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Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1920

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


Want of cleanliness, then, in rooms and wards, which you have to guard
against, may arise in three ways.
[Sidenote: Dirty air from without.]
1. Dirty air coming in from without, soiled by sewer emanations, the
evaporation from dirty streets, smoke, bits of unburnt fuel, bits of
straw, bits of horse dung.
[Sidenote: Best kind of wall for a house.]
If people would but cover the outside walls of their houses with plain
or encaustic tiles, what an incalculable improvement would there be in
light, cleanliness, dryness, warmth, and consequently economy. The play
of a fire-engine would then effectually wash the outside of a house.
This kind of _walling_ would stand next to paving in improving the
health of towns.
[Sidenote: Dirty air from within.]
2. Dirty air coming from within, from dust, which you often displace,
but never remove. And this recalls what ought to be a _sine qua non_.
Have as few ledges in your room or ward as possible. And under no
pretence have any ledge whatever out of sight. Dust accumulates there,
and will never be wiped off. This is a certain way to soil the air.


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