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 Gamma Cameras for
Interventional and
Intraoperative Imaging
Series in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering
Series Editors: John G Webster, E Russell Ritenour, Slavik Tabakov,
and Kwan-Hoong Ng

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Xun Jia and Steve B. Jiang (Eds)

Statistical Computing in Nuclear Imaging

Arkadiusz Sitek

The Physiological Measurement Handbook

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Radiosensitizers and Radiochemotherapy in the Treatment of Cancer

Shirley Lehnert

Diagnostic Endoscopy
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Medical Equipment Management

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Targeted Muscle Reinnervation: A Neural Interface for Artificial Limbs

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Vibrational Spectroscopy for Tissue Analysis

Ihtesham ur Rehman, Zanyar Movasaghi, and Shazza Rehman

Webb’s Physics of Medical Imaging, Second Edition

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Series in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering

Gamma Cameras for

Interventional and
Intraoperative Imaging

Edited by
Alan Perkins
University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

John E. Lees
University of Leicester, United Kingdom

Boca Raton London New York

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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data

Names: Perkins, A. C., editor. | Lees, John E., editor.

Title: Gamma cameras for interventional and intraoperative imaging / edited
by Alan C. Perkins and John E. Lees.
Other titles: Series in medical physics and biomedical engineering.
Description: Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, [2016] |
Series: Series in medical physics and biomedical engineering | Includes
bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016022758| ISBN 9781498729284 (hardback ; alk. paper) |
ISBN 1498729282 (hardback ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781498729291 (e-book) |
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Subjects: LCSH: Scintillation cameras. | Nuclear medicine--Instruments. |
Imaging systems in medicine. | Diagnostic imaging. | Point-of-care testing.
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Contents

Series Preface, vii

Preface, xi
Acknowledgements, xiii
Editors, xv
Contributors, xvii

Chapter 1   ◾   Small Field of View Gamma Cameras and

Intraoperative Applications 1
Alan C. Perkins, A.H. Ng and John E. Lees

Chapter 2   ◾   Detector Design for Small Field of View

(SFOV) Nuclear Cameras 27
D.G. Darambara

Chapter 3   ◾   Surgical Experience with POCI and TReCam

Prototype Cameras 53
M.-A. Duval, A. Bricou, E. Barranger, K. Kerrou, S. Pitre,
L. Ménard, B. Janvier, F. Lefebvre, L. Pinot, M.-A. Verdier and
Y. Charon

Chapter 4   ◾   Intraoperative 3D Nuclear Imaging and Its

Hybrid Extensions 71
T. Wendler

v
vi   ◾    Contents

Chapter 5   ◾   Clinical Requirements and Expectations:

Using Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy as
an Example 99
C. Hope, R. Parks and K.-L. Cheung

Chapter 6   ◾   Radiopharmaceuticals for Intraoperative

Imaging 113
J.R. Ballinger

Chapter 7   ◾   Surgical Experiences with Intraoperative

Gamma Cameras 125
B. Pouw, L.J. de Wit-van der Veen and M.P.M. Stokkel

Chapter 8   ◾   Radioguided Surgery in Oral Cancers: Hybrid

Imaging and Hybrid Tracers 153
C. Schilling and M. McGurk

Chapter 9   ◾   Characterisation and Quality Assurance

Protocols for SFOV Gamma Cameras 171
S.L. Bugby, John E. Lees and Alan C. Perkins

Chapter 10   ◾   Hybrid Gamma-Optical Imaging 189

John E. Lees, S.L. Bugby and Alan C. Perkins

INDEX, 203
Series Preface

T he Series in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering describes

the applications of physical sciences, engineering and mathematics in
medicine and clinical research.
The series seeks (but is not restricted to) publications in the following
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• Artificial Organs
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• Patient Monitoring
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vii
viii   ◾    Series Preface

• Radiation Protection, Health Physics and Dosimetry

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 Series Preface   ◾    ix

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Preface

M odern medical practice relies on a wide range of diagnostic

imaging techniques capable of demonstrating in vivo anatomy,
organ function and metabolic processes. Imaging technologies are now
essential not only for their role in the diagnosis and staging of disease but
also for guiding interventional and surgical procedures. Nuclear medicine
has a long history in the use of radiation probe detectors for monitoring
the organ uptake of administered tracers, starting with monitoring radio-
iodine uptake in the thyroid gland. The diagnostic information obtained
has been used to plan subsequent therapy using surgery, high-dose radia-
tion or chemotherapy.
The first use of radiation detectors in surgical practice was recorded in
1949 when Selverstone and colleagues used Geiger–Muller tubes to detect
the uptake of phosphorous-32 in 33 patients with brain tumours. Since
then, new radiopharmaceuticals have been developed and adopted for
clinical use and, together with the technological evolution of nucleonic
instrumentation, have resulted in a sophisticated range of procedures for
use at the bedside or within the operating room.
The use of gamma probe detectors has now become the standard prac-
tice during the assessment of patients with malignant diseases, such as in
breast and head and neck cancer. Gamma probes are used for an increas-
ing range of radioguided procedures with varying degrees of success.
However, it is clear that the number of established bedside and surgical
procedures is increasing steadily.
Despite the long-standing use of probe detectors, nuclear medicine and
radionuclide radiology are mainly regarded as imaging modalities, and
most major commercial equipment suppliers have concentrated on the
production of large imaging systems such as PET and SPECT scanners for
producing whole body and cross-sectional images. In recent years, these
devices have been combined with x-ray CT scanners, resulting in hybrid

xi
xii   ◾    Preface

systems with capabilities of fusing anatomical and functional images,

with obvious advantages for the reporting physician or surgeon planning
an operative approach. In comparison, the development of smaller gamma
imaging systems for bedside and interventional use has been somewhat
neglected, leaving university academic departments and small spin-out
companies the task of equipment development and initial clinical evalua-
tion. It is rather surprising that the development of miniature low-profile
radiation detectors has enabled a new generation of gamma camera sys-
tems, but, at the time of writing, no major commercial equipment manu-
facturer has taken up this technology.
This idea for this book arose from a workshop held at the University
of Leicester in February 2015 that was supported by the UK Science and
Technology Facilities Council. The workshop was attended by a number
of participants with interest and experience in the use of compact camera
systems for intraoperative exploration. The following chapters cover the
main developments that have been made over recent years, in the design
and construction of compact and handheld gamma cameras, and provide
in-depth information on a range of devices and their clinical and surgi-
cal use. For completeness, we have also included a chapter on radiophar-
maceuticals and information on the more recent introduction of hybrid
gamma–optical and fluorescent imaging, which we anticipate will make a
substantial impact to this clinical field of endeavour.
We extend our gratitude to all the authors for their valuable contribu-
tions. We consider that this represents one of the most detailed and infor-
mative books available, covering the design and application of this new
technology.

