Louis Stromeyer Little

Abstract

MR. Louis STBOMEYEB LITTLE, an eminent surgeon and astronomer, was born in London on November 23, 1840, the third son of Dr. William Little, the orthopædist who gave his name to cerebral diplegia. He was educatedat St. Paul's School and at Kiel and Hanover. He qualified M.R.C.S. in 1862 and the same year became assistant surgeon at the London Hospital, and later was appointed to the National Orthopædic Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital for Women and Children. In 1866, when an epidemic of Asiatic cholera occurred in the East End of London and application was made to the London Hospital for assistance, he took an active and successful part in its treatment by intravenous injection of saline solutions. On the outbreak of the Schleswig-Holstein War in 1864, Little first joined the Prussians, but afterwards joined the Danish forces. In 1869 he went to Shanghai where he soon acquired the best medical practice in the Par East. He also developed the knowledge of astronomy which he had acquired in London to a remarkable extent, and not only built an observatory at Shanghai, but also established the first telegraphic longitude observed in China by means of telegraphic signals with Nagasaki, 600 miles away on the opposite shore of the Yellow Sea. This achievement gained him the fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1877. After residence in China for nearly thirty years he returned to England via South Africa, where he was awarded the South African Medal for his services in the Boer War. He died on October 4, 1911.