and perfecting of the mind--that "urge" of life, then
surely the nurse's big aim will be to help establish such health of body
as leads toward health of mind. In the average man or woman this vital
urge becomes temporarily blocked by the very weakness of the body it
urges. The body _must_ give the life-flame some fuel, or it dies out;
but with very little fuel it flickers on, waiting, hoping for the more
that it may burn strongly again. In the cases the nurse handles very
often the "vital spark" has been poorly fed by the disabled body, and so
discouragement or depression, or "loss of grip" results, or the flame
continues to shine brightly with whatever little sustenance it receives,
and so encourages the body to greater effort for it; or sinks into
embers, glowing steadily though dully; or it burns wildly,
recklessly--it becomes what we call "wild fire," that has no direction
and no purpose save to burn up everything it can find.

In other words, the nurse deals with those in whom the "urge" is
weakened--the depressed and discouraged; with those whose spirits never
flag in their steady shining--those brave souls we could almost worship;
and those others who hold grimly on with quiet grit and courage, but
with no cheer; and with the unstable ones of neuropathic or psychopathic
tendency who become hysteric or maniacal.

What will the nurse do for them all? Will not an understanding of how to
recall the ambition to live, the will to get well, and the grit to see
the thing through, be an incalculable asset.

THE NURSE OF THE FUTURE

The nurse of the future will not be merely a handmaiden to care for the
sick body by deftly carrying out the doctor's orders. She will do this
almost automatically as a matter of course, and skilfully; but it will
be the merest beginning of her mission. That mission itself will be to
eliminate the causes of disease; to teach the ways of health, to
supervise the sanitary conditions of city, town, and country. Practical
ways and the wise means to this end will be taught in her hospital,
which will become a community center with clinics, teaching through its
doctors and nurses the way to health, instead of merely treating and
advising the cases as they come. But the greatest contribution of the
nurse of the future will be a wide-spread _desire for health_ and _will
to health_, rather than a desire and will to avoid discomfort and pain
and danger of death. This _will to health_ will doom in th