Alan Perkins
Nottingham, United Kingdom
John Lees
Leicester, United Kingdom
Acknowledgements

T he editors thank Sarah Bugby for her invaluable help in prepar-

ing the book and reviewing all the contributions. Special thanks
to all our students, Layal Jambi, Mohammed Alqahtani, Aik Hao Ng,
Numan Dawood and Bahadar Bhatia, and also to Bill McKnight, David
Bassford, George Fraser and Elaine Blackshaw for their hard work, which
has contributed to the success of the hybrid gamma camera described in
Chapter 10. We also acknowledge the support from the UK Science and
Technology Facilities Council who funded the workshop, Advances in
Intraoperative Nuclear Imaging University of Leicester, 17 February 2015,
for stimulating this work. We also thank Benn Bugby for proofreading the
manuscript and for his help in the final preparation.

xiii
Editors

Professor Alan Perkins PhD, FIPEM,

Hon FRCP is professor of medical phys-
ics in radiological sciences in the School of
Medicine at the University of Nottingham
and honorary consultant clinical scien-
tist at Nottingham University Hospitals
NHS Trust. He has more than 30 years
of experience in medical physics, provid-
ing routine clinical service and research
in nuclear medicine, radiopharmacology,
drug delivery, ultrasound imaging and
radiation protection. He is a former president of the British Nuclear
Medicine Society, a former vice president of the Institute of Physics
and Engineering in Medicine and an editor of the UK journal Nuclear
Medicine Communications.

Professor John Lees PhD, CPhys, FInstP is

a professor of imaging for life and medical
sciences in the Department of Physics and
Astronomy at the University of Leicester.
He has more than 28 years of experience
in radiation detectors and imaging sys-
tems. He was the UK detector scientist on
the NASA/UK x-ray telescope Chandra,
during which he pioneered the calibration
of space instrumentation using synchrotron sources. Currently, he leads
the BioImaging Unit in the Space Research Centre which encompasses
fundamental detector research along with technology transfer from space
instrumentation into medical and life sciences.

xv
Contributors
J.R. Ballinger
Imaging Sciences
King’s College
London, United Kingdom
E. Barranger
Service de Gynécologie
Hôpital Jean Verdier (Assistance
Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris)
Bondy, France
A. Bricou
Service de Gynécologie
Hôpital Jean Verdier (Assistance
Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris)
Bondy, France
S.L. Bugby
Space Research Centre
University of Leicester
Leicester, United Kingdom
Y. Charon
Laboratory Imagerie et
Modélisation en Neurobiologie
et Cancérologie
Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique
Orsay, France
K.-L. Cheung
School of Medicine
Royal Derby Hospital Centre
Nottingham University
Derby, United Kingdom
D.G. Darambara
Joint Department of Physics
Royal Marsden NHS Foundation
Trust
London, United Kingdom
L.J. de Wit-van der Veen
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital
The Netherlands Cancer Institute
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
M.-A. Duval
Laboratory Imagerie et
Modélisation en Neurobiologie
et Cancérologie
Paris, France
C. Hope
Health Education East Midlands
Royal Derby Hospital
Derby, United Kingdom
xvii
xviii   ◾    Contributors

B. Janvier R. Parks
Laboratory Imagerie et Nottingham University Hospital
Modélisation en Neurobiologie NHS Trust
et Cancérologie Nottingham, United Kingdom
Paris, France
L. Pinot
K. Kerrou Laboratory Imagerie et
Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Modélisation en Neurobiologie
Paris et Cancérologie
Hôpital Tenon Centre National de la Recherche
Paris, France Scientifique
Orsay, France
F. Lefebvre
Laboratory Imagerie et S. Pitre
Modélisation en Neurobiologie Laboratory Imagerie et
et Cancérologie Modélisation en Neurobiologie
Centre National de la Recherche et Cancérologie
Scientifique Paris, France
Orsay, France
B. Pouw
M. McGurk Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
Department of Oral and Hospital
Maxillofacial Surgery The Netherlands Cancer Institute
Guy’s Hospital Amsterdam, the Netherlands
London, United Kingdom
C. Schilling
L. Ménard Department of Oral and
Laboratory Imagerie et Maxillofacial Surgery
Modélisation en Neurobiologie Guy’s Hospital
et Cancérologie London, United Kingdom
Paris, France
M.P.M. Stokkel
A.H. Ng Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
School of Medicine Hospital
University of Nottingham The Netherlands Cancer Institute
Nottingham, United Kingdom Amsterdam, the Netherlands
 Contributors   ◾    xix

M.-A. Verdier T. Wendler

Laboratory Imagerie et
Modélisation en Neurobiologie
et Cancérologie
Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique
Orsay, France
Faculty of Medicine
Department of Nuclear Medicine
Technische Universitaet Muenchen
Munich, Germany
 Chapter 1

Small Field of View

Gamma Cameras
and Intraoperative
Applications
Alan C. Perkins, A.H. Ng and John E. Lees

CONTENTS
1.1 Development of Gamma Camera Systems 2
1.2 Small Field of View Gamma Camera 3
1.3 Mobile Gamma Cameras 4
1.4 Handheld Gamma Cameras 7
1.4.1 Camera Detectors 8
1.4.2 Camera Collimators 10
1.4.3 Camera Ergonomics and Design 10
1.5 Clinical Applications and Procedures 11
1.5.1 Radioguided Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy 17
1.5.2 Radioguided Occult Lesion Localisation and Sentinel
Node and Occult Lesion Localisation 18
1.5.3 Radioguided Surgery and Tumour Margin Evaluation 19
1.6 Conclusion 19
References 20

1
2   ◾    Gamma Cameras for Interventional and Intraoperative Imaging

1.1 DEVELOPMENT OF GAMMA CAMERA SYSTEMS

The medical specialty of nuclear medicine is based on the understanding
of the physiological uptake and clearance of an administered radiolabelled
tracer known as a radiopharmaceutical. Once administered to the patient,
the radiopharmaceutical will concentrate in the organ or system of interest
whilst emitting radiation due to the physical process of radioactive decay.
For therapeutic purposes, radionuclides emitting beta or alpha particles
are used to deposit energy at discrete sites in the body to achieve tumour
sterilisation, whereas for imaging purposes, gamma-emitting radionu-
clides are used in conjunction with dedicated cameras and scanners that
can image the spatial distribution of the radioactivity in the body.
Although early gamma scanners were around in the middle part of
the last century, the concept of the gamma camera was invented by Hal
Anger in 1952 whilst working at the Donner Laboratory in the University
of California in Berkeley, USA. The early prototype consisted of a pinhole
collimator and a sodium iodide flat intensifying screen placed in front of
a photographic plate. The device demonstrated the ability to produce a
clinically relevant image, by showing the gamma ray distribution emit-
ted from the patient on the flat crystal. The sensitivity of the camera was
low and a long exposure time and relatively high amounts of radioactivity
were required to produce images. A few years later, Anger improved the
prototype design by replacing the gamma ray detector with 4 in. diameter
scintillator coupled to an array of seven photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). He
also developed ‘Anger arithmetic’ to determine the position of the scintil-
lation event that occurred in the crystal by comparing the photons col-
lected in individual PMTs.
Anger’s basic principle of the gamma camera has remained in use
over the past 60 years. A gamma camera system consists of a collimator,
scintillation detector, PMTs, preamplifiers, amplifier, pulse height analy-
ser, X–Y positioning circuits and an image display with a recording or
storage device. In modern systems, digital electronics and software are
used to process the image data obtained from the PMT units. Basically,
the incoming gamma rays from radiation sources will pass through the
collimator and interact with the detector. The detector, usually made of
a scintillation crystal, converts the energy from the gamma ray to a flash
of light (scintillation event). The light photons are detected by an array of
PMTs adjacent to the detector and the events are computed and mapped
out as the gamma image display.
 Small Field of View Gamma Cameras and Intraoperative Applications   ◾    3

Over time gamma camera technology developed from the basic

s­ingle-head detector camera to multi-head detectors mounted on a
mechanical rotating gantry. The detector heads can scan over the patient
to produce whole body image, and they can also rotate around the patient
acquiring detected gamma events and producing cross-sectional images
using a reconstruction software (in the same way as x-ray computed
tomography [CT] image formation), a process known as single-photon
emission CT (SPECT). These scanning techniques are employed in clini-
cal nuclear medicine procedures such as brain and myocardial perfusion
imaging. More recently, following the huge success of hybrid imaging
modalities, positron emission tomography and CT (PET–CT), SPECT–CT
camera systems have been introduced for the fusion of gamma and CT
images to enable the overlay of physiological tracer uptake with the cross-
sectional anatomical detail. These integrated modalities not only provide
a method for localisation of the physiological data but also allow attenua-
tion correction of gamma images by using the transmission data from the
CT images.

