(1) Polemics about the implementation of the laic principle in the State and in public services led to the foundation of this school, which accordingly was opposed by some political parties, by part of the healing professions and by the religious-minded.
(2) La Source, founded in 1859 at Lausanne, was the first laic school for nurses in the world.
(3) Jirí Josef Camel (1661-1706), a pharmacist and botanist, was born in Brno, educated at a grammar school and then joined the Jesuit Order as a laic brother.
(4) As a reaction to the appointment of sisters of the protestant nursing order of Berne at Geneva Hospital, the new school was intended to form laic nursing personnel of local origin and high quality.