MODERN NURSING. 773 



There is, however, probably no doubt that the mutual action of the 

 atoms, their attractions, and their unequal combining capacity in short, 

 that " affinity " follows the general dynamic and static laws of me- 

 chanical phenomena, and that, in chemistry, as in mechanics, the right 

 of the stronger prevails ; with this assumption, general dynamic and 

 static laws may be developed for the phenomena of chemistry, although 

 the real nature of " affinity " is still entirely unknown. 



THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN 



NURSING.* 



By ABRAHAM JACOBI, M. D. 



"^VTURSING is as old as the human species. Even among animals, 

 -lN such as they are at present, we find occasional sympathy with 

 fellow-suffering, and meet with efforts for the purpose of relief. 

 We can not imagine that human beings, in ever so remote prehis* 

 toric times, should have lived together, or near each other, without 

 mutual attempts at relief, when suffering or sick. But this is pre- 

 sumption only, not history. No book, no tradition refers to facts in 

 regard to the subject until the times of ancient Hellas and its success- 

 or in civilization, ancient Rome. Antiquity yields but few proofs of 

 systematic nursing. It is true, hospitality was the pre-eminent virtue 

 of the Greek. The stranger was always welcome. If he was sick, he 

 was doubly so. In all Hellas poor sick citizens found ready admission 

 to and nursing in the houses of the rich. It may be that the facility 

 of finding private relief on the part of the sick was one of the causes 

 why no systematic and collective efforts for the purpose of attending 

 and nursing the sick were ever made to any extent. That such was 

 the case, there can be little doubt ; for the temples of ^Esculapius and 

 the adjoining residences of the physicians were probably not hospitals, 

 but temporary domiciles for those who congregated in large numbers 

 around the homes of the gods. Of the same nature was the edifice 

 erected by Antoninus Pius near the temple of the Epidaurian iEscu- 

 lapius. In Italy, also, the temple of ^Esculapius, on the island in the 

 Tiber, between Rome and the outlet of the river, was never of much 

 importance as a hospital or sanitarium. The only real hospitals at all 

 comparable with institutions such as we have, existed in favor of human 

 property, and for the benefit of soldiers. According to the testimony 

 of Columella, Seneca, and Celsus, the Romans had hospitals for slaves, 

 warriors, and gladiators. In Greece, also, as early as the period of 



* Address delivered at the first commencement of the Mount Sinai Training-School for 

 Nurses, May 12, 1883. 