1.2 SMALL FIELD OF VIEW GAMMA CAMERA

Most nuclear medicine procedures are normally carried out in the nuclear
medicine department since gamma cameras are large bulky devices
installed in purpose-built rooms. This requires the patient to attend the
department in order to undergo the imaging investigation. As a conse-
quence this restricts the types of patients who can access the services, for
example, patients from the intensive care unit, operating theatre and acci-
dent and emergency department cannot always attend.
It is evident that mobile or portable gamma cameras may be of value
in other hospital departments for bedside investigations. Amini et al.
(2011) highlighted the usefulness of nuclear medicine techniques in the
diagnosis of a range of conditions including chest pain, suspected pul-
monary embolus, acute cholecystitis, gastrointestinal (GI) haemorrhage,
acute scrotum and occult fractures. Hilton et al. (1994) reported that
initial myocardial perfusion imaging was highly accurate to distinguish
low- and high-risk conditions when carried out in the emergency depart-
ment in patients presenting with typical angina and a normal or equivocal
electrocardiogram.
The application of nuclear medicine techniques during surgical proce-
dures has a long history. The concept of radioguided surgery (RGS) using
4   ◾    Gamma Cameras for Interventional and Intraoperative Imaging

a radiation gamma detector was first reported around 60 years ago by

Selverstone et al. (1949). The early radiation detectors were bulky ionisa-
tion chambers, but the more recent surgical probe systems use sodium
iodide or caesium iodide scintillation crystal devices for surgical and
bedside investigations. In 1996, Perkins and Hardy described a range of
surgical nuclear medicine procedures employing gamma probes (Perkins
and Hardy 1996). These developments originated from the use of gamma
probes for the detection of the uptake of 99mTc bone scanning agents for
bone tumours, in particular osteoid osteoma, a benign condition that pre-
dominantly occurs in young children and adolescents. Probe systems were
also used for a range of nuclear medicine investigations in the intensive
care unit (Perkins and Hardy 1997). However, the more widespread intro-
duction of gamma probes in surgical practice was subsequently driven
by the routine introduction of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) pro-
cedures in the staging and management of breast cancer. This drove the
evolution of gamma probe technology and the widespread acceptance of
nuclear medicine procedures during surgery.
We are now at a stage in the evolution of intraoperative nuclear
medicine procedures where high-resolution small field of view (SFOV)
gamma cameras are becoming available for surgical use. For use in the
operating theatre, gamma cameras must be mobile or portable. Ideally,
they should be small enough to be handheld during surgery. As indi-
cated by the name, SFOV gamma cameras are considerably smaller in
comparison with conventional large field of view (LFOV) gamma cam-
eras. Advances in detector technology have enabled the introduction
of compact imaging systems with the cameras either being held on an
articulated arm mounted on a small trolley or handheld by the operator
during use.

1.3 MOBILE GAMMA CAMERAS

The typical LFOV gamma camera is designed for whole body imaging
and SPECT. Whilst this enables a range of clinically important imaging
investigations to be undertaken, it does limit the use of these cameras
to patients who can be transferred to the nuclear medicine department.
This does restrict access of patients who may be critically ill or have
limited mobility. Smaller cameras with single-head detectors mounted
on a mechanical trolley have been available over the past 20 years, and
these have been used away from nuclear medicine departments to image
patients in operating theatres and cardiac units. In 1973, Hurwitz et al.
 Small Field of View Gamma Cameras and Intraoperative Applications   ◾    5

reported preliminary experience with a ‘portable’ scintillation camera in

the operating room or other locations previously believed to be inacces-
sible for diagnostic nuclear medicine (Hurwitz et al. 1973). The camera
was a modified standard Anger scintillation camera with a ½ in. NaI(Tl)
crystal 12 in. in diameter, mounted on a movable stand. In general, rela-
tively large mobile camera systems have had limited clinical use; however,
further technological developments in camera technology have enabled
low-profile digital detectors for organ- and procedure-specific applica-
tions. The use of some of these systems is listed in Table 1.1.
Figure 1.1 shows a commercially available mobile gamma camera pro-
duced by Mediso Medical Imaging Systems, Budapest, Hungary. The
camera detector comprises a thallium-doped sodium iodide NaI(Tl) scin-
tillation crystal with a thickness of 6.5 mm backed by PMTs and is available
in sizes of 230 mm × 210 mm, 260 mm × 246 mm and 300 mm × 300 mm.
The system weighs 180 kg and the gantry is equipped with motorised
height adjustment and interchangeable collimators. A separate computer
console is used for image acquisition.

TABLE 1.1 Examples of Clinical Mobile Gamma Camera Systems

Nominal Field Weight
Camera Detector of View (mm) (kg) Applications
Nucline™ TH NaI(Tl), PMT 260 × 246 180 Cardiac, thyroid imaging
(Mediso) (Mediso Medical Imaging
Systems 2012)
ergo™ CsI(Tl), 311 × 396 305 Cardiac, breast and other
Imaging silicon bedside imaging (Digirad
System photodiode Corporation 2014)
(Digirad)
2020tc imager CsI(Tl), 212 × 212 386 Lung, thyroid, cardiac,
(Digirad) silicon mammoscintigraphy,
photodiode bedside imaging (Digirad
Corporation)
Cardiotom™ NaI(Tl), PMT 400 diameter 320 Cardiac imaging (Adolesco
(Adolesco) (Sopha DS7) 2001)
Picola− NaI(Tl), PMT 254 diameter NA Thyroid imaging (Medical
Scintron® Imaging Electronics)
Solo Mobile™ NaI, PMT 210 diameter <270 Thyroid, parathyroid,
(DDD- cardiac, sentinel node
Diagnostic imaging (DDD-Diagnostic
A/S) A/S 2012)
Note: NaI(Tl), thallium-doped sodium iodide; CsI(Tl), thallium-doped caesium iodide.
6   ◾    Gamma Cameras for Interventional and Intraoperative Imaging

FIGURE 1.1 A mobile gamma camera – Mediso ‘Nucline™ TH’ – used for thy-
roid, heart, mammography and small organs imaging. (Taken from Mediso
Medical Imaging Systems, 2012. Nucline™ TH. Retrieved 1 August 2014, http://
www.mediso.com. With permission.)

The gamma camera shown in Figure 1.2 is a mobile digital gamma

camera from Digirad Corporation, San Diego, CA. This has a field of view
measuring 311 mm × 396 mm produced by a solid-state detector based
on segmented thallium-doped caesium iodide (CsI(Tl)) with a silicon
photodiode and is suitable for detecting gamma energies between 50 and
350 keV with the aid of the interchangeable collimators. The camera can
be manoeuvred manually despite having a weight of 305 kg. Nuclear
medicine procedures such as lung, liver, gastric emptying, GI bleed, renal,
thyroid, brain flow, cardiac multiple-gated acquisition, molecular breast
imaging, sentinel node, lymphoscintigraphy and veterinary studies may
be carried out using the camera.
 Small Field of View Gamma Cameras and Intraoperative Applications   ◾    7

FIGURE 1.2 A solid-state mobile gamma camera – Digirad ergo™ Imaging

System by Digirad. (Taken from Digirad Corporation, ergo™, 2014, Retrieved
1 August 2014, http://www.digirad.com. With permission.)

