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NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE (1820–191o)

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 685 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NIGHTINGALE, See also:FLORENCE (1820–191o) , younger daughter of See also:William See also:Edward Nightingale of Ernbley See also:Park, See also:Hampshire, and See also:Lea See also:Hurst, See also:Derbyshire, was See also:born at Florence on the 15th of May 182o, and named after that See also:city, but her childhood was spent in See also:England, chiefly in Derbyshire. From her earliest years her strong love of nature and animals manifested itself. Her See also:games, too, were characteristic, for her See also:great delight was to See also:nurse and bandage her dolls. Her first living patient was a shepherd's See also:dog. From tending animals she passed to human beings, and wherever there was sorrow or suffering she was sure to be found. Her most ardent See also:desire was to use her talents for the benefit of humanity. She had a natural shrinking from society; and though her social position necessitated her presentation at See also:Court, her first See also:season in See also:town was spent in examining into the working of hospitals, reformatories and other charitable institutions. This was followed by a tour of inspection of See also:foreign hospitals. At that See also:time England was sadly behind-See also:hand in matters of See also:nursing and sanitation, and See also:Miss Nightingale, who desired to obtain the best possible teaching for herself, went through a course of training in the See also:Institute of See also:Protestant Deaconesses at See also:Kaiserswerth. She remained there six months, learning every detail of See also:hospital management with a thoroughness rarely equalled. Miss Nightingale neglected nothing that could make her proficient in her self-chosen task. From Kaiserswerth she went to See also:Paris, where she studied the See also:system of nursing and management in the hospitals under the See also:charge of the sisters of St See also:Vincent de See also:Paul.

After her return to England she devoted herself to reorganizing the Governesses' See also:

Sanatorium in Harley See also:Street (now the See also:Home for Gentlewomen during Temporary Illness), which was at that time badly managed and in great need of funds. Miss Nightingale grudged neither time nor See also:money to this See also:work, and she had the See also:satisfaction of placing it on a thoroughly satisfactory basis. In the See also:year 1854 England was stirred to its depths by the See also:report of the sufferings of the sick and wounded in the See also:Crimea. There was an utter See also:absence of the commonest preparations to carry out the first and simplest demands in a See also:place set apart to receive the sick and wounded of a large See also:army. The See also:condition of the large barrack-hospital at See also:Scutari was deplorable. A royal See also:commission of inquiry was appointed, a patriotic fund opened, and money flowed in fast. To Miss Nightingale this proved the See also:trumpet-See also:call of See also:duty. She wrote to See also:Sidney See also:Herbert, secretary at See also:war, and offered her services. Her See also:letter crossed with one from him inviting her to proceed to the Crimea. She set out on the 24th See also:October with a See also:staff of See also:thirty-seven nurses, partly See also:volunteers, partly professionals trained in hospitals. They reached Scutari on the 4th of See also:November, in time to receive the See also:Balaklava wounded. A See also:day or two later these were joined by 60o from See also:Inkerman.

The See also:

story of Miss Nightingale's labours at Scutari is one of the brightest pages in See also:English See also:annals. She gave herself, See also:body and soul, to the work. She would stand for'twenty See also:hours at a stretch to sec the wounded accommodated. She regularly took her place in the operation-See also:room, to hearten the sufferers by her presence and sympathy, and at See also:night she would make her solitary See also:round of the wards, See also:lamp in hand, stopping here and there to speak a kindly word to some patient. Soon she had 10,000 men under her charge, and the See also:general superintendence of all the hospitals on the See also:Bosporus. Gradually the effects of the See also:measures adopted were seen in a lowered See also:death-See also:rate. In See also:February 1855 it was as high as 42%, before many months it had sunk to 2. For a time Miss Nightingale was herself prostrated with See also:fever, but she refused to leave her See also:post, and remained at Scutari till See also:Turkey was evacuated by the See also:British in See also:July 1856. The See also:enthusiasm aroused in England by Miss Nightingale's labours was indescribable. A See also:man-of-war was ordered to bring her home, and See also:London prepared to give her a triumphant reception; but she returned quietly in a See also:French See also:ship, crossed to England, and escaped to her See also:country home before the See also:news of her return could leak out. The experiences of those terrible months permanently affected Miss Nightingale's See also:health, but the quiet See also:life she afterwards led was full of usefulness. With the l5o,uoo raised in recognition of her services she founded the Nightingale Home for training nurses at St See also:Thomas's and See also:King's See also:College Hospitals.

She also turned her See also:

attention to the question of army sanitary reform and army hospitals, and to the work of the Army Medical College at See also:Chatham. In 1858 she published her Notes on Nursing, which gave an enormous stimulus to the study of this subject in England. According to Miss Nightingale nursing ought to signify the proper use of fresh See also:air, See also:light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the selection and See also:administration of See also:diet—all at the least expense of vital force to the patient. Miss Nightingale followed with See also:interest all the later improvements in sanitation, and was frequently consulted about hospital plans both at home and abroad. With the help of the See also:County See also:Council Technical Instruction See also:Committee she organized in 1892 a health crusade in See also:Buckinghamshire. Teachers were 'sent round among the cottagers to give See also:practical See also:advice on such points as See also:ventilation, drainage, See also:disinfectants, cleanliness, &c., a See also:plan which, if widely carried out, would bring the most valuable knowledge to every home in England. She is understood to have See also:drawn up a confidential report for the See also:government on the working of the Army Medical See also:Corps in the Crimea, and to have been officially consulted during the See also:American See also:Civil War and the Franco-See also:German See also:Var. In 1907 she received the See also:Order of Merit from King Edward- VII. She died in London on the 13th of See also:August 1910. She is the subject of a beautiful poem by See also:Longfellow, " See also:Santa Filomena," and the popular estimate of her See also:character and See also:mission was summed up in a particularly felicitous See also:anagram, Flit on, See also:cheering See also:angel.

End of Article: NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE (1820–191o)

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