Suggestions for Thought by Florence Nightingale: Selections and Commentaries

Preface

Preface Florence Nightingale is best known as a woman of action: asthe founder of modern nursing, a reformer in the field of public health, and a pioneer in the use of statistics. Her influencewas so far-reaching that even the critical Lytton Stracheywould write in 1918, ten years after her death, that "there is no great hospital today which does not bear upon it the impress of her mind."1 It is not generally known, however, that Nightingale was at the forefront of the religious and philosophical as well as the scientific thought of her time. In a three-volume work entitled Suggestions for Thought, Nightingale presented her radical spiritual views. Her motivation was to give those who had turned away from conventional religion an alternative to atheism. Nightingale never published Suggestions for Thought, and very few biographers havediscussed the work in anydetail.This abridged and edited volume is thus designed to make the essence of Nightingale's spiritual philosophy accessible to the general public, as well as to scholars and students. As the original work was redundant in its 800 pages, we have selected the best-written treatments of allher major ideas and have reorganized them for ease of reading. In addition, we have provided an introduction and commentary to set the work into a biographical, historical, and philosophical context. This work illuminates a little-known dimension of Nightingale's personality , bringing forth the ideas that served as guiding principles for her work. It is also ahistorical document asit deals with the religious issues that werefiercelydebated in the second half of the nineteenth century. In many ways, however, much of it is surprisingly relevant today, when humanity is still trying to reconcile reason with faith. In Suggestionsfor Thought, one has the opportunity to experience one of the great practical minds of modern history asit grapples with the most profound questions of human existence. As these basic human issues are universal and timeless, Nightingale's words are as immediate and compelling now as they were over a century ago. i. Strachey,Eminent Victorians, p. 162. viii Preface Because only a few copies were privately printed, Suggestions for Thought has been virtually inaccessible to all but the most persistent of researchers. The three volumes wereissuedon microfiche in 1981byUniversity Microfilms International as part of the Adelaide Nutting Historical Nursing Collection. Wewould like to thank David Ment, Head ofSpecial Collections at Columbia University's Teacher's College, for granting us access to the copy in that collection. In preparing this edition we havedrawn from anumber ofmanuscript collections. The largest collection of Nightingale's papers, letters, notes, and other documents are housed in the British Library. We would like to thank the Department of Manuscripts, British Library, for allowing us to consult these materials. Copyright of the Nightingale collection in the British Libraryis maintainedby the Trustees of the HenryBonham-Carter Will Trust. We would like to acknowledge the Trust for granting permission to quote from this material, and their solicitors Radcliffes & Co. for their assistance. Another large collection of Nightingale's letters is located at Claydon House, Buckinghamshire, which was the home of Florence's sister Parthenope and her husband Sir Harry Verney.Photocopies of these letters are housed at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine Library in London. We are grateful to Keith Moore for his assistancewith this collection , and to Sir Ralph Verney, Bt, for permission to quote from the Claydon letters. The Florence Nightingale Museum in London maintains a collection of Nightingale memorabilia, aswell as a collection of her books. We would like to thank Alex Attewell, Assistant Curator, for allowing us to examine this material. We are grateful to Baruch College for granting leave during which much of the research was accomplished. A number of individuals have assisted us in the course of our research, and we gratefully acknowledge their contributions: Robert Hayes, Periodicals Division, BrooklynPublicLibrary,for assistingus in the copying of the microfiche; Alicia Adams for typing the manuscript; Louisa Moy, Interlibrary Loan Division, Baruch College Library, for retrieving nineteenthand twentieth-century monographs from across the country; Kathyrn Johnson, Assistant Professor of Historical Theology, LouisvilleSeminary, for her helpful suggestions; Edwin W. Macrae for reading portions of the manuscript; Mrs. Celia Winkworth of the Royal Surgical Aid Society for her hospitality at Lea Hurst, Nightingale's childhood home; and Rosie and Genevieve for their companionship. ...