The Washington herald., 1908-05-03

ent insight Of one Of the first great Amer
leans The plants that Sir Joseph Hooker
has added 10 the botanical knowledge OK
the world number tens Of thousands. lit
orally. One Of litcrature's latter-day clas-
sizes is THE ReveTies of a Bachelor It
is 10 be found in every library of the land,
and it still profoundly affects It's thou
sands as It did in the days Of our grand
fathers d. Q. Mills. through his famous
Mills hotels, has shown how the respect
able poor may be housed and fed at rea-
sonable prices
Two Workers for Mankind.
But important and far reaching as have
been some Of the works or most OF the
links it is uudsputed that none other
has done so great service for mankind
as either Lord Lister and Florence Night
ingale. The one has made the average
surgical operation "a means TO health. and
not, as before antiseptics, a last resort TO
save life. The other has given the trained
nurse. with all the attendant blessings, to
the worlds sickroom.
Which has conferred the larger benefit
on mankind? England herself has found
IL difficult to decide, evidently judging
from the honors she has conferred on
each
When Florence Nightingale slipped
quietly into England after the Chimean
war was over, in order to avoid a demon
stration, she was given testimonial OF
&5o,0oo, subscribed By the people. BY de-
voting this testimonial 10 the foundation
Of the Nightingale Home for the training
of nurses. she not only increased the love
OF the nation for her. but soon demon
strated TO the public that sanitary and in
telligent nursing is as essential 70 life IN
time Of peace as in time OF war. From
that day TO this Miss Nightingale has
been one Of the idols Of England. in fact,
the whole world. Hers was the second
name 10 be placed on the roll of the Order
OF the Red Cross when It was created.
Recently King Edward decorated her with
the Order Of Merit and still more re-
Gently the freedom of the city OF London
was conferred on her. Only one other
woman has been similarly honored, the
late Baroness Burdett-COutts.
Lord Lister has been formally honored
not only by his government. but also by
medical societies the world over. and by
people generally familiar with the results
Of his revolutionary discovery. Created
a baronet in 1888, fourteen years later he
was made a baron; he is sergeant sur
geon in ordinary TO King Edward; was
| surgeon extraordinary TO Queen Victoria,
and has been the head of two OF Eng
lands most famous scientific societies.
the Royal Society. from 1895 70 1900. and
the British Association for the Advance
ment Of Science. 1886.
Leads Nurses to Front,
Her sympathles aroused by the tales Of
| hospital horrors from the Crimea, Miss
Nightingale volunteered to lead a band
of women nurses to the front, and so
revolutionized the methods Of caring for
the sick and wounded everywhere. His
sympathies aroused by the terrible death
rate following operations in the hospital
to which he was attached Lister began
his search for a way to cut down the
death rate. and so revolutionized surgery.
Miss Nightingale, at the front would
brook no army red tape in connection
with the thousands of sufferers under her
charge Once. when medical stores we're
refused her because they had not yet
| been inspected. she herself directed the
breaking down OF the door and the car
Tying away of her DEMONSTRATING stores.
Listers insistence that his wards, assist
ants, nurses, and patients be kept serupu-
lousy clean verged on the tyrannical,
but, like Miss Nightingale's calm disre-
gard for military red tape. it produced
results
BY walking up and down the rows of
wounded in the hours of the long night
carrying her little lamp and here strok-
| ing a fevered forehead, there giving q
drink of water again cheering with a
word or smile, Miss Nightingale endeared
| herself TO every soldier with whom she
came in contact. Thus the name OF The
Angel of the Lamp" by which she be-
came known the world over, and which
Longfeliow used for the theme of his
beautiful poetical tribute TO its bearer.
Kindness, too, has been one of Listers
characteristics. though kindness of a
gruffer kind. Four years following his
great discovery the demands on his time
| for professional services were simJ Iy
enormous: yet he always managed sol le-
/ how to find room for an errand of mercy
or love. Meeting by chance a country
| physician who had been a student under
him, Lister asked after the others moth
er- On learning that the old lady was
suffering from dangerous external