March 1856.
“It is notified, by order of the Secretary of State for War, that Miss Nightingale is recognized by Her Majesty’s Government as the General Superintendent of the Female Nursing Establishment of the Military Hospitals of the Army. No lady, sister, or nurse is to be transmitted from one Hospital to another, or into any Hospital, without previous consultation with her. Her instructions, however, require her to have the approval of the Principal Medical Officer, in her exercise of the responsibility thus vested in her.
“The Principal Medical Officer will communicate with Miss Nightingale upon all subjects connected with the Female Nursing Establishment, and will give his directions through that lady.”
II.
Nurses.
1. Our Nurses were of four sorts.
- Nuns.
- Sisters (Anglican).
- Ladies.
- Nurses.
The Nuns were received not as Nuns, but as Nurses.
Their (so called) training told sometimes against us; sometimes for us. The same with the “Sisters” (Anglican).
The Ladies were useful, exactly in proportion as they approached the professional, and not the dilettante, mode of thought.