4. As regards labour, cleaning oiled boards, though a laborious business, is much less so than either scrubbing or _frottéing_; and is fully within the power of average strong women: none other should nurse. (What subdivision of cleaning the ward, and of nursing properly so-called, might both improve the work done and relieve the Nurses, is another thing; my impression remains, that it is better to consider these things to a certain extent as distinct duties, discharged by women ranking alike; and that in a ward of forty, served by a Head Nurse and three Nurses, to charge one with the main ward cleaning, is better economy of strength and time than to divide it among the three). 5. As regards labour, any Orderly giving his mind to it for a day at the shortest, or a week at the longest, ought to learn thoroughly how to clean polished oiled boards well, always supposing him to be properly taught a very simple thing, which, like everything else, can be done well, ill, or indifferently. 6. Apart from the question of labour augmented or spared, the advantages of oiled and polished boards I believe to be these:-- (1.) Prevention of dust. (2.) More easy purification of the air of the ward in the morning. The air of every ward becomes more or less impure during the night, and the floor and furniture more or less dusty. Making the beds in the morning adds to the dust the night has accumulated. The dust is more thoroughly destroyed by the cleaning necessary to oiled and polished boards _of the Bethanien variety_, than by any other cleaning I have seen. It is fairly destroyed; whereas both _parquets_ and boards generally retain a little. Also, the water, with which the oiled boards after being swept are cleaned, freshens the ward and purifies it of the closeness remaining of the night air, in a very speedy and remarkable manner, which is even more evident as well as more useful in winter than in summer--as in winter it is not possible to admit as much air from the windows as in summer, especially when it is most wanted, in the cold, close, early mornings. The advantages of oiled and polished boards as counteracting the spread of miasma, which is strongly dwelt on at Berlin by competent authorities, I have not alluded to, as probably _parquets_ are considered equal in these respects to them. Stains, mess, and dirt falling on polished oiled boards are much more easily cleaned than on parquets. NOTE. _Mode of Cleaning Ward and Room Floors at Bethanien, Berlin._ I. DAILY. 1. Take a common hair broom, a broom with a hard brush, a cloth of coarse flax, and one or two pails of cold water. 2. Sweep the floor and skirtings with the hair broom.