Suchergebnisse

Su vida (1820–1910)Nacida en Florencia, de acaudalados y eruditos padres ingleses, Florence Nightingale se educó en un ambiente muy abierto desde el punto de vista religioso y sensible ante las injusticias sociales. Muy cercana a su padre, recibió una educación no conformista como la que entonces se prodigaba a un hijo. Desde su más temprana edad, estaba obsesionada por la miseria de los pobres y se sentía llamada a asistir a los enfermos, siendo consciente de que debía aprenderlo todo, ya que casi no existía la formación de enfermera. Se puso a leer, incluidas obras de estadística; aprovechó sus viajes familiares para visitar, en las principales capitales europeas, los hospitales, observar e informarse acerca de la asistencia prestada a los enfermos indigentes. Hizo un aprendizaje con las Hijas de la Caridad en París, después con las diaconisas de Kaiserwerth, cerca de Düsseldorf. El año 1853, reorganizó, en Londres, un hospital para mujeres enfermas, sellando así la ruptura con su familia, que se oponía a la vida por la que había optado. F. Nightingale también estaba sumida en dudas y atormentada por desgarramientos interiores que, por una parte, originaban su necesidad de relaciones humanas y, por otra, su deseo de vivir su ideal al servicio de la humanidad. Tras muchas dudas, decidió no contraer un excelente matrimonio para entregarse a su ideal.

Epidemics and mortality in 15th and 16th century Florence, Italy, were investigated by use of records of the government-sponsored Dowry Fund. These records contain the date of birth, date of investment, and date of dowry payment or death of 19,000 girls and women. Major epidemics ("plagues") occurred repeatedly. The most severe were in 1430, 1437-38, 1449-50, 1478-79, and 1527-31. Annual death rates of girls enrolled in the Dowry Fund increased by 5 to 10 times in each of these periods. During the last period, at least 20-25 per cent of the population of Florence is likely to have died. Recurrent epidemics accounted for 38 per cent of the total mortality experienced by girls enrolled in the Dowry Fund. The frequency of serious epidemics diminished with the passage of time, and overall mortality declined by about 10 per cent over the 15th and 16th centuries. Epidermic mortality was not consistently related to age. The effects of epidemics were most severe in the summer and autumn. Non-epidemic mortality was also greater in the summer and autumn than in the winter and spring.

This is the first translation into English of Guicciardini's Dialogue on the Government of Florence. Written in the early 1520s by the author of the famous History of Italy, as well as a History of Florence and Political Maxims and Reflections, this dialogue presents what is arguably the most searching and comprehensive analysis of the politics of his times. Like Machiavelli, his contemporary and friend, Guicciardini rejects classical republican arguments in the name of the new political realism and acknowledges the important role of patronage and graft in contemporary politics and the illegitimacy of nearly all forms of political power. In this Dialogue he provides one of the clearest expositions of the term 'reason of state', which he was one of the first to employ and which he uses to justify the priority of state interest over private morality and religion.