It ought not to be necessary to mention the necessity of plenty of tools and the right kind of tools for ward work—plenty of basins, and syringes, and dressing pans, and instruments, and drinking-cups, and medicine glasses, and the thousand and one little things that go to make up the complete furnishings of the hospital ward. But, as a matter of fact, many nurses go through their course of training hampered by a lack of facilities for proper work. One set of instruments for dressing is provided, where several are needed at the same time; insufficient linen to keep the beds and their occupants clean is the rule, and so on indefinitely. [Sidenote: Destruction of Appliances] On the other hand, head nurses and hospital housekeepers lament over the carelessness of nurses and the constant destruction of hospital appliances. Just what course to pursue with the girl who every few days puts a rubber catheter or rectal tube or nozzle on to boil, and lets it burn up; who pours boiling drinks into glass tumblers, and thereby keeps up a constant breakage; who leaves hypodermic needles without wires, and finds them useless when needed again; who breaks medicine glasses and fails to report the accident, till the head nurse finds her measuring medicine with a spoon; who puts the thermometer into the mouths of delirious patients or children, and goes away and forgets it; who lets the sterilizer boil dry; who puts glass syringes and appliances in unsafe places, and returns to find them broken—just what course to pursue to correct these destructive tendencies is an ever-recurring problem to the hospital housekeeper. Nurses who are most careful and conscientious in carrying out the doctor’s orders, and in their duties to the patients, frequently lack that fine sense of honor regarding their duty to the hospital and the care of materials. A deposit for breakage is now demanded in some hospitals when a nurse enters for training. If this is not done the nurse should be made to replace articles destroyed and to pay for repairs that are rendered necessary by her carelessness. Proper economy in the use of hospital goods is an important lesson for nurses to learn early in their career, and one which will demand frequent emphasis throughout their course. Gas stoves are left burning when not in use, and help to swell the gas bill. Milk is left out of the ice-box, and quickly becomes unfit for use. Materials of various kinds that could be utilized are thrown away. The destruction or waste of one article seems a very trivial affair, but in the aggregate such trivial affairs amount to hundreds of dollars in the course of a year. The cost of rubber sheets alone is an important item in ward expenses. The best will soon crack if folded when not in use. If loops of tape are fastened to the corners and the sheets hung against a closet wall when not in use, they will be found to last twice as long. [Sidenote: Screens]