Florence Nightingale, 1820-1910

[Mentioned in Science and Health, p. 385]

On England's annals, through the long
Hereafter of her speech and song,
That light its rays shall cast
From portals of the past.

A Lady with a Lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land,
A noble type of good,
Heroic womanhood.

Longfellow's "Santa Filomena," from which these lines are quoted, was inspired by what one English soldier out in the Crimea wrote home about Florence Nightingale: "She would speak to one and another and nod and smile to many more; but she could not do it to all, you know, for we lay there by hundreds; but we could kiss her shadow as it fell, and lay our heads on our pillows again content." Another soldier paid this tribute to her: "Before she came, there was cussin" and swearin', but after that it was as 'oly as a church." When the orderlies and nurses had retired, Miss Nightingale began her rounds, lamp in hand, along the miles of corridors, checking details, comforting the men, and often writing messages home for them. This night work meant that many days she was on her feet twenty hours.

Female nurses had never before been admitted to an English military hospital, but dispatches in The [London] Times reporting neglect and unnecessary hardships led the Secretary of War to send Miss Nightingale to the Crimea.

She did things no one else had time for : she scrubbed floors, laundered, cooked. In a short time the mortality rate dropped from 60% to 1%. After improving conditions at the Barrack Hospital in Scutari, she visited other hospitals, carrying on her reforms. At the close of the Crimean War the only testimonial she would allow was the collection of funds for the founding of a training school for nurses. This was opened at St. Thomas's Hospital in London. Thus she became the founder of modern nursing.

Born of wealthy parents, Florence Nightingale had the advantages of traveling and education. From childhood, when she nursed her pets, cared for drooping plants, and visited the village poor, she had a sense of service. This underlay her later achievements as a great nurse, teacher, and sanitarian. A more appropriate gift could not have been given her than the brooch which Queen Victoria presented. It consisted of a St. George's Cross in red enamel and the Royal cypher surmounted by diamonds. It was encircled by the inscription, "Blessed are the merciful."

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