eneration. It has been a medical, a religious, and a social problem in
every age. From the time of Job its meaning has baffled philosophers;
from his day to ours thoughtful men have devoted their lives to
searching for causes and cures. Yet before the middle of the last
century little progress was made, either in scientific treatment or in
prevention of disease.

The invention of the microscope first made possible a real
understanding of sickness. Through the microscope a new world was
revealed,--a world of the infinitely small, swarming with tiny forms of
animal and vegetable life. No one, however, appreciated the significance
of these hitherto invisible plants and animals until the latter part of
the 19th century, when the great French savant, Pasteur, proved that
little vegetable forms, now called bacteria, cause putrefaction and
fermentation, and also certain diseases of animals and man. Pasteur's
discoveries were carried still further by other scientists, with the
result that bacteriology has revolutionized medicine, agriculture, and
many industries, and has made possible the brilliant achievements of
modern sanitary science. For the first time in history the prevention of
epidemics has become possible, and sickness is no longer regarded as a
punishment for sin.

Actual care of the sick, both in homes and in hospitals, has always been
one of the responsibilities of women. The first general public hospital
was built in Rome in the 4th century after Christ by Fabiola, a
patrician lady. There she nursed the sick with her own hands, and from
her day to ours extends an unbroken line of devoted women, handing down
through the centuries their tradition of compassionate nursing service.
It remained for Florence Nightingale, however, to give to the training
its technical and scientific foundation, and thus to found the
profession of nursing. As a result of her work, effectiveness was added
to the spirit of service, that spirit which inspires the modern nurse no
less than in an earlier day it inspired the Sisters of Charity who died
nursing the wounded on the battlefields of Poland.

But different generations have different needs, and to meet them the
spirit of service must manifest itself in widely varying ways. The sick
need care today no less than they did when St. Elizabeth bathed the feet
of the lepers; but such limited service, however beautiful, is no longer
enough. Today we serve best by preventing sickness. Cure o