Another example of a mobile gamma camera is the Cardiotom™ sys-

tem. This tomographic gamma camera system is based on a commercially
available detector system attached with a rotatable parallel and slanted-
hole collimator (ectomography). The camera weighs 320 kg and is primar-
ily designed for cardiac studies at the patient bedside.

1.4 HANDHELD GAMMA CAMERAS

Advances in gamma camera detector design have led to the introduc-
tion of the handheld compact SFOV gamma camera. The concept of
this handheld gamma imager was introduced and developed by Barber
et al., in which the prototype devices are small enough to be inserted into
the upper or lower GI tract to image the distribution of tumour-seeking
radiotracers (Barber et al. 1984). There is now an increasing interest of the
application of handheld SFOV gamma cameras in various clinical fields,
but particularly for intraoperative imaging. Globally, there are a number
8   ◾    Gamma Cameras for Interventional and Intraoperative Imaging

of vibrant research initiatives underway exploring the development of

robust, user-friendly and ergonomical SFOV gamma camera systems.
As with the LFOV cameras, the main features of the compact devices
are the imaging detector, collimator, shielding, electronic readout cir-
cuit and image acquisition and image processing software. The design
concepts provide flexibility and handheld use for additional areas of
clinical investigation, and these cameras are not intended to replace the
clinical applications undertaken by the standard LFOV gamma cameras.
The size and weight of the camera head represent the most important
characteristics of a SFOV camera in terms of ease of use and manoeu-
vrability. From the literature it has been found that the weight of SFOV
camera heads used for clinical application was between 320 and 2490 g
(Goertzen et al. 2013, Mathelin et al. 2007) whilst the detector size var-
ied from 8.192 mm × 8.192 mm up to 127 mm × 127 mm (Aarsvod et al.
2006, Lees et al. 2014).

