Florence Nightingale

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. This book could not have been written without constant reference to, and some quotation from, the letters and papers published in Sir Edward Cook's excellent two-volume biography of Florence Nightin gale. (macmillan deg) Co., Ltd., I am deeply indebted to Messrs. Macmillan for their kind permis sion to make these references and quotations. I should add that since the publication of my book in America and while the proofs of this English edition were in the press, Miss I. B. O'malley's biography of Florence Nightingale, written with the assistance of members of the Nightingale family, has been published. Miss o'malley's book (which does not go beyond the Crimean War) contains much interesting and hitherto unknown detail but, after reading it with great enjoy ment, I do not find that I need alter anything that I have written here. Indeed, the new official biography strengthens my previous impressions and, in particular, emphasizes what a very real struggle it was, at the outset, for Florence Nightingale to free herself from dependence upon ordinary human longings such as to please and be loved by her family and her friends.