Florence Nightingale as seen in her portraits : with a sketch of her life, and an account of her relation to the origin of the Red Cross Society.

  • Abbott, Maude E. (Maude Elizabeth), 1869-1940.
Date:
[1916]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Florence Nightingale as seen in her portraits : with a sketch of her life, and an account of her relation to the origin of the Red Cross Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material is part of the Elmer Belt Florence Nightingale collection. The original may be consulted at University of California Libraries.

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    the men washed and put to bed, and their wounds dressed. It was with such numbers and with similar emergencies, under circum- stances of extreme complexity, that Miss Night- ingale had to cope, during that first six months. The fact that there was gross maladministra- tion in every department of these hospitals at the time of her arrival, has been clearly estab- lished by the Royal Commission appointed at the time. The trouble was partly due to an or- ganization without central authority, partly to gross ignorance of ordinary hygiene, partly to the want of the woman's touch, and in part doubtless to the real lack of capacity of certain officials to deal with a novel situation. Miss Nightingale brought all her powers of tact, courage, judgment and resolution to meet the exigencies of the case. The large public funds that had been placed at her disposal by the Times and other sources, as well as her own private income, enabled her to tide over a situa- tion otherwise hopeless; but the problem re- mained to meet these urgent necessities within the limitations set by military rigidity and pro- fessional jealousy, for she realized from the out- set that strict discipline must be observed by herself, and a proper subordination to the med- ical officers in charge. Much has been said of her irregular methods of cutting tlie Gordian knots of her dilemmas by supplies from her own reserves or by deliberate and unauthorized in- vasion of the purveyor's stores. But she never neglected to support such action by a medical requisition, and investigation shows that she never set authority causelessly aside. Rather she had the insight of that perfect discipline, which recognizes the point at which the break- ing of the letter is the fulfilment of the spirit of the law! Many of the difficulties are detailed in her letters to Lord Herbert, with suggestions for their redress. Thus, on her arrival there was no