It is at once a pleasure and a duty to
call the attention of our readers to "Italy's Day," which will be celebrated in London next Wednesday, September 25th. On that day appeals are to be made for the Italian Red Cross. The Italian Red Cross movement is in a sense a special charge upon the conscience and generosity of all humane persons—not to speak of all lovers of Italy, who we hope and believe are the vast majority of the British people— because the Red Cross really had its origin in Italy. Italians trace it to the action of Dr. Palasciano, the Neapolitan physician who at the siege of Mesaino. in 1848 defied the Bourbon General, Filangieri, and succeeded, at the risk of his own life, in securing immunity for wounded men. The Italian Red Cross Society was formed in 1864. Its labours have continually grown, because Italy may be said to be always at war against earthquakes and fever, and in the present war its work has of course become gigantic. The need of money is urgent, for the resources of Italy are not to be measured by her noble spirit.
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