicine, There did] exist a Pharmaceutic Department be-embers and has Prof. Agadjaniantz as Chairman. In some countries fore his time, but this could not be}
Russian doctors had to pass special alled a school for training doctors; aminations, often embracing the that most of the doctors in Russia whole medical course, before being were.loreigners from Europe. But even they were small in number, In 707 Emperor Peter founded the first military hospital in Moscow, appointing as head physician the then mous Dutch doctor N. Bidlow. In foreign doctors were branted permission to enter Russia, but before starting a practice the had to pass an examination given by the court doctor, Lawrence Blumenfrost, later the first president of the} Russian Academy of Sciences, an Institution likewise founded by Peter ihe Great. The event leading to its bunding was Peter's visit to given, the right to conduct a practice, while' in others they can work only among Russians, Shanghai has a large number of Russian doctors, who ave established a practice not only nang their compatriots but among foreigners and Chinese as well Waiting Rooms Always Full In connection with this it would be interesting to raise the questién—what are the major sicknesses afflicting Russian emigrants, and are there any specifically "emigrant" ills? Doctors are not a talkative tribe ind have an ingrained dislike for inter-
Paris Academy, which elected Russian Tsar to membership. Year after year the Paris Academy sent Peter its annals. and he, faithful to views, but it may be concluded f a number of conversations that wh the older generation suffers considerably from illnesses, nature has his duties as member-academician, not yet evolved any distinctly Rus-replied with careful punctuality. To sian ailment. While indifferent health this day a letter written by Peter in the Latin, with a then new map of the Caspian treasured in Paris.
When the, Tsar terminated his wa: ith Sweden. he decided to found is proportionately more frequent among emigrants than among other reigners living under more normal conditions, this is explained by the physical and psyclologiaa! fatigue and wear at of the the Petersburg Academy. assigning te it the annual subsidy of $25,000— huge sum in those days, But in the beginning of 1725 he died from he effects of a cold contracted while essen:
drowning persons from the ya and the Academy was opened by his wife and successor, Catherine I. Medicine, however, had alwa: interested Peter intensely. F specially drawn to anatomy and surgery. With the former he was "rst acquainted in Holland in 1698, when he visited the operating theatres of Leiden and Amsterdam.
Here he completed an anatomy coarse with the renowned, scientist Miche, from whom he later acquired the famous anatomical collection which to this day is one of the at-fractions of the Natural History Detment of the Academy of Science: n Leningrad. Historians assert that e Tsar himself had no small knowdge of medicine, showing most aptitude in the feld of surgery. Usually he carried about with him two seis—one of mathematical instru-monte and the other of surgical. On al occasions he even operated in person. His faith in the curative value of surgical operations gave him the chance, while in Paris in 1717, of helping a blind Russian soldier.
Un Peter's insistence an operation—held extremely complicated and danerous in those days—of removing cunism which is met more ofo Jamong them, and partly by the fact [ihat the ills that fosh is heir t are multiplied with age. The hea begins to skip beats, pain gnaws in the region of the liver. the lungs ar in an imperfect condition, and ulcers and catarrhs choose this moment to their appearance. These discomforts prey on others too, especial ly in this climate. but among Rus s they are made somewhat more ute due to the laters' expone in the years of the War and Revolution. At any rate, the waiting-rooms of Russian doctors always full Russian physicians believe.in the principle that "there are no sick nesses—there are only the sick," and this principle has a comforting effect on the patient himself, who is resolved that his case is unique precedented, and wanting treatment. A Russian doctor takes this to consideration, and. examining. with minute care, enlightens him on the causes of the illness and even offers comfort. All the more so because, whatever criticism may be levelled against medicine, its progress during the past hundred years has exceeded many times over Il that was known to doctors previously. while its achievements of the last 25 years are no less imposing than those of the three-quarters of a century the cataracts from the eyes was performed on the soldier by the well-known eye specialist Vaulgusen. The soldier's sight was restored, anc Peter, overjoyed by this success, sen Vaulgusen several pupils Women pera Having opened jh Moscow the first military hospital In all Russia, Peter then added to it a surgical school, Russian Legal Rights The question of the legal rights of Russian emigrants in Shanghai as been time and again raised in
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.