My Science School

               ‘Service to mankind is service to God’ – the old saying truly describes the devotion of people who dedicate themselves to the cause of humanity. Florence Nightingale, popularly known as the ‘Lady with the Lamp’, epitomized it through her sincere service to the wounded British Soldiers of the Crimean War of 1854. She is considered the main inspiration behind modern nursing which has attained a great amount of respectability over the years as a noble profession. But why did she choose nursing as a career when it was even unthinkable for a woman to work?

               Born on May 12, 1820 in a rich family, Florence Nightingale showed her inclinations towards nursing when the matter of choosing her career came up within the family. When her parents heard that Florence wanted to be a nurse, they were shocked since in those days it was unthinkable for a woman of any respectable family to go out for work. Moreover few women had jobs in 1840s and nursing was not considered as a respectable career. But Florence had her way.

               In pursuit of her goal, she started a small nursing home in London. In 1854, on the outbreak of the Crimean war, she was appointed as the nursing-in-charge of the Scutari hospital in Turkey. Scutari hospital was overcrowded with wounded soldiers of the war. To overcome the work pressure there, she took 38 nurses along with her to attend the wounded soldiers. Nightingale worked day and night to put things in order in the hospital. The entire hospital was thoroughly cleaned, a laundry was started, the quality of the food was improved and the wounded were properly treated. For the first time, patients were provided with soaps, forks and knives, combs and toothbrushes. Florence kept everyone happy through her considerate attitude and sympathetic behaviour towards the patients. She established discipline in every sphere and made things work in a systematic and organized way. She came to be almost worshipped there. She was just like an angel for the service. Thankful soldiers seeing her pass at night carrying a lamp affectionately called her ‘The Lady with the Lamp’.

               Apart from the work at Scutari Hospital she did continue with her social service afterwards in various ways. She set about to improve the living conditions of the private British soldiers who could not be treated well during the war. She introduced many reforms in the British hospitals of those times.

               She set up the Nightingale training school for nurses in 1860, the first of its kind in the world. Though the strain of her work in the war deteriorated her health, yet she continued training the hospital nurses as well as looking after the welfare of British soldiers.

               Though she became blind at her old age, she still continued her work and in the year 1907, she became the first woman ever to be awarded the Order of Merit. She died in 1910.

 

           Socrates is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the world born till date. He was born at Athens in Greece around 470 B.C. His father Sophroniscus was a sculptor and mother Phaenarate, a midwife. Nothing is known of his early life but he became well-known by the time he was middle-aged.

          Though Socrates was not impressive in his looks yet he was a man of exceptional brilliance. Nobody could argue with him on any subject for a long time. No one could match the wisdom and brilliance of Socrates. He would often stand up in the city market and argue with people about the way of living. Whenever he saw people purchasing various kinds of articles, he used to think, ‘How many things I can do without?’

         Socrates believed that all the wrong doing is due to ignorance and if any people knew what was right, they would have no difficulty in choosing the right path. He made two most important fundamental contributions to Western philosophy. They are: shifting the focus of Greek philosophy from cosmology to ethics and the development of the spirit of enquiry from ignorance to logic. He used to say that ‘virtue is knowledge’ and that no one does any wrong willingly. He preached that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. He taught the correct definitions of justice and love and exhorted people to try and purify their souls. He often used to say: ‘Try to know yourself’. He did not write any book. Most of his teachings were made known to the people by his illustrious disciple, Plato.

          Through his teachings, Socrates generated great self-confidence amongst the people. He had a large following. However, Athens’ officials neither liked his teachings nor his fame. They were envious of him and accused him of misleading the youths of the city. As a result, he was put in jail. But Socrates did not give up the pursuit of his own ideals. Even in the jail, he preached about the immortality of soul. Finally the officials became so much annoyed with him that he was awarded death sentence. This did not frighten him. He was made to drink a cup of poison called hemlock. Socrates smilingly drank the poison. While he was drinking it, tears welled up in the eyes of his friends, but Socrates kept smiling till his death.