Besides this, it was at
last officially admitted that he had a moral and intellectual
side. Coffee-rooms and reading-rooms, gymnasiums and workshops
were instituted. A new era did in truth appear to have begun.
Already by 1861 the mortality in the Army had decreased by one-
half since the days of the Crimea. It was no wonder that even
vaster possibilities began now to open out before Miss
Nightingale. One thing was still needed to complete and to assure
her triumphs. The Army Medical Department was indeed reorganised;
but the great central machine was still untouched. The War Office
itself--! If she could remould that nearer to her heart's desire-
-there indeed would be a victory! And until that final act was
accomplished, how could she be certain that all the rest of her
achievements might not, by some capricious turn of Fortune's
wheel--a change of Ministry, perhaps, replacing Sidney Herbert by
some puppet of the permanent official gang-- be swept to limbo in
a moment?
Meanwhile, still ravenous for yet more and more work, her
activities had branched out into new directions. The Army in
India claimed her attention. A Sanitary Commission, appointed at
her suggestion, and working under her auspices, did for our
troops there what the four Sub-Commissions were doing for those
at home. At the same time, these very years which saw her laying
the foundations of the whole modern system of medical work in the
Army, saw her also beginning to bring her knowledge, her
influence, and her activity into the service of the country at
large.
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