Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Crimean War

  • Florence Nightingale

    Abigail Richardson Sheffield, UK   Florence Nightingale. Photo by London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company Ltd. Wellcome Collection. Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), the British nurse who became known as the “Lady with the Lamp,” is remembered for her work during the Crimean War and as a statistician and public health advocate.1 Her lifelong dedication to nursing led…

  • The two nightingales

    Inga Lewenhaupt Einar Perman Stockholm, Sweden   Jenny Lind standing at a keyboard. Library of Congress, Bain Collection. Accessed via Wikimedia. Source Two remarkable women were born in the same year two centuries ago: Jenny Lind (1820-1887) and Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). Both became world famous, Jenny Lind for her beautiful singing voice, Florence Nightingale for…

  • Florence Nightingale at Scutari

    When Florence Nightingale arrived at Scutari during the Crimean War, the army hospital was filthy and rat-infested, and among the 2,000 wounded lying there the mortality was fifty percent. After she reorganized the wards and insisted on absolute cleanliness, mortality declined to a little over one percent. The Mission of Mercy: Florence Nightingale receiving the…

  • Is Mary Seacole the new mother of nursing?

    Mariella Scerri Mellieha, Malta   Sketch of Mary Seacole by Crimean war artist William Simpson (1823–1899), c. 1855. Source. The promotion of Jamaican businesswoman and “doctress” Mary Seacole as the pioneer nurse in place of Florence Nightingale was given considerable credence early in 2013, when Seacole was named a “pioneer of health care” by the UK Department…

  • It’s elementary: the addictions of Sherlock Holmes

    Kevin R. Loughlin Boston, Massachusetts, USA   Illustration of Sherlock Holmes for “The Valley of Fear.” From The Strand Magazine. By Frank Wiley September, 1914. Accessed via the Toronto Public Library, Adventures with Sherlock Holmes virtual exhibit. One might ask, why write about the addictions of a fictional character? The answer is that there is…