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The
Lady With the Lamp
Florence
Nightingale gained the nickname "The Lady with the Lamp” during the
1850’s.
The name was derived from a phrase in a newspaper report:
“She
is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as
her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's face
softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have
retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those
miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her
hand, making her solitary rounds.”
Then
in 1860, the foundation of the
Nightingale
Training School
gave the lamp further meaning. The
oil lamp was already a symbol of learning because it had enabled reading in the
hours of darkness since classical times. Now
the lamp came to represent nurse education.
Then
in 1860, the foundation of the
Nightingale
Training School
gave the lamp further meaning. The
oil lamp was already a symbol of learning because it had enabled reading in the
hours of darkness since classical times. Now
the lamp came to represent nurse education.
The
phrase was further popularized
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1857 poem
"Santa Filomena":
Lo!
In that hour of misery
A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room.
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