JOSEPH P. COCHRAN, M.D.

widely established reputation for professional skill, and his strong hold upon the confidence and affections of all classes of the Persian people, gave him a distinction that caused his death in August last to appear as a most serious blow to missionary work. The tributes to the memory of this "beloved physician," coming from many ranks and conditions of men in Persia and elsewhere, leave no doubt that the opinion of the British Consul General in Tabriz, that in him we have lost "an extraordinary man," is the well-nigh universal conviction of the great masses of Persians to whom Dr. Cochran was known. Christians and Moslems, natives

and foreigners, members of the imperial court at Teheran, and high officials, with singular unanimity recognized their deceased friend as a man far above the ordinary rank. Some spoke of him in Persian phrase as "the unique man," and others as "just one bit of love." Through his widely recognized elevation of character, along with his accomplishments in the languages and etiquette of the country, and more than all by his conscientious devotion to his calling as a messenger of Christian truth, Dr. Cochran has added greatly to the honor of the Christian name and has enlarged the influence of the Christian faith in Persia and surrounding lands.

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Joseph Cochran was born of devoted missionary parents in Persia in 1855, and in his younger boyhood went to America to carry on his studies. After completing scienmedical courses, he returned, in 1878, to his native soil to engage in medical missionary service. He soon showed himself to be a well-equipped physician and surgeon, a young man of clear judgment, with a sincere attachment to the people of the land.

Two years later, through the generosity of friends in the Westminister Presbyterian Church, of Buffalo, N. Y., the foundations of Westminister Hospital were laid in Urumia. The history of this instition would be a professional biography of Dr. Cochran himself. Here

unfolded and ripened his rare skill in the treatment of disease and the handling of the surgeon's knife, his alert judgment, his accurate knowledge of men, advancing him in reputation to a degree seldom attained by foreigners in this strange land. His success was the more astonishing, as for a long time he did not have any competent medical assistance or counsel. In the absence of any one to supply the lack of his own modest pen, the world will never know of his numberless remarkable surgical achieve

ments.

The necessarily small financial resources of this humble missionary hospital caused Dr. Cochran's executive ability to be put to severe tests to make his balance-sheets square from year to year. In progress of time, however, the doctor's admiring friends in Buffalo supplied one convenience after another, until the hospital's equipment was the best in the land. It came to be known far and wide, in Persia and without. Men in remote regions heard of the wonderful doctor and his charitable retreat for the sick, and came at great pains to its doors begging for help. There were among them men and women of many creeds and nationalities from the distant parts of Persia, from the plains of the Tigris, from the Caucasus. And when they returned to their homes it was to scatter far and wide the story of the amazing benevolence which they had experienced and the unheard-of skill of the Christian "Hakim Sahib," as the Persians call the foreign doctor.

Early last summer a certain mili

tary officer from a town some six days distant from Urumia had been a patient at the hospital for a number of weeks. Two Christian preachers passing through that town, which was inhabited by the most bigoted Moslems, found him. a warm friend in time of need. The general gave these preachers of the Gospel so hearty a welcome and praised their friend, the "Hakim Sahib," so loudly that the suspicious citizens of the place also united to show the evangelists much kindness. It has become almost an equivalent of a safe-conduct through disturbed or hostile regions for men to announce themselves as the men of the "Hakim Sahib."

In the fall of the year 1880, when the hospital was still incomplete, the Kurdish invasion under the famous Sheik Obeid Ullah occurred, and brought conspicuously to notice some of the more sterling traits of Dr. Cochran's character. He had made the friendship of the sheik during a visit to his mountain home, and now wished to avoid an open rupture with him, especially as that would prevent his securing the protection of the sheik for the inoffensive Christian population. But it was a delicate matter for him, the friend of the Persians and constantly residing among them, even to seem to recognize the sheik and his 30,000 warriors otherwise than as open enemies. But notwithstanding malignant efforts to prejudice the Persian officials against Dr. Cochran, he was called in by them. to mediate with the sheik and bring about a delay in his bombardment of the city. In these delicate

negotiations the doctor succeeded and at the same time retained the confidence of both parties. The incident went far to establish Dr. Cochran's name for straightforwardness, trustworthiness, and cool-headedness.

In surgical practise Dr. Cochran was continually meeting with cases where the native surgeons have so maltreated the patient that either the case can not be saved, or else the result of long and difficult effort is only crowned by limited success. A good example of this was a boy who had been tripped up by a playmate, sustaining a slight injury on the leg below the knee. The village bonesetter was called in, who rubbed and kneaded the flesh of the leg so violently that general inflammation was

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started. The pain increasing, the bonesetter decided that the bone had been cracked, and so he took a skein of cotton and, twisting it around the leg, passed a long stick through and twisted the skein with the stick, in order to exert the necessary pressure to close the crack in the bone, and then put the leg up in little narrow splints, with a bandage soaked in glue. As a result of all this treatment, not only was the flesh terribly bruised, but the periosteum of the bone was violently inflamed, which resulted in the death of the entire length of the bone.

