Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/167

151 Nursing in America 151 she encountered that she withdrew from all ad- ministrative circles rather than be the cause of friction which might hinder the work of war service. Most of the nursing throughout the war was volunteer and spontaneous. Many self-taught volunteers performed prodigies of service and assistance, and "born nurses" and practical motherly nurses made some very impressive records. It was none the less a matter of course that the organized army hospital nursing was of a standard far below what would be expected today. Early in the war the government appointed Dorothea Dix as the official superintendent of nurses. Miss Dix was a very remarkable wo- man, a second John Howard, who had made in the United States a series of investigations into asylums for the insane, and had, by her reports to legislatures, brought about the now existent system of state hospitals for mental patients. Her character and life work were alike impressive. She was not, however, a nurse, nor young enough to adapt herself completely to this new service, though a fairly systematic plan of requirements was then adopted. After the war a Civil War Nurses Association was formed with headquarters at Gettysburg, and