1.4.1 Camera Detectors

From reports published since 1997, most SFOV cameras have used either
scintillation crystals (Fernández et al. 2004, Jung et al. 2009, Lees et al.
2011, Netter et al. 2009b, Olcott et al. 2004, Salvador et al. 2007, Soluri
et al. 2005) or semiconductor (Abe et al. 2003, Crystal Photonics GmbH
2013, EuroMedical Instruments, Haneishi et al. 2010, Kopelman et al.
2005, Russo et al. 2011, Tsuchimochi et al. 2003) detectors. The scintilla-
tion crystals most commonly used are thallium- or sodium-doped cae-
sium iodide (CsI(Tl) or CsI(Na)), thallium-doped sodium iodide (NaI(Tl))
and cerium-doped lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO). The semiconductor
detector materials used in SFOV cameras are mainly cadmium telluride
(CdTe) or cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe or CZT).
Patt et al. (1997) fabricated a 256-element mercuric iodide (HgI2) detec-
tor array which was intended to be used as an intraoperative gamma cam-
era. A novel SFOV gamma camera based on yttrium aluminium perovskite
activated by cerium (YAP:Ce) coupled with intensified ­position-sensitive
diode (IPSD) (Menard et al. 1998) has also been developed. The compact
position-sensitive PMT (PSPMT) has been recognised as a key develop-
ment in small camera design and these have been used in cameras with
CsI(Tl) (Jung et al. 2009, Soluri et al. 2005), NaI(Tl) (Aarsvold et al. 2002,
Olcott et al. 2004), cerium-doped orthosilicate of gadolinium (Gd2SiO5:Ce
or GSO) (Salvador et al. 2007) and cerium-doped halide (LaBr3:Ce) scin-
tillators (Netter et al. 2009b). Figure 1.3a gives an example of a ‘small-sized
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conducted congregation, and hoped that great good would result
from our efforts. This opposition, also, the Lord overruled to increase
our influence, and to give point and publicity to our assaults upon
the kingdom of Satan.
Though disappointed thus, some of the Publicans resolved to have
revenge. On the following Saturday evening, when a large meeting
was being addressed in our Green Street Church, which had to be
entered by a great iron gateway, a spirit merchant ran his van in
front of the gate, so that the people could not leave the Church
without its removal. Hearing this, I sent two of my young men to
draw it aside and clear the way. The Publican, watching near by in
league with two policemen, pounced upon the young men whenever
they seized the shafts, and gave them in charge for removing his
property. On hearing that the young men were being marched to the
Police Office, I ran after them and asked what was their offence?
They replied that they were prisoners for injuring the spirit
merchant’s property; and the officers tartly informed me that if I
further interfered I would be taken too. I replied, that as the young
men only did what was necessary, and at my request, I would go with
them to the Office. The cry now went through the street, that the
Publicans were sending the Missionary and his young men to the
Police Office, and a huge mob rushed together to rescue us; but I
earnestly entreated them not to raise disturbance, but allow us
quietly to pass on. At the Office, it appeared as if the lieutenant on
duty and the men under him were all in sympathy with the
Publicans. He took down in writing all their allegations, but would
not listen to us. At this stage a handsomely dressed and dignified
gentleman came forward and said,—
“What bail is required?”
A few sharp words passed; another, and apparently higher, officer
entered, and took part in the colloquy. I could only hear the
gentleman protest, in authoritative tones, the policemen having been
quietly asked some questions,—
“I know this whole case, I will expose it to the bottom; expect me
here to stand by the Missionary and these young men on Monday
morning.”
Before I could collect my wits to thank him, and before I quite
understood what was going on, he had disappeared; and the superior
officer turned to us and intimated in a very respectful manner that
the charge had been withdrawn, and that I and my friends were at
liberty. I never found out exactly who the gentleman was that
befriended us; but from the manner in which he asserted himself and
was listened to, I saw that he was well known in official quarters.
From that day our work progressed without further open opposition,
and many who had been slaves of intemperance were not only
reformed, but became fervent workers in the Total Abstinence cause.
Though intemperance was the main cause of poverty, suffering,
misery, and vice in that district of Glasgow, I had also considerable
opposition from Romanists and Infidels, many of whom met in
clubs, where they drank together and gloried in their wickedness and
in leading other young men astray. Against these I prepared and
delivered lectures, at the close of which discussion was allowed; but I
fear they did little good. These men embraced the opportunity of
airing their absurdities, or sowing the seeds of corruption in those
whom otherwise they could never have reached, while their own
hearts and minds were fast shut against all conviction or light.
One infidel Lecturer in the district became very ill. His wife called
me in to visit him. I found him possessed of a circulating library of
infidel books, by which he sought to pervert unwary minds. Though
he had talked and lectured much against the Gospel, he did not at all
really understand its message. He had read the Bible, but only to find
food there for ridicule. Now supposed to be dying, he confessed that
his mind was full of terror as to the Future. After several visits and
frequent conversations and prayers, he became genuinely and deeply
interested, drank in God’s message of salvation, and cried aloud with
many tears for pardon and peace. He bitterly lamented the evil he
had done, and called in all the infidel literature that he had in
circulation, with the purpose of destroying it. He began to speak
solemnly to any of his old companions that came to see him, telling
them what he had found in the Lord Jesus. At his request I bought
and brought to him a Bible, which he received with great joy, saying,
“This is the book for me now;” and adding, “Since you were here last,
I gathered together all my infidel books; my wife locked the door, till
she and my daughter tore them to pieces, and I struck the light that
reduced the pile to ashes.”
 As long as he lived, this man was unwearied and unflinching in
testifying, to all that crossed his path, how much Jesus Christ had
been to his heart and soul; and he died in the possession of a full and
blessed hope.
Another Infidel, whose wife was a Roman Catholic, also became
unwell, and gradually sank under great suffering and agony. His
blasphemies against God were known and shuddered at by all the
neighbours. His wife pled with me to visit him. She refused, at my
suggestion, to call her own priest, so I accompanied her at last. The
man refused to hear one word about spiritual things, and foamed
with rage. He even spat at me, when I mentioned the name of Jesus.
“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for
they are foolishness unto him!” There is a wisdom which is at best
earthly, and at worst “sensual and devilish.” His wife asked me to
take care of the little money they had, as she would not entrust it to
her own priest. I visited the poor man daily, but his enmity to God
and his sufferings together seemed to drive him mad. His yells
gathered crowds on the streets. He tore to pieces his very bed-
clothes, till they had to bind him on the iron bed where he lay,
foaming and blaspheming. Towards the end I pled with him even
then to look to the Lord Jesus, and asked if I might pray with him?
With all his remaining strength, he shouted at me,—
“Pray for me to the devil!”
Reminding him how he had always denied that there was any
devil, I suggested that he must surely believe in one now, else he
would scarcely make such a request, even in mockery. In great rage
he cried,—
“Yes, I believe there is a devil, and a God, and a just God, too; but I
have hated Him in life, and I hate Him in death!”
With these awful words, he wriggled into Eternity; but his
shocking death produced a very serious impression for good,
especially amongst young men, in the district where his character
was known.
How different was the case of that Doctor who also had been an
unbeliever as well as a drunkard! Highly educated, skilful, and gifted
above most in his profession, he was taken into consultation for
specially dangerous cases, whenever they could find him tolerably
sober. After one of his excessive “bouts,” he had a dreadful attack of
delirium tremens. At one time, wife and watchers had a fierce
struggle to dash from his lips a draught of prussic acid; at another,
they detected the silver-hafted lancet concealed in the band of his
shirt, as he lay down, to bleed himself to death. His aunt came and
pled with me to visit him. My heart bled for his poor young wife and
two beautiful little children. Visiting him twice daily, and sometimes
even more frequently, I found the way somehow into his heart, and
he would do almost anything for me and longed for my visits. When
again the fit of self-destruction seized him, they sent for me; he held
out his hand eagerly, and grasping mine, said,—
“Put all these people out of the room, remain you with me; I will be
quiet, I will do everything you ask!”
I got them all to leave, but whispered to one in passing to “keep
near the door.”
Alone I sat beside him, my hand in his, and kept up a quiet
conversation for several hours. After we had talked of everything that
I could think of, and it was now far into the morning, I said,—
“If you had a Bible here, we might read a chapter, verse about.”
He said dreamily, “There was once a Bible above yon press; if you
can get up to it, you might find it there yet.”
Getting it, dusting it, and laying it on a small table which I drew
near to the sofa on which we sat, we read there and then a chapter
together. After this, I said, “Now, shall we pray?”
He replied heartily, “Yes.”
I having removed the little table, we kneeled down together at the
sofa; and after a solemn pause, I whispered, “You pray first.”
He replied, “I curse, I cannot pray; would you have me curse God
to His face?”
I answered, “You promised to do all that I asked; you must pray, or
try to pray, and let me hear that you cannot.”
He said, “I cannot curse God on my knees; let me stand, and I will
curse Him; I cannot pray.”
I gently held him on his knees, saying, “Just try to pray, and let me
hear you cannot.”
 Instantly he cried out, “O Lord, Thou knowest I cannot pray,” and
was going to say something dreadful as he strove to rise up. But I just
took the words he had uttered as if they had been my own, and
continued the prayer, pleading for him and his dear ones as we knelt
there together, till he showed that he was completely subdued and
lying low at the feet of God. On rising from our knees he was
manifestly greatly impressed, and I said,—
“Now, as I must be at College by daybreak and must return to my
lodging for my books and an hour’s rest, will you do one thing more
for me before I go?”
“Yes,” was his reply.
“Then,” said I, “it is long since you had a refreshing sleep; now, will
you lie down, and I will sit by you till you fall asleep?”
He lay down, and was soon fast asleep. After commending him to
the care and blessing of the Lord, I quietly slipped out, and his wife
returned to watch by his side. When I came back later in the day,
after my classes were over, he, on hearing my foot and voice, came
running to meet me, and clasping me in his arms, cried,—
“Thank God, I can pray now! I rose this morning refreshed from
sleep, and prayed with my wife and children for the first time in my
life; and now I shall do so every day, and serve God while I live, who
hath dealt in so great mercy with me!”
After delightful conversation, he promised to go with me to Dr.
Symington’s church on Sabbath Day; there he took sittings beside
me; at next half-yearly communion he and his wife were received
into membership, and their children were baptized; and from that
day till his death he led a devoted and most useful Christian life.
Henceforth, as a medical man he delighted to attend all poor and
destitute cases which we brought under his care; he ministered to
them for Jesus’ sake, and spoke to them of their blessed Saviour.
When he came across cases that were hopeless, he sent for me to visit
them too, being as anxious for their souls as for their bodies. He
died, years after this, of consumption, partly at least the fruit of early
excesses; but he was serenely prepared for death, and happy in the
assured hope of eternal blessedness with Christ. He sleeps in Jesus;
and I do believe that I shall meet him in Glory as a trophy of
redeeming grace and love!
 In my Mission district, I was the witness of many joyful departures
to be with Jesus,—I do not like to name them “deaths” at all. Even
now, at the distance of nearly forty years, many instances, especially
amongst the young men and women who attended my classes, rise
up before my mind. They left us, rejoicing in the bright assurance
that nothing present or to come “could ever separate them or us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Several of them,
by their conversation even on their deathbed, were known to have
done much good. Many examples might be given; but I can find
room for only one. John Sim, a dear little boy, was carried away by
consumption. His childish heart seemed to be filled with joy about
seeing Jesus. His simple prattle, mingled with deep questionings,
arrested not only his young companions, but pierced the hearts of
some careless sinners who heard him, and greatly refreshed the faith
of God’s dear people. It was the very pathos of song incarnated to
hear the weak quaver of his dying voice sing out,—
“I lay my sins on Jesus,
The spotless Lamb of God.”

