Nursing in America i75 The first acts passed were permissive only. The earliest example of a compulsory act was that of Virginia. Other states have since then character followed her example, and find ad- of registra- vantages therein. In all, there were, in 191 8, sixteen compulsory acts and several in- stances of states forbidding the practice of pro- fessional nursing except as a graduate nurse. The mainspring of the Regents' system is the registra- tion of educational institutions. This is the safe- guard of a licensing system. The education given to a pupil must attain a fixed standard before the pupil herself may seek individual endorsement. The first inspector of training schools under a nurse registration act was Anna L. Alline, ap- pointed by the New York Regents in 1906. Many states followed in appointing nurse inspectors, and the work of these women has been of untold value in aiding weak hospitals to improve their equip- ment and in promoting the process of affiliation between them. The principle of examining boards composed 'of nurses has been so generally accepted that the few exceptions only prove the rule. The war with Spain gave American nurses their first experience in ^rmy nursing. It also showed the public that we had no army nurse corps, no Red Cross nursing service, nor emergency re-
