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Key to Editing A ll the manuscript material in the Collected Works has been carefully transcribed and verified (see Life and Family Appendix E: Research Methods and Sources for a description of the process of obtaining and processing this information). Illegible words and passages are so indicated, with [illeg] or [?] inserted to indicate our best reading of the word or words in question. Dates for material cited or reproduced are given wherever possible, in square brackets if they are estimates only. The type of material, whether a note, actual letter, draft or copy is given as precisely as possible. Designations of letter/ draft/copy signify that the source was Nightingale’s own files, given to the British Library or to St Thomas’ Hospital, and Library or to St Thomas’ Hospital, and probably drafts or copies kept by her. The designation of ‘‘letter’’ is used only when there is good reason to believe that it was actually sent and received (a postmarked envelope, for example, or the archive being other than Nightingale’s own files). The electronic I-text (that is, the transcriptions as ‘‘input,’’ before editing) gives full information on supporting material (envelopes, postmarks ), and whether the piece was in pen, pencil, dictated or typed. The practice was to use the best source possible, the original letter where available. Where a draft or copy was also available this is noted. Sometimes the original was no longer available and a typed copy in an archive or a published letter had to be used. All sources indicated as ‘‘Add Mss’’ (Additional Manuscripts) are British Library, the largest source of Nightingale material. The Wellcome Trust History of Medicine Library is abbreviated ‘‘Wellcome.’’ Most of those materials are copies of correspondence at Claydon House, indicated as (Claydon copy). If not so indicated they are originals . The designation ‘‘from a letter’’ means that less than the complete letter was used, and the address and ellipses at the beginning and end are omitted. Postscripts that merely repeat points or move on to a completely different subject are omitted without ellipses. Stand- / 37 ard letter closings have usually been omitted. For officials or persons making inquiries they are typically: Believe me to be, Sir, ever your faithful servant Florence Nightingale To Dr Sutherland, Nightingale was usually ‘‘yours faithfully,’’ abbreviated ‘‘yrs ffly.’’ To family and close friends the typical closing was ‘‘ever yours,’’ often with initials. Ending salutations are kept when they are unusual. Postscripts and post-postscripts, usually separated by initials, are common. They are often omitted. To avoid use of ‘‘ibid.’’ and ‘‘op. cit.,’’ and to reduce the number of footnotes generally, citations are given at the end of a sequence if the same source is cited more than once. Subsequent citations are noted in the text with the new page or folio number given in parentheses. References to material that appears in earlier volumes of the Collected Works are identified by our short title, volume number and page number rather than the archival source. To make the text as accessible as possible, spelling, punctuation and capitalization have been modernized and standardized, and most abbreviations replaced with full words, e.g., Ms. becomes manuscript. Frequently used abbreviations are kept, such as W.O. for War Office, A.M.D. for Army Medical Department, and A.H.C. for Army Hospital Corps. British spellings have been maintained and standardized (labour, honour). The French spelling for hygiène here becomes hygiene. We have kept Nightingale’s old-fashioned ‘‘"farther,’’ ‘‘bye-word’’ and ‘‘unpractical,’’ and expressions like ‘‘out of window,’’ but change ‘‘shew’’ to show, ancle’’ to ankle, ‘‘organise’’ to organize, ‘‘inclose’’ to enclose, ‘‘expence’’ to expense, ‘‘idiosyncracy’’ to idiosyncrasy, ‘‘burthen ’’ to burden and ‘‘sate’’ to sat. 61⁄2 a.m. becomes 6:30 a.m. We change ‘‘story’’ to storey when it refers to a floor, and ‘‘preventable’’ to ‘‘preventible.’’ We use modern spellings of words with ‘‘ae’’ and ‘‘oe,’’ hence pyemia, septicemia, diarrhea, anesthetic and fetid. Laundry ‘‘shoots’’ become chutes. We change ‘‘aseptik’’ to aseptic. ‘‘Diets’’ are hospital meals, a ‘‘nuisance’’ generally excrement. A ‘‘dust’’ chute is for garbage. A ‘‘water closet’’ or ‘‘W.C.’’ is a toilet or a toilet room, while a ‘‘lavatory’’ is strictly for washing, as a bath or ‘‘bathing room’’ is only for baths. An ‘‘outdoor’’ patient is an out-patient. A ‘‘separation ’’ ward is an isolation ward. A ‘‘lock’’ ward or hospital is for the compulsory treatment of syphilitic patients, usually prostitutes. ‘‘Overlooking ’’ hospital plans means looking over them, not ignoring...

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