Shortly before his decease he said to his parents, “I am going soon

to be with Jesus; but I sometimes fear that I may not see you there.”
“Why so, my child?” said his weeping mother.
“Because,” he answered, “if you were set upon going to heaven and
seeing Jesus there, you would pray about it, and sing about it; you
would talk about Jesus to others, and tell them of that happy meeting
with Him in Glory. All this my dear Sabbath school teacher taught
me, and she will meet me there. Now why did not you, my father and
mother, tell me all these things about Jesus, if you are going to meet
Him too?”
Their tears fell fast over their dying child; and he little knew, in his
unthinking eighth year, what a message from God had pierced their
souls through his innocent words. One day an aunt from the country
visited his mother, and their talk had run in channels for which the
child no longer felt any interest. On my sitting down beside him, he
said,—
“Sit you down and talk with me about Jesus; I am tired hearing so
much talk about everything else but Jesus; I am going soon to be
with Him. Oh, do tell me everything you know or have ever heard
about Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God!”
At last the child literally longed to be away, not for rest, or freedom
from pain—for of that he had very little—but, as he himself always
put it, “to see Jesus.” And, after all, that was the wisdom of the heart,
however he learned it. Eternal life, here or hereafter, is just the vision
of Jesus.
Amongst many of the Roman Catholics in my Mission district,
also, I was very kindly received, and allowed even to read the
Scriptures and to pray. At length, however, a young woman who
professed to be converted by my classes and meetings brought things
to a crisis betwixt them and me. She had renounced her former faith,
was living in a Protestant family, and looked to me as her pastor and
teacher. One night, a closed carriage, with two men and women, was
sent from a Nunnery in Clyde Street, to take her and her little sister
with them. She refused, and declined all authority on their part,
declaring that she was now a Protestant by her own free choice.
During this altercation, a message had been sent for me. On arriving,
I found the house filled with a noisy crowd. Before them all, she
appealed to me for protection from these her enemies. The
Romanists, becoming enraged, jostled me into a corner of the room,
and there enclosed me. The two women pulled her out of bed by
force, for the girl had been sick, and began to dress her, but she
fainted among their hands.
I called out,—
“Do not murder the poor girl! Get her water, quick, quick!” and
leaving my hat on the table, I rushed through amongst them, as if in
search of water, and they let me pass. Knowing that the house had
only one door, I quickly slipped the key from within, shut and locked
the door outside, and with the key in my hand ran to the Police
Office. Having secured two constables to protect the girl and take the
would-be captors into custody, I returned, opened the door, and
found, alas! that these constables were themselves Roman Catholics,
and at once set about frustrating me and assisting their own friends.
The poor sick girl was supported by the arms into the carriage; the
policemen cleared the way through the crowd; and before I could
force my way through the obstructives in the house, the conveyance
was already starting. I appealed and shouted to the crowds to protect
the girl, and seize and take the whole party to the Police Office. A
gentleman in the crowd took my part, and said to a big Highland
policeman in the street,—
“Mac, I commit that conveyance and party to you on a criminal
charge, before witnesses; you will suffer, if they escape.”
The driver lashing at his horse to get away, Mac drew his baton
and struck, when the driver leapt down to the street on the opposite
side, and threw the reins in the policeman’s face. Thereupon our
stalwart friend at once mounted the box, and drove straight for the
Police Office. On arriving there, we discovered that only the women
were inside with the sick girl—the men having escaped in the scuffle
and the crush. What proved more disappointing was that the
lieutenant on duty happened to be a Papist, who, after hearing our
statement and conferring with the parties in the conveyance,
returned, and said,—
“Her friends are taking her to a comfortable home; you have no
right to interfere, and I have let them go.” He further refused to hear
the grounds of our complaint, and ordered the police to clear the
Office.
Next morning, a false and foolish account of the whole affair
appeared in the Newspapers, condemnatory of the Mission and of
myself; a meeting of the directors was summoned, and the
Superintendent came to my lodging to take me before them. Having
heard all, and questioned and cross-questioned me, they resolved to
prosecute the abductors of the girl. The Nunnery authorities
confessed that the little sister was with them, but denied that she had
been taken in there, or that they knew anything of her case. Though
the girl was sought for carefully by the Police, and by all the members
of my class, for nearly a fortnight, no trace of her or of the coachman
or of any of the parties could be discovered; till one day from a cellar,
through a grated window, she called to one of my class girls passing
by, and begged her to run and let me know that she was confined
there. At once, the directors of the City Mission were informed by
me, and Police were sent to rescue her; but on examining that house
they found that she had been again removed. The occupiers denied
all knowledge of where she had gone, or who had taken her away
from their lodging. All other efforts failed to find her, till she was left
at the Poor House door, far gone in dropsy, and soon after died in
that last refuge of the destitute and forsaken.
Anonymous letters were now sent, threatening my life; and I was
publicly cursed from the altar by the priests in Abercromby Street
Chapel. The directors of the Mission, fearing violence, advised me to
leave Glasgow for a short holiday, and even offered to arrange for my
being taken for work in Edinburgh for a year, that the fanatical
passions of the Irish Papists might have time to subside. But I
refused to leave my work. I went on conducting it all as in the past.
The worst thing that happened was, that on rushing one day past a
row of houses occupied exclusively by Papists, a stone thrown from
one of them cut me severely above the eye, and I fell stunned and
bleeding. When I recovered and scrambled to my feet, no person of
course that could be suspected was to be seen! The doctor having
dressed the wound, it rapidly healed, and after a short confinement I
resumed my work and my studies without any further serious
annoyance. Attempts were made more than once, in these Papist
closes, and I believe by the Papists themselves, to pour pails of
boiling water on my head, over windows and down dark stairs, but in
every case I marvellously escaped; and as I would not turn coward,
their malice tired itself out, and they ultimately left me entirely at
peace. Is not this a feature of the lower Irish, and especially Popish
population? Let them see that bullying makes you afraid, and they
will brutally and cruelly misuse you; but defy them fearlessly, or take
them by the nose, and they will crouch like whelps beneath your feet.
Is there anything in their Religion that accounts for this? Is it not a
system of alternating tyranny on the one part, and terror, abject
terror, on the other?
About this same time there was an election of elders for Dr.
Symington’s congregation, and I was by an almost unanimous vote
chosen for that office. For years now I had been attached to them as
City Missionary for their district, and many friends urged me to
accept the eldership, as likely to increase my usefulness, and give me
varied experience for my future work. My dear father, also, himself
an elder in the congregation at Dumfries, advised me similarly; and
though very young, comparatively, for such a post, I did accept the
office, and continued to act as an elder and member of Dr.
Symington’s kirk session, till by-and-by I was ordained as a
Missionary to the New Hebrides, where the great lot of my life had
been cast by the Lord, as yet unknown to me.
All through my City Mission period, I was painfully carrying on my
studies, first at the University of Glasgow, and thereafter at the
Reformed Presbyterian Divinity Hall; and also medical classes at the
Andersonian College. With the exception of one session, when failure
of health broke me down, I struggled patiently on through ten years.
The work was hard and most exacting; and if I never attained the
scholarship for which I thirsted—being but poorly grounded in my
younger days—I yet had much of the blessed Master’s presence in all
my efforts, which many better scholars sorely lacked; and I was
sustained by the lofty aim which burned all these years bright within
my soul, namely,—to be qualified as a preacher of the Gospel of
Christ, to be owned and used by Him for the salvation of perishing
men.
 CHAPTER IV.
FOREIGN MISSION CLAIMS.

The Wail of the Heathen.—A Missionary Wanted.—Two Souls on

the Altar.—Lions in the Path.—The Old Folks at Home.—
Successors in Green Street Mission.—Old Green Street Hands.
—A Father in God.

