DR. HENRI LANGIS iant.”! As early as 30 years of age, Dr. Langis has grey hair, “a family trait,” he explains. He is a lively person, humorous, and what’s more for the ladies. . . he is a professional man and a bachelor! First operation of the mastoid On March 31, 1887, Dr. Langis obtains his licence to practice medicine in B.C., for $10. Perhaps it is due to the losses he suffered in the fire that he embarks, this time, in a partnership. Dr. W.J. McGuigan, who will become mayor of Vancouver in 1904, is his partner. Their office is located at 309 Abbott Street.+ Dr. Langis also works at the City Hospital on Beatty Street. It is there that he performs the first mastoid (tiny bone in the ear canal) operation in Vancouver. The patient is himself a young French Canadian. What is so remarkable about this surgery is that Dr. Langis, lacking all the necessary delicate instruments (lost in the fire), has to find alternate resources. Showing great ingenuity, he dashes to Tom Dunn’s hardware store and after having thoroughly examined the smallest samples of some particular tools, he purchases a carpenter’s brace and bit, a chisel and a hammer, and gets back to the hospital in record time. The operation is a success and the young patient recovers _in a normal fashion.’ ‘Vancouver at. the turn of the 20th century By 1890, Vancouver boasts 5 schools enrolling 1,200 students, 1 city hall, 7 sawmills, 55 hotels, 2 iron foundries, a sugar refinery (Rogers), the provincial government building and courthouse, 3 chartered banks, the buildings of the public services which are: telephone, light and tramway, and the fire department with its two stations and 33 firemen.’ The smallpox epidemic “Oh yes, I should say it was a scare in 1893; we had thirty- two cases of smallpox; sixteen of them at Cedar Cove, and sixteen at Deadmans Island. I was in charge of Cedar Cove and lost two... . The people were so scared they would not let the Victoria boats land their passengers at the CPR | wharf... . The first case came from Victoria.”! St. Paul’s Hospital This affliction surely opens up many eyes and the need for a more suitable hospital makes itself more and more apparent. That is how, in March 1894, a first step is being taken in that direction. Answering the “long desire” of the Oblate missionaries, the Reverend Sisters de la Charité de la Providence§ come to Vancouver and purchase “.. . 7 lots of lands measuring 125 feet by 66 feet for the sum of $9000.”8 The lots are situated on Burrard and Pendrell Streets, then uncleared land along the path leading to English Bay. On the following month of May, construction of the four-storey hospital measuring 78 by 48 feet begins. The first patient is admitted § The Sisters of Providence are renowned for their work in social and medical care. “. . . They have founded several dozen hospitals, asylums, ophanages, clinics and old age homes throughout the Northwest.” Le chronographe Volume III no. 1-2, Printemps-Eté 1986 the 21st of November 1894 and the day after, Monseigneur Paul Durieu, O.M.L., first Roman Catholic Bishop of New Westminster, blesses the 25-bed hospital named in his honour. The nursing sisters are soon joined by a“. ..corps of pioneer medical men including Drs. Langis, McGuigan. Lefebvre, McPhillips and L.N..McKechnie.”? Dr. Langis, his practice The partnership of the two doctors Langis & McGuigan will last 20 years. “... Together they gained rapidly a reputation for their work in surgery and obstetrics.”!° Dr. Langis cares for anyone requesting his services. His patients include“. . . Chinese, Japanese, native Indians, and people of assorted European nationalities.” He also cares for “. . .another group of second-class citizens, the women of the red-light district. He attended Laura Scott and her employees from 1890 to 1904... . He did not have such sustained contact with other bawdy houses, but did record visits to ‘Helen’ at Sadie Talbot’s and to ‘Pearl,’ ‘Thelma,’ and a number of other women living on Dupont Street.”° Domain St. Evar, Vancouver Island Around 1909, Dr. Langis purchases a farm on Vancouver Island in Parksville, and in 1914, at the age of 57, suffering from neuritis, he decides to retire. He will do so at his farm which he named St. Evar (Evariste). There he will nurse himself for the next 22 years, never missing, however, his annual visits to Vancouver to see his nephew Edmond. a Kerrisdale businessman. His death, 1937 In 1936, Dr. Langis returns to Vancouver. He stays at his nephew’s residence. The reason of his return is that in order to pursue his studies on cancer, he wants to open up a clinic for the prevention of the disease. But, alas, he will never see his dream come true. On voting day, June 1st, 1937, weakened by the last two weeks of bad health, Dr. Langis manages with difficulty to go to the polls to vote. There he meets up with some old friends and has with them his last lively conversation. The day after,!* a few hours after being admitted to St. Paul’s Hospital, he dies of an apoplectic seizure (stroke).!° : What he leaves behind Dr. Langis’ reputation was not only one of a good physician and surgeon, but also one of a good businessman. He left a considerable fortune to his family. St. Evar farm went to his nephew Edmond, who died a year after his uncle, at age 49. Margaret Andrews writes that Dr. Langis’ income increased from $2,590 in 1889 to $9,500 in 1904, whereas the average early 1900 t {| Young Edmond Langis came to B.C. at the request of his uncle Henri Evariste. Around 1914, in his early twenties, he opened a dried foodstuffs manufacture, packaging products such as: bouillon base and cubes, soup mix, etc. His company was later bought by Lipton Co.!3 Edmond Langis died suddenly in his home, December 16, 1938 at the age of 49.