DR. GILES ON WOMEN NURSES: A TESTIMONY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11198, 19 October 1899, Page 6

DR. GILES ON WOMEN NURSES: A TESTIMONY.

TO THE KDITOIt. . , Sir,-It is quite right that every opinion held in good faith should be plainly stated and openly discussed. The more eccentric or paradoxical the opinion, tiie more reason why it should be permitted to challenge and abide criticism. For this reason no objection can reasonably be made to the publication bv Dr. Bakewcll of his remarkable opinions upon the qualifications of women m general, and "ladies" in particular, to render help as nurses to rick and wounded soldiers; and 1 do not think I should have asked your permission to say a word on the subject but .or the evident disparagement of Miss Nightingale and her staff, contained in Dr. Bakewell's contribution. I did not go to Balaclava during the Crimean War, but I spent some months at that pest-house known as the Barrack Hospital, at Scutari, and during a part of that time my work lay regularly in that part of the hospital more immediately undei the personal caro of Miss Nightingale. I was therefore brought into frequent personal relations with her, and was able to observe day by day her demeanour and her methods, I also had to do, not only with some of Miss Nightingale's nurses, but also with Catholic sisters of some religious order; and of one of these in particular, with whom ■ I regularly worked for a time, I have such a recollection as enables me to endorse in a (jenerri way the praise which Dr. Bakewcll accords to these pious ladies, inconsistent p J it seems with his general disparagement of feminine humanity, as material for making nurses. But I assert that no sister of any order in the universe could show more devotion to the work of nursing the sick and wounded than Miss Nightingale. Alike in great tilings and in small, her care of her patients could not be surpassed. Quick to perceive and prompt to supply the smallest thing that could contribute to their wellbeing, she was also ready for all emergencies, however sudden and however trying. If a capital operation had to be undertaken at any hour of the day or night, the surgeon always found Miss Nightingale on the spot, ready with all appliances for the performance of the operation, and for the support and comfort of the patient, and all this was dono in the quietest way possible, with such calm precision as to demonstrate her possession of extraordinary powers of organisation. One noteworthy feature in Miss Nightingale's conduct was the strictness with which she refrained from the slightest appearanco of encroachment on the sphere of the medical officers, and the deference with which she treated the opinions and directions of even the youngest and least experienced of them. What she must have thought in her heart of some of the things that were done or left undone by medical officers is past guessing, but her wonderful self-command never permitted the smallest manifestation of disgust or contempt. I can well remember how at many a bedside she deferred to my directions in matters in which she could have given me points, and in which I was only anxious to know her opinion. Upon the whole I have never boon able to form a higher ideal of womanly sweetness and dignity, of devotion to duty, and of tender love of humanity, than was shown to mo in the person of Florence Nightingale. Dr. Bakewell statos as a proof that Miss Nightingale had a poor opinion of her nurses, that she would not allow them to attend sick officers. I think this statement is rather too unqualified, but if correct, it scarcely warrants the inference drawn from it, for it must be remembered that officers were generally able to command rather better accommodation and moro comfort than the soldiers in the wards and corridors; and Miss Nightingale was under the necessity of economising her nursing staff. My own recollection is that when I was mysejf laid up with illness at a house outside the hospital, I was told that Miss Nightingale could not spare any nurses to attend officers generally, but that she would, if possible, make an exception in the case of medical officers. The medical officer who came to see me, thinking worse of me than I did of myself, went to Miss Nightingale to see if lie could got a nurse for me. The result was that one of those human beings described by Dr. Bakewcll as not " ladies, but good, honest, industrious, and intelligent women." came to mo, and in a very short time effected a surprising change 111 my comfort and serenity of spirits. I havo every reason to remember her with gratitude, but I think I could find ladies rf polish and refinement who would not be less efficient in the nursing lino. At all events I submit that my account of the reasons wh\> sick officers did not readily get nurses'is more probable than Dr. Bakewell's, and more ail* thentic than the " story" that he remembers to have heard. With regard to personal preferences 111 sickness, de gustibus noil est disputandum; and I can only wish that Dr. Bakewell will have what will most conduce to his comfort in tile hour of his need. I hope that in mine women's hands and faces may not be wanting. • Fractus cum fuerim inorbo vel vulnere vultus ' Time mihi ne desiut fcemineoeque manna. -I am, etc., J. Giles. Garston, Mauku, October 16, 1899,