Happy in my work as I felt, and successful by the blessing of God, yet

I continually heard, and chiefly during my last years in the Divinity
Hall, the wail of the perishing Heathen in the South Seas; and I saw
that few were caring for them, while I well knew that many would be
ready to take up my work in Calton, and carry it forward perhaps
with more efficiency than myself. Without revealing the state of my
mind to any person, this was the supreme subject of my daily
meditation and prayer; and this also led me to enter upon those
medical studies, in which I purposed taking the full course; but at the
close of my third year, an incident occurred, which led me at once to
offer myself for the Foreign Mission field.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, in which I had
been brought up, had been advertising for another Missionary to join
the Rev. John Inglis in his grand work in the New Hebrides. Dr.
Bates, the excellent convener of the Heathen Missions Committee,
was deeply grieved, because for two years their appeal had failed. At
length, the Synod, after much prayer and consultation, felt the claims
of the Heathen so urgently pressed upon them by the Lord’s repeated
calls, that they resolved to cast lots, to discover whether God would
thus select any Minister to be relieved from his home-charge, and
designated as a Missionary to the South Seas. Each member of
Synod, as I was informed, agreed to hand in, after solemn appeal to
God, the names of the three best qualified in his esteem for such a
work, and he who had the clear majority was to be loosed from his
congregation, and to proceed to the Mission field—or the first and
second highest, if two could be secured. Hearing this debate, and
feeling an intense interest in these most unusual proceedings, I
remember yet the hushed solemnity of the prayer before the names
were handed in. I remember the strained silence that held the
Assembly while the scrutinizers retired to examine the papers; and I
remember how tears blinded my eyes when they returned to
announce that the result was so indecisive, that it was clear that the
Lord had not in that way provided a Missionary. The cause was once
again solemnly laid before God in prayer, and a cloud of sadness
appeared to fall over all the Synod.
The Lord kept saying within me, “Since none better qualified can
be got, rise and offer yourself!” Almost overpowering was the
impulse to answer aloud, “Here am I, send me.” But I was dreadfully
afraid of mistaking my own emotions for the will of God. So I
resolved to make it a subject of close deliberation and prayer for a
few days longer, and to look at the proposal from every possible
aspect. Besides, I was keenly solicitous about the effect upon the
hundreds of young people and others, now attached to all my classes
and meetings; and yet I felt a growing assurance that this was the call
of God to His servant, and that He who was willing to employ me in
the work abroad, was both able and willing to provide for the on-
carrying of my work at home. The wail and the claims of the Heathen
were constantly sounding in my ears. I saw them perishing for lack of
the knowledge of the true God and His Son Jesus, while my Green
Street people had the open Bible, and all the means of grace within
easy reach, which, if they rejected, they did so wilfully, and at their
own peril. None seemed prepared for the Heathen field; many were
capable and ready for the Calton service. My medical studies, as well
as my literary and divinity training, had specially qualified me in
some ways for the Foreign field, and from every aspect at which I
could look the whole facts in the face, the voice within me sounded
like a voice from God.
It was under good Dr. Bates of West Campbell Street that I had
begun my career in Glasgow—receiving £25 per annum for district
visitation in connection with his congregation, along with instruction
under Mr. Hislop and his staff in the Free Church Normal Seminary
—and oh, how Dr. Bates did rejoice, and even weep for joy, when I
called on him, and offered myself for the New Hebrides Mission! I
returned to my lodging with a lighter heart than I had for some time
enjoyed, feeling that nothing so clears the vision, and lifts up the life,
as a decision to move forward in what you know to be entirely the
will of the Lord. I said to my fellow-student, who had chummed with
me all through our course at college,—
“I have been away signing my banishment” (a rather trifling way of
talk for such an occasion). “I have offered myself as a Missionary for
the New Hebrides.”
After a long and silent meditation, in which he seemed lost in far-
wandering thoughts, his answer was,—
“If they will accept of me, I also am resolved to go!”
I said, “Will you write the convener to that effect, or let me do so?”
He replied, “You may.”
A few minutes later his letter of offer was in the post office. Next
morning, Dr. Bates called upon us early, and after a long
conversation, commended us and our future work to the Lord God in
fervent prayer.
My fellow-student, Mr. Joseph Copeland, had also for some time
been a very successful City Missionary in the Camlachie district,
while attending along with me at the Divinity Hall. This leading of
God, whereby we both resolved at the same time to give ourselves to
the Foreign Mission field, was wholly unexpected by us, as we had
never once spoken to each other about going abroad. At a meeting of
the Heathen Missions Committee, held immediately thereafter, both
were, after due deliberation, formally accepted, on condition that we
passed successfully the usual examinations required of candidates
for the Ministry. And for the next twelve months we were placed
under the special committee for advice as to medical experience,
acquaintance with the rudiments of trades, and anything else which
might be thought useful to us in the Foreign field.
When it became known that I was preparing to go abroad as
Missionary, nearly all were dead against the proposal, except Dr.
Bates and my fellow-student. My dear father and mother, however,
when I consulted them, characteristically replied, “that they had long
since given me away to the Lord, and in this matter also would leave
me to God’s disposal.” From other quarters we were besieged with
the strongest opposition on all sides. Even Dr. Symington, one of my
professors in divinity, and the beloved Minister in connection with
whose congregation I had wrought so long as a City Missionary, and
in whose kirk session I had for years sat as an elder, repeatedly urged
me to remain at home. He argued, “that Green Street Church was
doubtless the sphere for which God had given me peculiar
qualifications, and in which He had so largely blessed my labours;
that if I left those now attending my classes and meetings, they might
be scattered, and many of them would probably fall away; that I was
leaving certainty for uncertainty—work in which God had made me
greatly useful, for work in which I might fail to be useful, and only
throw away my life amongst Cannibals.”
I replied, “that my mind was finally resolved; that, though I loved
my work and my people, yet I felt that I could leave them to the care
of Jesus, who would soon provide them a better pastor than I; and
that, with regard to my life amongst the Cannibals, as I had only once
to die, I was content to leave the time and place and means in the
hand of God, who had already marvellously preserved me when
visiting cholera patients and the fever-stricken poor; on that score I
had positively no further concern, having left it all absolutely to the
Lord, whom I sought to serve and honour, whether in life or by
death.”
The house connected with my Green Street Church, was now
offered to me for a Manse, and any reasonable salary that I cared to
ask (as against the promised £120 per annum for the far-off and
dangerous New Hebrides), on condition that I would remain at
home. I cannot honestly say that such offers or opposing influences
proved a heavy trial to me; they rather tended to confirm my
determination that the path of duty was to go abroad. Amongst many
who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian gentleman,
whose crowning argument always was,—
“The Cannibals! you will be eaten by Cannibals!”
At last I replied, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and
your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by
worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and
honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I
am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my
resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our
risen Redeemer.”
The old gentleman, raising his hands in a deprecating attitude, left
the room exclaiming,—
“After that I have nothing more to say!”
My dear Green Street people grieved excessively at the thought of
my leaving them, and daily pled with me to remain. Indeed, the
opposition was so strong from nearly all, and many of them warm
Christian friends, that I was sorely tempted to question whether I
was carrying out the Divine will, or only some headstrong wish of my
own. This also caused me much anxiety, and drove me close to God
in prayer. But again every doubt would vanish, when I clearly saw
that all at home had free access to the Bible and the means of grace,
with Gospel light shining all around them, while the poor Heathen
were perishing, without even the chance of knowing all God’s love
and mercy to men. Conscience said louder and clearer every day,
“Leave all these results with Jesus your Lord, who said, ‘Go ye into all
the world, preach the gospel to every creature, and lo! I am with you
alway.’” These words kept ringing in my ears; these were our
marching orders.
Some retorted upon me, “There are Heathen at home; let us seek
