NITESING THE SICK. 393 



The Nurse When all the arrangements are completed in 

 the sick-room, little benefit can be anticipated if a proper nurse be 

 not obtained to render them available to the invalid. Care should 

 be taken to secure, if practicable, a nurse trained at some of the 

 schools which are now available, and if a qualified professional 

 nurse cannot be secured, a person in good health, active, of cheerful 

 disposition, and pleasant, sympathetic temperament, should be 

 chosen, who should be guided by the rules here given. 



The nurse should not be under twenty-five nor above fiftv- 

 five years of age. This period is fixed upon on account both of the 

 physical powers and the moral conduct of the individual. Under 

 twenty -five the strength of a woman has not reached its maturity, 

 and is scarcely adequate for lifting patients in and out of bed, and 

 for many other duties which require strength, connected with the 

 office of a nurse; but the strength and the muscular power in 

 females begin to fail after fifty-nve, when the natural transition 

 from maturity to decay takes place. 



A woman of a naturally delicate frame of body is unfit for a 

 sick-nurse; at the same time, a coarse, heavy and masculine woman 

 is, for many reasons, objectionable. While strength is requisite, 

 the frame should be such as to indicate activity. 



None of the qualifications of a sick-nurse is more important 

 than health. An individual who herself requires attention is ill- 

 calculated to attend upon others. A woman who is asthmatic, or 

 has any difficulty of breathing or an habitual cough; who is 

 rheumatic or gouty, or has any spasmodic affections; who is 

 afflicted with palpitation or suffers from periodical headache, vert- 

 igo or a tendency to paralysis, or who is consumptive or scrofulous, 

 or has defective sight or hearing or anything which causes 

 decrepitude, is disqualified for a sick nurse. It is important, also, 

 to ascertain that the nurse is not hysterical nor predisposed to men- 

 tal depression. 



An attendant upon the sick should possess a happy, cheerful, 

 equal flow of spirits, a temper not easily ruffled and kind and sym- 

 pathetic feelings ; but, at the same time, not such as to interfere 

 with firmness of character. The expression of the countenance 

 should be open and winning, so as to attract the good will and con- 

 fidence of the invalid ; a pleasing and gentle manner being more 

 likely to gain esteem and insure obedience to the orders of the 

 physician than the most persuasive arguments which can be ad- 

 dressed to the understanding of the patient. 



A collected, cheerful expression of the countenance in the 

 attendant on the sick is likely to inspire hope and to aid the efforts 

 of the physician for the recovery of nis patient. 



The general disposition of a sick nurse should be obliging. 

 Every little office which the invalid may require to be done should 

 be performed at once and without the smallest apparent reluctance, 

 even when the necessity for its immediate performance is not 



