AND PREVENTION OF PHTHISIS. 419 



of the vague and contradictory statements which issued 

 from the authorities of different hospitals, the problem 

 cried aloud for solution. For aid and data, under these 

 circumstances, Cornet resorted to Herr von Gossler, the 

 Prussian Minister of State, who, at that time, had med- 

 ical matters under his control. From him he received 

 the most hearty furtherance and encouragement. Dr. 

 von Gossler has recently resigned his post in the Prus- 

 sian Ministry, but his readiness to forward the momen- 

 tous inquiry on which Cornet was engaged merits the 

 grateful recognition of the public and the praise of sci- 

 entific men. 



The number of female nurses in Prussia, as shown 

 by the statistics of the Eoyal Bureau of Berlin for 1885, 

 was 11,048. Of these, the Catholic Sisters of Mercy 

 numbered 5,470, or 49.51 per cent. ; Evangelical nurses, 

 2,496, or 22.59 per cent.; nurses belonging to other so- 

 cieties and associations, 352, or 3.19 per cent.; while 

 of unclassified nurses there were 2,730, or 24.71 per 

 cent, of the whole. The male attendants, at the same 

 time, numbered 3,162. Of these, 383 were Brothers of 

 Mercy, 205 were deacons, while of unclassified attend- 

 ants there were 2,574. 



The sifting of these numbers was a labour of anxious 

 care to Dr. Cornet. It had already been remarked by 

 Guttstadt that the commercial attractions of hospital 

 service were insufficient, without the help of some ideal 

 motive, to secure a permanent staff. This motive was 

 found in devotion through a sense of religious duty to 

 the service of the sick. The sifting of his material 

 made it clear to Cornet that, to secure a safe basis of 

 generalisation, by causing it to embrace a sufficient 

 number of years, he must confine himself solely to the 

 nurses of the Catholic orders. The greater freedom 

 enjoyed and practised by Protestants, in changing their 



