Florence Nightingale to Her Nurses

Book excerpt: "Florence Nightingale to Her Nurses" is a collection of Miss Nightingale's addresses to probation officers and nurses who were serving at St. Thomas's Hospital's Nightingale School. Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was an English social reformer, statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence. She gave nursing a favorable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night. Nightingale's lasting contribution has been her role in founding the modern nursing profession. The first official nurses' training program, her Nightingale School for Nurses, opened in 1860 and is now called the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery at King's College London.