As women, the more entirely they are under the government of the Matron, herself under the government of the Superintendent-General, the better. As Ward Nurses, the more entirely they are under the orders of their Surgeons, the better; but they have not only to obey the Surgeons, they have to enforce the Surgeons’ orders among the patients, and both for so doing, and for the cleanliness, &c., of the ward, they have to give orders to the Orderlies. In the case where a rule will work, by which, if the Nurse has to complain of an Orderly, she reports the same to the Matron, who lays the complaint before the chief of the Orderlies (whatever may be fixed upon as his name); well and good; but a more direct procedure will also be found necessary. Every firm and discreet woman (none other is fit for a male ward, least of all for a military ward), will avoid collisions, reports, and violent outbreaks in the ward as much as possible. But still, every now and then these things will happen, and though by all means to be avoided if possible, when they do come, they clear the ward-atmosphere like a storm, provided the discipline be strict. Every now and then--and every experienced Head Nurse will tell the same story--some disobedience, slovenliness, truculence, or sly impudence, will arise in the ward, and she will find she cannot put it down alone. If she remain helplessly deprecating or scolding the men, her position becomes at once an unseemly and a dangerous one, as that of all contemned authority is. In such a case, in the Civil Hospital, the Head Nurse goes straight, according to the nature of the case, to the House Surgeon or to the Steward, unless the visiting hour be at hand, and she judges it best to refer to the Surgeon. Discretion is again here required, as in everything in Hospitals; but between the Surgeon and the Steward, a firm, discreet Head Nurse will generally get the ringleader expelled, and two or three others, named or unnamed, warned of a similar fate. After this sort of explosion, the ward is quiet and orderly for months. The thing is seldom done, but the patients know it can be done at any time, and that it will be done, in such or such a contingency.