The Life of Florence Nightingale, vol. 1 of 2Cook, Edward Tyas, Sir
History
The Life of Florence Nightingale, vol. 1 of 2
Cook, Edward Tyas, Sir
Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1910
It is with feelings of surprise and anger that the public will
learn that no sufficient preparations have been made for the proper
care of the wounded. Not only are there not sufficient
surgeons--that, it might be urged, was unavoidable; not only are
there no dressers and nurses--that might be a defect of system for
which no one is to blame; but what will be said when it is known
that there is not even linen to make bandages for the wounded? The
greatest commiseration prevails for the sufferings of the unhappy
inmates of Scutari, and every family is giving sheets and old
garments to supply their wants. But why could not this clearly
foreseen want have been supplied? Can it be said that the Battle of
the Alma has been an event to take the world by surprise? Has not
the expedition to the Crimea been the talk of the last four months?
And when the Turks gave up to our use the vast barracks to form a
hospital and depot, was it not on the ground that the loss of the
English troops was sure to be considerable when engaged in so
dangerous an enterprise? And yet, after the troops have been six
months in the country, there is no preparation for the commonest
surgical operations! Not only are the men kept, in some cases, for
a week without the hand of a medical man coming near their wounds;
not only are they left to expire in agony, unheeded and shaken off,
though catching desperately at the surgeon whenever he makes his
rounds through the fetid ship; but now, when they are placed in the
spacious building, where we were led to believe that everything was
ready which could ease their pain or facilitate their recovery, it
is found that the commonest appliances of a workhouse sick-ward are
wanting, and that the men must die through the medical staff of the
British army having forgotten that old rags are necessary for the
dressing of wounds. If Parliament were sitting, some notice would
probably be taken of these facts, which are notorious and have
excited much concern; as it is, it rests with the Government to
make inquiries into the conduct of those who have so greatly
neglected their duty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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