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Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1920

"Notes on Nursing What It Is, and What It Is Not"

You can always moderate the light by blinds
and curtains.
Heavy, thick, dark window or bed curtains should, however, hardly ever
be used for any kind of sick in this country. A light white curtain at
the head of the bed is, in general, all that is necessary, and a green
blind to the window, to be drawn down only when necessary.
[Sidenote: Without sunlight, we degenerate body and mind.]
One of the greatest observers of human things (not physiological), says,
in another language, "Where there is sun there is thought." All
physiology goes to confirm this. Where is the shady side of deep
valleys, there is cretinism. Where are cellars and the unsunned sides of
narrow streets, there is the degeneracy and weakliness of the human
race--mind and body equally degenerating. Put the pale withering plant
and human being into the sun, and, if not too far gone, each will
recover health and spirit.
[Sidenote: Almost all patients lie with their faces to the light.]
It is a curious thing to observe how almost all patients lie with their
faces turned to the light, exactly as plants always make their faces
turned to the light; a patient will even complain that it gives him pain
"lying on that side.


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