Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- Introductory
- I Ventilation and Warming
- II Health of Houses
- III Petty Management
- IV Noise
- V Variety
- VI Taking Food
- VII What Food
- VIII Bed and Bedding
- IX Light
- X Cleanliness of Rooms and Walls
- XI Personal Cleanliness
- XII Chattering Hopes and Advices
- XIII Observation of the Sick
- Conclusion
- Supplementary Chapter
- NOTES ON NURSING
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- Introductory
- I Ventilation and Warming
- II Health of Houses
- III Petty Management
- IV Noise
- V Variety
- VI Taking Food
- VII What Food
- VIII Bed and Bedding
- IX Light
- X Cleanliness of Rooms and Walls
- XI Personal Cleanliness
- XII Chattering Hopes and Advices
- XIII Observation of the Sick
- Conclusion
- Supplementary Chapter
- NOTES ON NURSING
Summary
It is the unqualified result of all my experience with the sick, that second only to their need of fresh air is their need of light; that, after a close room, what hurts them most is a dark room, and that it is not only light but direct sun-light they want. You had better carry your patient about after the sun, according to the aspect of the rooms, if circumstances permit, than let him linger in a room when the sun is off. People think the effect is upon the spirits only. This is by no means the case. The sun is not only a painter but a sculptor. You admit that he does the photograph. Without going into any scientific exposition, we must admit that light has quite as real and tangible effects upon the human body. But this is not all. Who has not observed the purifying effect of light, and especially of direct sun-light, upon the air of a room? Here is an observation within everybody's experience. Go into a room where the shutters are always shut, (in a sick room or a bedroom there should never be shutters shut), and though the room be uninhabited, though the air has never been polluted by the breathing of human beings, you will observe a close, musty smell of corrupt air, of air, i. e. unpurified by the effect of the sun's rays.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Notes on NursingWhat It Is, and What It Is Not, pp. 120 - 123Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1860
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