MODIFIED OATH. 
The principles set forth in the following “modified 
oath,” which the nurses of the Brooks Memorial Hos¬ 
pital, Dunkirk, N. Y., are required to take at their 
graduating exercises, deserve a place opposite the 
initial page in every text-book written for nurses: 
"L solemnly promise and swear that in the prac¬ 
tice of my profession I will always be loyal to the 
patients entrusted to my care and to the physicians 
under whom I shall serve. That I will not make 
use of nor recommend any quack or secret nostrum. 
That 1 will be just and generous to members ot 
my profession, aiding them when they shall need 
aid and I can do so without detriment to myself 
or to my patient. That I will lead my life and 
practice my profession in uprightness and honor. 
That I will not lend my aid to any criminal or ille¬ 
gal practice whatever. That into whatever house 
I shall enter it shall be for the good of the sick to 
the utmost of my power. That whatever I shall 
see or hear of the lives of men and women, whether 
they be my patients or members of their house¬ 
holds, that will I hold inviolably secret and that I 
will continue to observe and to study and will strive 
in every way for the improvement of my profession; 
not regarding it as a means of livelihood alone, but 
as an honorable and upright calling.” 
To be loyal, to be honorable, to be just, to be gen¬ 
erous, to be pure, to be upright, to be trustworthy and 
“not a meddler in other men’s matters,” to be ob¬ 
servant, to be tactful, to be studious, all these are prin¬ 
ciples which, if they do not already possess them, 
should be instilled into the minds of all young women 
from the day they enter the training school until they 
leave it. All are links of grave import in the chain of 
“qualifications of a good nurse” as well as stepping- 
stones toward becoming “a perfect woman nobly 
planned.” 
8 
