The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-01-26
The Art Has Been Taught and Prac.
tioed Scientifically Only
Thirty Years
From Earliest Ages the Sick Have
Been Cared for by the
Charitable.
Immense Diversity OF Systems as Regards
Training In Different HospItAis-soi-
entlnc aud Practical.

MIS-. beuInfu- EtnWlcht WnOm many
American women will remember pleasant
ly in connection with the British nurses
exhibit at the fair. e~-s the Chicago Her
aid, has been writing about the history
and the art OF nursing in an English pa
per. She says In part:
IL Is only within the last 80 years that
the art of nursing as we now understand
II has been taught and praoticed upon n
scientific basis although from the earliest
ages OF which we possess any records the
fact has been recognized that attendance
on the sick and suffering is a work dictat-
ed by the noblest instincts OF humanity.
Although the names Of celebrated Greek
physicians are handed down 10 US side by
side with those Of their great warriors and
poets, although hospitals built by the
Buddhist kings OF Ceylon and Cashmere
existed for hundreds Of years before the
birth of Christ, and liindoos raised their
"sickhouses" for animals as well as men
centuries before the first Christian zena-
dochium was founded, il is only within
comparatively modern times that we find
any prominent part assigned tonursing In
pablo institutions ina connection with the
healing art. In fact, II was not until
Christianity became a state religion, and
emperors and kings founded hospitals as
part of the duty inculcated upon them by
their creed, that ladies came publicly for
ward to nurse and feed lepers aud beggars,
and knights formed themselves into orders
for the protection Of pilgrims in poverty
or illness. After this brotherhoods were
established, such as the Franciscans, whose
especial duty was the nursing Of the sick
and which still further exemplihed the fact
that it was considered beneath the dignity
of the iron man of those days TO care for
the weakly and the ailing, and that the
attendance upon such was essentially a
work for the gentle and compassionate. In
the old Scandinavian songs and sagas IL
is the women who wait upon the wounded,
watch the dying and mourn the dead. 1t
was their duty to know all the times and
signs Of sickness and TO prepare with mys-
terious rites drugs as well as charms and
love philters.
Then, as time went on, those who de
voted their lives 60 the care Of the sick be-
gan 20 band themselves together into com
munities and sistorhoods, among which
perhaps the most famous were the Hospi-
tai Sisters Of St. Catherine and st. Eliza
beth In the times of great plaques, when
all fed, we learn that 10 was these women
who remained steadfast at their posts dy-
ing among the sufferers whom they had in
charge faithful 20 their calling-a noble
example for all future generations OF
nurses. When, during the crusades, the
terrible scourge Of leprosy spread through
out Europe, its victims ms unhappy out
casts Of society, became the special objects
Of the charity, compassion and self sacri-
flee Of the nurses of that day, and i'm the
lazar houses, which were founded every
where, nurses occupied positions Of much
responsibility and authority. When, du--
ing the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
leprosy died ont, these empty houses were
converted gradually into general hospitals,
which i'm many instances long maintained
their original designation. although their
internal organization was slowly altered
20 meet their new requirements.
A great impulse was given 10 nursing
by Pope Innocent III, who, at the begin
ming of the fifteenth century. established
the great Hospital OF st. Spirito at Rome,
placing il under the control Of Guy de
Montpelier, founder OF the Nursing Or
der of the Holy Ghost. Modified as 10 its
arrangements 20 meet modern views, IL re
mains 20 this day a magnificent monument
Of the beneficent wisdom Of its originator.
The first nursing body bearing n distinct
~ secular character were the Sisters Of
Mercy of St. Vincent de Paul The found
er of that order undoubtedly gave the i'm
pulse 20 modern nursing when he ordained
that his followers should have mo monas-
teries but the house Of the sick, no cells
but a hired room, no clostcrs but the
streets Of the town and the wards Of the
hospitals. no inclosure but obedience and
for convent bars only the fear Of God. For
veil they have a holy and perfect mod
esty, and while they keep themselves from
the infection Of vice they SOW the seeds OF
virtue wherever they turn their stops. -
In England since the downfall Of the
monastic Institutions nursing has passed
almost entirely out Of the hands Of reli-
gious orders. but abroad. until within the
last generation. IL has more or less remain
ell under their control. But everywhere
nursing for more than a century seemed
60 have lost it, former high ideals and e
have lapsed into the hands Of those who
brought discredit on the calling aud often.
times danger 90 the sick. II II only with
IN our own times that the old feeling has
again arisen that q IL woman's prvileg,
% attend upon the sick; that the profes
sion, 40 far from being derogatory, only
calls forth the highest and brightest quail
titles Of womanhood
II Is difficult 20 estimate or even faith
fully describe the advances which hay,
been made during the last 90 years. Larg'
and small hospitals have united In giving
definite instruction in the science aud ar
OF nursing 10 educated Rentlewomen
VINO IN larger ana larger numbers every
year have entered the calling. New an,
improved methods have been and constant
~ are being introduced. and the genera
level ~ usefulness and efficiency Is stradi
Is being raised.
The next and final development In th'
history 81 nursing must consist In iniprov
Ell methods Of education ami Of suhsfqurn
employment for nurses. During the tran
sitiou period through which We have herI
passing IN the last few years. immense di
versity ~ systcm a. regards the trniuiui
given 60 their prohaiio ners hns prevailed
Ia different hospitals. Ia some the scicn
tifc side has been developed highly, II
others the practical side has been chiefl!
insisted upon, and for proper education
Il l. essential that both should receive du
aud equal consideration.
The success Of Hood's hAFsAparilla for scroful
A.