Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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, An , Y is ' ' , ,rj W Y Y i i Wi HAl'ilPgDlEN-SllJgIiEY X is- HKALEIDOSCOPE Miss Delia Eldridge Brock HE relief of human suffering is a high privilege and a noble calling. Even among savage races the medicine man has held high place and marked infiuence. No wonder that the Greeks ranked flfisculapius as a god worthy of temples and of worship, and that the Romans adopted the cult as their own. The work of the nurse as a subsidiary to the efforts of the physician has, also, long been recognized. The rude warriors in the German forests relied upon the assistance of their women to help the wounded in battle and to cheer in life's last struggle. ln modern times, Florence Nightingale may, perhaps, be considered the pioneer in constructive movements for the organized relief of troops in the field, and out of these movements have grown the many agencies of the Red Cross and similar organizations for the amelioration of the condition of suffering humanity and for the systematic training of young women as nurses. It has been said that the luxuries of one generation become the comforts of the next and the necessities of the third. The time was when the sick were nursed only by members of the household and by kind friends and neighborsg but fifty years ago the place and the work of the trained nurse began to assume importance alongside with that of the physician and surgeong and, as civilization became more complex, the nurse became a necessity and few would now dare to face a serious illness without the aid of this well-nigh indispensable angel of mercy. At Hampden-Sidney, thanks to a kind Providence and to the remarkable healthfulness of the place, the students for many years seemed to be able to maintain a fair measure of health without a regular college physician and hospital facilities. Finally, however, it became evident that such hit or miss procedure would not do. During the able administration of Dr. Richard Mcllwaine the office of college physician was established and was filled by Dr. H. P. Lacy and by Dr. W. M. Holladay. After the death of the latter, Dr. C. M. Clark served as college physician and professor of Biology. When he left us to become a member of the great Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minn., Dr. Paulus A. Irving consented to assume the duties of medical adviserg and, through his insistence, as one of the first acts of President E.ggleston's adminis- tration, the old Thornton Houseu was purchased-the lower floor of which became the administration offices, and the two upper floors were fitted up as an infirmary for the use of the students needing medical attention. ISI

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1.X ix 'F . s X 4 . :'L:,. . M, Q vi , fr' 6' , 1' , , MISS DELIA ELDRIDGE BROCK

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X w Y ' 3 Y- . W H --Y-4 HAMPDEN-SIDNEY X if KALEIDOSCOPE Dr. lrving selected as nurse in charge Miss Delia E. Brock who has ever since discharged most conscientiously and efficiently the arduous and responsible duties of Hospital Superintendent. Passing by the matter of dates-a subject upon which the ladies are always justly reticent-it need only be stated that Miss Brock was born at Rolfeden, the seat of the lrvings near Buckingham Court House, Virginia. She is the youngest child of Professor Henry C. Brock and Mrs. Mary Carter Irving Brock, and has been a resident of the Hill since her infancy. Her mother will be remembered by the older alumni, for she was ever the students' friend and dispensed a gracious hospitality for the many years of her residence here before ill-health made it necessary for her to give up active participation in the life of the community in which her force of character, her dignity, and her charm won for her a leading part. On her mother's side, Miss Brock is descended from distinguished Buckingham families and from others well known in the annals of Virginia. ln her veins Hows the blood of Archibald Cary, the sage of Ampthill, not to mention that of the Rolfes with its dash of Indian coming from My Lady Pocahontas. She has, too, the Eldridge strain-whence came fair women and brave men-crossed on the lrvings, sturdy Scotchmen from Bonshaw Tower in Dumfrieshire, still in the possession of a descendant of the original holder, chief of a Border Clan and comrade of Men so well known in Scollaridks war At Falkirk, Meihven, and Dunbar. On her father's side of the house, this young lady claims a rich heritage of scholarship and of literary taste and achievement. Dr. Henry C. Brock- since l886 a revered professor in Hampden-Sidney College, a gallant caval- ryman in the Confederate army, a brilliant student and assistant professor in the University of Virginia, a scholar of wide attainments and varied culture, a gentleman of the old Virginia type, a friend who binds to him as with hoops of steel those who are so fortunate as to win his friendship-is a part of Hampden-Sidney's history. Her uncle, Dr. R. A. Brock, so long secretary of the Virginia Historical Society, has a nation-wide reputation as a research worker, historian, and antiquarian. Her brother, Dr. Henry Irving Brock, as a member of the editorial staff of the New York Times, is fully maintaining the reputation of the family for versatile scholarship, while another brother, the Hon. R. K. Brock-lawyer, state senator, man of affairs, public-spirited l9l