and save, first of all, the lost ones perishing at our doors.” This I felt
to be most true, and an appalling fact; but I unfailingly observed that
those who made this retort neglected these home Heathen
themselves; and so the objection, as from them, lost all its power.
They would ungrudgingly spend more on a fashionable party at
dinner or tea, on concert or ball or theatre, or on some ostentatious
display, or worldly and selfish indulgence, ten times more, perhaps
in a single day, than they would give in a year, or in half a lifetime,
for the conversion of the whole Heathen World, either at home or
abroad. Objections from all such people must, of course, always
count for nothing among men to whom spiritual things are realities.
For these people themselves,—I do, and always did, only pity them,
as God’s stewards, making such a miserable use of time and money
entrusted to their care.
On meeting with so many obstructing influences, I again laid the
whole matter before my dear parents, and their reply was to this
effect:—“Heretofore we feared to bias you, but now we must tell you
why we praise God for the decision to which you have been led. Your
father’s heart was set upon being a Minister, but other claims forced
him to give it up. When you were given to them, your father and
mother laid you upon the altar, their first-born, to be consecrated, if
God saw fit, as a Missionary of the Cross; and it has been their
constant prayer that you might be prepared, qualified, and led to this
very decision; and we pray with all our heart that the Lord may
accept your offering, long spare you, and give you many souls from
the Heathen World for your hire.” From that moment, every doubt as
to my path of duty for ever vanished. I saw the hand of God very
visibly, not only preparing me for, but now leading me to, the
Foreign Mission field.
Well did I know that the sympathy and prayers of my dear parents
were warmly with me in all my studies and in all my Mission work;
but for my education they could, of course, give me no money help.
All through, on the contrary, it was my pride and joy to help them,
being the eldest in a family of eleven. First, I assisted them to
purchase the family cow, without whose invaluable aid my ever-
memorable mother never could have reared and fed her numerous
flock; then, I paid for them the house-rent and the cow’s grass on the
Bank Hill, till some of the others grew up and relieved me by paying
these in my stead; and finally, I helped to pay the school-fees, to
provide clothing—in short I gave, and gladly, what could possibly be
saved out of my City Mission salary of £40, ultimately advanced to
£45 per annum. Self-educated thus, and without the help of one
shilling from any other source, readers will easily imagine that I had
many a staggering difficulty to overcome in my long curriculum in
Arts, Divinity, and Medicine; but God so guided me, and blessed all
my little arrangements, that I never incurred one farthing of personal
debt. There was, however, a heavy burden always pressing upon me,
and crushing my spirit from the day I left my home, which had been
thus incurred.
The late owner of the Dalswinton estate allowed, as a prize, the
cottager who had the tidiest house and most beautiful flower-garden
to sit rent free. For several years in succession, my old sea-faring
grandfather won this prize, partly by his own handy skill, partly by
his wife’s joy in flowers. Unfortunately no clearance-receipt had been
asked or given for these rents—the proprietor and his cottars treating
each other as friends rather than as men of business. The new heir,
unexpectedly succeeding, found himself in need of money, and
threatened prosecution for such rents as arrears. The money had to
be borrowed. A money-lending lawyer gave it at usurious interest, on
condition of my father also becoming responsible for interest and
principal. This burden hung like a millstone around my grandfather’s
neck till the day of his death; and it then became suspended round
my father’s neck alone. The lawyer, on hearing of my giving up trade
and entering upon study, threatened to prosecute my father for the
capital, unless my name were given along with his for security. Every
shilling that I or any of us could save, all through these ten years of
my preparatory classes, went to pay off that interest and gradually to
reduce the capital; and this burden we managed, amongst us, to
extinguish just on the eve of my departure for the South Seas.
Indeed, one of the purest joys connected with that time was that I
received my first Foreign Mission salary and outfit money in
advance, and could send home a sum sufficient to wipe out the last
penny of a claim by that money-lender or by any one else against my
beloved parents, in connection with the noble struggle they had
made in rearing so large a family in thorough Scottish independence.
And that joy was hallowed by the knowledge that my other brothers
and sisters were now all willing and able to do what I had been doing
—for we stuck to each other and to the old folks like burs, and had all
things “in common,” as a family in Christ—and I knew that never
again, howsoever long they might be spared through a peaceful
autumn of life, would the dear old father and mother lack any joy or
comfort that the willing hands and loving hearts of all their children
could singly or unitedly provide. For all this I did praise the Lord. It
consoled me, beyond description, in parting from them, probably for
ever in this world at least.
The Directors of Glasgow City Mission along with the Great
Hamilton Street congregation, had made every effort to find a
suitable successor to me in my Green Street work, but in vain.
Despairing of success, as no inexperienced worker could with any
hope undertake it, Rev. Mr. Caie, the superintendent, felt moved to
appeal to my brother Walter,—then in a good business situation in
the city, who had been of late closely associated with me in all my
undertakings,—if he would not come to the rescue, devote himself to
the Mission, and prepare for the Holy Ministry. My brother resigned
a good position and excellent prospects in the business world, set
himself to carry forward the Green Street Mission and did so with
abundant energy and manifest blessing, persevered in his studies,
despite a long-continued illness through injury to his foot, and
became an honoured Minister of the Gospel, in the Reformed
Presbyterian Church first of all, and now in the Free Church of
Scotland, at Chapelton, near Hamilton.
On my brother withdrawing from Green Street, God provided for
the district a devoted young Minister, admirably adapted for the
work, Rev. John Edgar, M.A., who succeeded in drawing together
such a body of people that they hived off and built a new church in
Landressy Street, which is now, by amalgamation, known as the
Barrowfield Free Church of Glasgow. For that fruit too, while giving
all praise to other devoted workers, we bless God as we trace the
history of our Green Street Mission. Let him that soweth and him
that reapeth rejoice unfeignedly together! The spirit of the old Green
Street workers lives on too, as I have already said, in the new
premises erected close thereby; and in none more conspicuously
than in the son of my staunch patron and friend, another Thomas
Binnie, Esq., who in Foundry Boy meetings and otherwise devotes
the consecrated leisure of a busy and prosperous life to the direct
personal service of his Lord and Master. The blessing of Jehovah
God be ever upon that place, and upon all who there seek to win their
fellows to the love and service of Jesus Christ!
When I left Glasgow, many of the young men and women of my
classes would, if it had been possible, have gone with me, to live and
die among the Heathen. Though chiefly working girls and lads in
trades and mills, their deep interest led them to unite their pence
and sixpences and to buy web after web of calico, print, and woollen
stuffs, which they themselves shaped and sewed into dresses for the
women, and kilts and pants for men, on the New Hebrides. This
continued to be repeated year by year, long after I had left them; and
to this day no box from Glasgow goes to the New Hebrides Mission
which does not contain article after article from one or other of the
old Green Street hands. I do certainly anticipate that, when they and
I meet in Glory, those days in which we learned the joy of Christian
service in the Green Street Mission Halls will form no unwelcome
theme of holy and happy converse!
That able and devoted Minister of the Gospel, Dr. Bates, the
Convener of the Heathen Missions, had taken the deepest and most
fatherly interest in all our preparations. But on the morning of our
final examinations he was confined to bed with sickness; yet could
not be content without sending his daughter to wait in an adjoining
room near the Presbytery House, to learn the result, and instantly to
carry him word. When she, hurrying home, informed him that we
both had passed successfully, and that the day of our ordination as
Missionaries to the New Hebrides had been appointed, the apostolic
old man praised God for the glad tidings, and said his work was now
done, and that he could depart in peace,—having seen two devoted
men set apart to preach the Gospel to these dark and bloody Islands
in answer to his prayers and tears for many a day. Thereafter he
rapidly sank, and soon fell asleep in Jesus. He was from the first a
very precious friend to me, one of the ablest Ministers our Church
ever had, by far the warmest advocate of her Foreign Missions, and
altogether a most attractive, white-souled, and noble specimen of an
ambassador for Christ, beseeching men to be reconciled to God.
Stanford’s Geog. Estabt.,
London.