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Most items from the Estate of the late Dr.
Harvey J. Howard
Eye Doctor to the Last Emperor inside the Forbidden City
< Photo of P'u Yi wearing eye glasses prescribed by Dr
Howard.
Twilight in The Forbidden City by
Reginald Fleming Johnston - 4th edition
with preface by the Emperor
From Pages 259 and 260 - November 7, 1921, I was able to write to
Professor Harvey J. Howard, the distinguished American head of
the department of Ophthalmology in the Peking Union Medical College
and invite him to pay a professional visit to the Forbidden
City. ........... The examination was conducted on November 8, 1921, by Dr Howard
and his Chinese assistant. The report was to the
effect that his majesty had severe progressive myopia and other
ocular defects, that glasses, which they duly prescribed, must be
worn, and that the state of his eyes were such that it would be
necessary to have another examination in a years time to ascertain
whether the trouble had been checked. They were so astonished that
so grave a matter had been neglected for so many years, and Dr
Howard, at least, was almost incredulous when I told him of the
opposition which had been raised in the palace to anything being
done at all. The difference which the glasses made to the Emperor's
comfort and general well being was very great.. Before long, indeed,
he became so inordinately devoted to his spectacles that he refused
to be parted from them for a moment, even for the purpose of being
photographed or having is portrait
painted...................................
It may be worth adding that when the hospital authorities refused to
accept a fee for the services rendered to the Emperor, the imperial
household was ordered by his majesty to send the hospital a donation
of $1000. It should also be mentioned that Dr. Howard subsequently
added to his laurels by achieving the distinction (less common then
than it became later) of being kidnapped and held to ransom by
bandits in Manchuria.
The book is the record of Johnston's time spent in Beijing between
1919 and 1924, where he served as the private tutor to Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the
last Emperor of China. As a foreigner, Johnston had unprecedented access to the imperial
palace. It explores Johnston's constant battle with the reactionary
palace eunuchs, as best exemplified by the fight over the emperor's
glasses (without which Pu-Yi arguably would have lost eyesight
before long).
Book Reference Here
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Brief Biography of Dr. Harvey J. Howard - After a stint as a Captain in the U.S.
Army during WWI, where he developed the Howard-Dolman depth
perception test for aviators, Dr. Howard’s interests led
him back to China in 1917 as the head of the Department of
Ophthalmology at Union Medical College in Peking (now Beijing),
an appointment that lasted
until 1927. Here Dr. Howard conducted research on epithelial
cells and organized a teaching program. He also served as the ophthalmologist to P'u
Yi, the boy emperor in the Forbidden City, from 1921 to 1924.
During Dr. Howard’s tenure at Peking,
China he was kidnapped by Manchurian bandits in 1926 and held
for $100,000 ransom. He was held for ten weeks. He escaped largely due
to his ability to speak fluent Chinese and by treating
the kidnappers’
medical ailments which included their infected eye conditions. Dr. Howard wrote
Ten Weeks
with Chinese Bandits, an accounting of his captivity.
The book was translated into 7 languages and went through
8 printings.
More Biography of Dr Howard Here |
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