science

The Nurse's Secret

The Nurse's Secret is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Nurse's Secret rather than just read about it. In short: The Nurse's Secret is a 1941 American murder mystery film directed by Noel M. Smith and starring Lee Patrick as a crime-solving nurse.

Key takeaways

The Nurse's Secret belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Nurse's Secret to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Nurse's Secret from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Nurse's Secret is a 1941 American murder mystery film directed by Noel M. Smith and starring Lee Patrick as a crime-solving nurse. The supporting cast features Regis Toomey and Julie Bishop. It was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures as a second feature. The film, which includes a rare leading role for Patrick who played the supporting part of Sam Spade's secretary in The Maltese Falcon that same year, is a remake of the film Miss Pinkerton and is based on the 1932 novel Miss Pinkerton by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Rinehart wrote a series of novels based on the character Hilda Adams. She is, however, most famous for her play The Bat which inspired Batman creator Bob Kane to create his famous comic book character.

Plot A nurse (Lee Patrick) moves into a mansion after an apparent suicide to care for the old mother. The mother is kind of spooky, but so is the butler, and the girlfriend, and the doctor. After the insurance policy is found, the plot thickens.

Cast Lee Patrick as Ruth Adams Regis Toomey as Inspector Patton Julie Bishop as Florence Lentz Ann Edmonds as Paula Brent George Campeau as Charles Elliott Clara Blandick as Miss Juliet Mitchell Charles Waldron as Dr. Stewart Charles Trowbridge as Arthur Glenn Leonard Mudie as Hugo Virginia Brissac as Mary Frank Reicher as Mr. Henderson Georgia Caine as Miss Griffin Douglas Kennedy as Dr. Keene Faye Emerson as Telephone Girl Lucia Carroll as Nurse Frank Mayo as Policeman Jack Mower as Policeman

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Nurse's Secret

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Nurse's Secret claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Nurse's Secret before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Nurse's Secret ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Nurse's Secret

In research: The Nurse's Secret appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Nurse's Secret in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Nurse's Secret is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940s mystery film stubs, 1941 American films, 1941 English-language films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Nurse's Secret outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Nurse's Secret in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Nurse's Secret means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Nurse's Secret out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Nurse's Secret in simple terms?

The Nurse's Secret is a 1941 American murder mystery film directed by Noel M. Smith and starring Lee Patrick as a crime-solving nurse.

Why does The Nurse's Secret matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Nurse's Secret?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Nurse's Secret.