SCIENCE IN THE SICK-ROOM. 497 



passage of the air during the formation of the crater. The edges of 

 Copernicus, Archimedes, and several other lunar craters are marked by 



analogous features. 



" A formation like a dike appears to rise in the center of a con- 

 siderable number of craters on the moon. I have been able to pro- 

 duce something analogous to this also, a representation of which is 

 visible in Fig. 2. After I had ceased blowing in air, a last bubble was 

 formed, which uplifted the mass, but could not project it above the 

 edge of the crater. The lunar dikes are very probably formed in 

 this way, by the action of the gas, at the end of the active period of 

 the craters." 



SCIENCE m THE SICK-ROOM. 



Br CLARA S. WEEKS. 



THERE is no subject of so much general interest as this, concerning 

 which there is, at the same time, such a widely prevalent igno- 

 rance. There are few, especially among women, upon whom will not 

 devolve, at some time in their lives, the care of the sick ; fewer still 

 who will not at some time become dependent upon such care ; and it 

 migbt naturally be supposed that matters of such primary and univer- 

 sal importance as sanitary conditions and the practical application in 

 the sick-room of scientific jDrinciples would be too familiar to every 

 one to need to be further enlarged upon. But the fact is, it too fre- 

 quently happens that all the scientific knowledge which ever enters 

 the sick-room comes in with the doctor and goes out again with him. 



Tbis state of things requires to be improved. Knowledge, and 

 tbat correct knowledge we call science, is just as indispensable to the 

 nurse as to anybody else. It is a great mistake to suppose that all 

 women even all good women make good nurses. Tbe best inten- 

 tions and the tenderest heart may coexist with an utter lack of execu- 

 tive ability, and be more than counterbalanced by ignorance and preju- 

 dice. Native aptitude gives advantage, but it can not be relied upon 

 alone. Even those who possess in the highest degree the natural gift 

 of ministration which renders them so acceptable to the invalid would 

 find their power of usefulness very largely increased by a familiarity 

 with what may be properly called the science of the sick-room. Phy- 

 sicians are recognizing more and more tbe importance of hygienic 

 agencies in the treatment of disease, and with this there has come an 

 increasingly urgent call for the scientific instruction and practical 

 training of those who are to take charge of invalids. Science explains 

 the conditions upon which the art of the nurse depends, and lays down 

 principles which can not be violated without injury ; but it is not at 

 all necessary to make a parade of technical language in stating its re- 



TOL. XXII. 32 



