The United States, which has to-day such an efficient organisation for the succour of the sick and wounded soldiers, owes the inception of the movement to Florence Nightingale. When the American Civil War broke out in 1860, her name had become a talisman not only to her fellow-countrymen, but to English-speaking people all over the world, and to her example the women of the United States looked when their land became devastated by war. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, women in the leading cities of the States formed themselves into working parties to provide lint and bandages and suitable clothing for the suffering soldiery. But as the colossal needs of the regiments being formed all over the States became apparent, a special Sanitary Commission was, at the instance of various Medical and Relief Associations, founded by the Secretary of War to deal with the sick and wounded in hospital and camp. Hundreds of women volunteered as nurses, and in time a most efficient organisation was built up. [Illustration: MISS NIGHTINGALE AFTER HER RETURN FROM THE CRIMEA. (_Photo by Keene, Derby._) [_To face p. 272._ ] The observations and advice of Miss Nightingale were continually laid before this Commission, and her name became almost as much a household word in the States as at home. She was regarded as the great friend of the American soldiers and the beneficent genius of their hospitals. Had Miss Nightingale been in a more robust state of health, there is little doubt that she would have visited America during this great crisis, to give personal help in the initial work of the establishment of army nursing. About this period, also, the seed of her example bore fruit in the establishment of the Red Cross Society, the branches of which to-day cover the civilised world. The honour of the inception belongs to M. Henri Dunant, a citizen of Geneva, who, appalled by the fearful carnage and disease among the soldiery in the Italian campaign, succeeded in drawing together an International Congress at the city of Geneva on October 26th, 1863, to consider how a neutral body might be formed for the relief of the wounded in battle. The result of Henri Dunant’s grand scheme was the extension of the work begun by Florence Nightingale in the Crimea over the entire Continent of Europe by means of the Red Cross Societies, which act in close relationship with their respective Governments and in conjunction with the army. The work thus begun spread rapidly when that most sanguinary struggle of modern times, the Franco-German War, broke out in 1870. During that period Miss Nightingale’s advice was repeatedly sought and she was specially appealed to by the German authorities when organising their medical and nursing corps. CHAPTER XXII _WISDOM FROM THE QUEEN OF NURSES_ Literary Activity--_Notes on Hospitals_--_Notes on Nursing_--Hints for the Amateur Nurse--Interest in the Army in India--Writings on Indian Reforms.