This is because there is no capital, nor any
extension of public credit. They are shocked to see the shopkeepers,
during the Carnival, riding in carriages, and occupying the best boxes
at the theatres; but this foolish love of show, so hurtful to the
middle-class, is taught them by the universal example of those above
them.
Perhaps they have sent to the chemist's for a doctor, and have fallen
upon an ignorant professor of the healing art. This is unlucky, but it
may happen anywhere. The medical body is not recruited exclusively
among the eagles of science. For one Baroni, who is an honour at once
to Rome, to Italy, and to Europe, you naturally expect to find many
blockheads. If these are more plentiful at Rome than at Paris or
Bologna, it is because the priests meddle with medical instruction, as
with everything else. I never shall forget how I laughed when I
entered the amphitheatre of Santo Spirito, to see a vine-leaf on 'the
subject' on which the professor was going to lecture to the students.
In this land of chastity, where the modest vine is entwined with every
branch of science, a doctor in surgery, attached to an hospital, once
told me he had never seen the bosom of a woman. "We have," he said,
"two degrees of Doctor to take; one theoretical, the other
practical. Between the first and the second, we practise in
the hospitals, as you see. But the prelates who control our
studies, will not allow a doctor to be present at a
confinement until he has passed his second, or practical
examination.
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