s in the war speak for themselves.
Out of a total loss of 20,656, only 2598 fell in battle; 18,058 died
from other causes in hospital. Several regiments lost nearly all
their men, and during the first seven months of the siege men died
so fast that in a year and a half no army would have been left at
all.

William Russell, the special correspondent of _The Times_, first
brought this appalling state of affairs to the notice of the public,
and the nation at last woke up. A universal outburst of indignation
forced ministers to act, and to act quickly.

Stores were hurried to the front; fresh troops were sent out to
relieve the almost exhausted remnants of the army, and on the 21st
October Florence Nightingale, with a band of nurses, set sail; she
arrived on the very eve of the Battle of Inkerman.

Within a few months of her arrival it is estimated that she had no
fewer than ten thousand sick men in her charge, and the rows of beds
in one hospital alone measured two and one-third miles in length.

Her influence over the rough soldiers was extraordinary; one of them
said of her: "She would speak to one and another, and nod and smile
to many more; but she could not do it to all, you know--we lay there
in hundreds--but we could kiss her shadow as it fell, and lay our
heads on the pillow again, content."

Out of chaos she made order, and there were no more complaints of
waste and inefficiency. She never quitted her post until the war was
at an end, and on her return to England she received a national
welcome. She was received by the Queen and presented with a jewel
in commemoration of her work, and no less than fifty thousand pounds
was subscribed by the nation, a sum which was presented by Miss
Nightingale to the hospitals to defray the expenses of training
nurses.

[Illustration: Florence Nightingale]

Since this time no war between civilized peoples has taken place
without trained nurses being found in the ranks of both armies, and
at the Convention of Geneva, some years later, it was agreed that
in time of war all ambulances, military hospitals, etc., should be
regarded as neutral, and that doctors and nurses should be considered
as non-combatants. Nursing rapidly became a profession, and from the
military it spread to the civil hospitals, which were used as
training schools for all who took up the work.

Florence Nightingale's advice was sought by the Government and
freely given upon every matter which affected