A number of Kurdish chiefs were received as patients, some of them coming long distances. Not far from the Persian frontier, on the slope of one of the wildest gorges in Turkish

Kurdistan, dwells a chief whose power in those regions is second only to that of Sheik Mohammed Sadik. This man, with his tribe, holds undisputed sway over quite a large territory, while from travelers. on distant roads his robber bands bring tribute to their chief. Sutu Beg's nephew was taken ill, and in course of time appeared at the hospital, bearing a letter from his notorious uncle, which resembled very closely the letter which introduced. Naaman, the leper. It read somewhat as follows:

Now, when this letter is come unto thee, behold I have therewith sent Kazin, my nephew, to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his disease, and when with God's help thou hast cured him, dismiss him under proper escort, that he may arrive safely among his friends and relate the favors and blessings conferred upon him.

He had an escort of prominent men from different districts, all with ailments of their own. Dr. Cochran was able to do much for the comfort of all of these men, and they went off to their distant homes rejoicing in the benefits received. There were a number of Persian and Mohammedans and Kurds as well, who were deeply impressed by their stay in the hospital, and went away praising the religion that prompts its adherents to such works of charity and love.

Not long ago, when the Dasht Kurds attacked the Christians of Tergawer, devastating their homes, burning some of them to death, shooting others of them, and among them innocent women, one of whom was the venerable and godly mother of one of our most worthy native pastors, Dr. Cochran's righteous in

dignation moved him to make a firm remonstrance with the Persian government for their supine indifference over such outrages. His representations caused the Persians to call a halt in the Kurdish determination to wipe out the whole of that Christian population. But the Dasht Kurds could not brook such interference with their red-handed policy of extermination. So they began their plottings against the life of the man who seemed to stand across their pathway, but likewise against the man to whom they were deeply indebted for important professional services. Out of these fiendish schemings came the deplorable murder of the Rev. Benjamin W. Labaree. Dr. Cochran's grief was most poignant, as he fully realized that the blow had been intended for himself. Doubtless many a day afterward in the year and a half of tangled negotiations with the exasperating Persian government and of revengeful threats upon his life from the Kurds, as well as of misunderstandings with our Own government, the shadow of his own death as a certain sequel to that murder must have darkened his vision of life. The one special comfort his friends have in regard to his death is that he died (of typhoid fever) quietly in his home, and not by the roadside at the hand of Kurdish assassins.

Dr. Cochran's personality was a striking one. Tho somewhat under the average height, his appearance would impress strangers anywhere as being a man of unusual force. No less impressive to his acquaintances was his retiring dispo

sition and self-effacement among men. No man in the mission probably had a larger degree of self-reliance than he, yet no one was more modest in stating his judgment on current problems. Unselfishness was stamped upon his every association in life. He lived to serve others. Men stood in awe of him because of his dignified reserve, but there was no withholding of his powers from the humblest applicant for his professional attention. It was rare to see in him any signs of impatience, no matter how the people thronged about him. Such self-control was a constant wonderment to his associates. His readiness to sacrifice himself was impressively exhibited at the outset of his last illness. One of the chief mollahs of the city was down with typhoid fever, and was urgent to have another visit from his muchtrusted physician. Tho not in a state of health to warrant the effort, but not wishing to disappoint the old man, Dr. Cochran summoned strength and rode to the door of his patient, but fainted on entering the house.

Dr. Cochran's extended professional services among the subjects of the shah, and his distribution of relief in famine times, had become known to his majesty, and he had twice bestowed decorations upon him, in acknowledgment of his great benevolences. When presented to the shah in 1888, the king seemed much pleased to receive him, and proceeded to ply him with a perfect torrent of questions about the condition of his Christian subjects on the Turkish frontier. The doctor was able to answer the queries as rapidly as they fell from the shah's lips.

Dr. Cochran also rendered bene

ficient service to his generation in the medical education of a considerable number of native young men, Christian and Moslem, who are now widely scattered in Persia and Turkey. They are actuated in some measure, we hope, by the high principles of their noble instructor and exampler. Undoubtedly much is due to Dr. Cochran's influence in the breaking down of old-time prejudices against Christian science, which has become apparent among the Persians in the communities where he and his stuIdents have become known. We recall the story Dr. Cochran told us a few years ago of a well-known, very strict seyyid of our city, who was most anxious to have Dr. Cochran attend a member of his family. The man could not, however, bring himself to face the prejudices of his bigoted neighbors until he was able to announce a dream in which the prophet had appeared to him, informing him that it was perfectly allowable in the sight of God to avail of the skill and remedies of the successful Christian physician from the West.

The crowning grace of Dr. Cochran's character was his supremely religious purpose of life. His splendid abilities, his influence over men, his gracious manners and culture (he has been called the first gentleman in Persia), were all together consecrated to the service of Him whom he called Lord and Master. Had he remained in America he might have attained high professional rank, and might have amassed wealth, but all these allurements never seemed for an hour to dull his devotion to his service for Christ in Persia. He renounced them all for the privilege of taking