- Email: [email protected]
THE ITALIAN SCHOOLS.
75
magnificent scale ;the physicians residing here appear to be more active than those farther South; the contra-stimulist doctrine proceeded from Milan; and the are on a
THE ITALIAN SCHOOLS.
[From our Correspondent.]
of Rasori, Moscati, Sacco, Omodei, and Locatelli, still hold a respectable rank in medicine.
names
MILAN—No. 1.
RASORwas unfortunate
enough to incur of the Austrian was soon found for a visiting him with sufficient marks of dislinctioit, to cause him to lose the greater part of his practice. It was pretended that he had formed a plot to poison the Austrian army, and that out of sheer mercy the Emperor had spared his liberty and life ; but it is very improbable that he would now be possessing either, if any truth were in the report. The fact is, that Rasori is a liberalminded man, thinks too much, and is, therefore, dangerous to a monarch, who, like Francis, "does not wish for learned men, but for good subjects." Of the hospitals, the largest, as its name implies, is the
of the displeasurepretence THE labours and difficulties through which spies, and Jocundi acti labores.—CIC.
some
one
has
passed
are
said to be
pleasing to
the
recollection, and finding myself safely set down in the square of the cathedral of Milan, after having been twice upset since I de-
ap-
scended the Simplon, I determined to pend this sentence of Cicero to the top of my first letter, as a sort of witness to the truth of the doctrine. I need not describe to you the magnificent line of road formed by the wonder-working Napoleon, which serves as the main entrance into Italy from Switzerland. Hannibal is said to have softened the Alps with vinegar ; Napoleon opened a passage for the " Army of Italy," through the rocks, with gunpowder; sixteen thousand tons of which are said to have been expended in that great enterprise. Spedale lilagaivre. I hate the man," said the sentimental tourist, " who can travel from Dan to Beer- As a building, it is very fine ; the style sheba, and say all is barren;" there is of the exterior is gothic. It was founded something to be met with in every place to in the year 1456 by the Duke of Milan, amuse, and, occasionally, to instruct ; and and is, at present, supported partly by the although it is not to be expected that I shall estates of the founder, and partly by the find very much that is new in Italy, a land contributions of the Milanese. The wards already so many times ransacked by English are twenty-eight in number ; twenty-four wanderers and Austrian troops, yet I shall, for medical, and four for surgical patients. from time to time, send you a few commu- The number of ,beds is about 2000 ; they nications respecting the state of medicine are made of wood, are without curtains, in this unfortunate country. and are placed too close to each other. Well, now of Milan : the town presenis To this Institution eiglilleen physicians are nothing very wonderful at first sight ; it is appointed, and two of these are required to large, dirty, and dull ; the principal build- 1’? always present, to receive accidents, ings are the cathedral, of which almost every’ and. to attend to the casualties of the body has heard, and the large houses in thehouse. All kinds of patients are received, Corso della Porta Romana. This cathedralexcepting those affected with pellagra, that has been called the eighth wonder of thepest of northern Italy ; but if it should be world, like eighty other things; but it hascombined with any other disease, then the certainly a very imposing appearance ; itspatient is admitted. I hope, in some future communicahundred towers and eleven thousand saints, seeming to warn the heretical travellertion, to give you an account of that miserathat he is approaching the sanctum sancto-- ble disease, and also of the method of rum of papistical power. The whole of this! treating it. To every ward,there is a immense pile is built with fine Carragiani smaller ward appended for the convalescents, marble, brought from the neighbourhood off which is a good arrangement. Patients the Lago Maggiore. In the Ambrosiani having obstinate chronic affections, venereal library are some valuable manuscripts; and,, disease, the itch, or febrile disorders, are all among others, a Virgil, with copious anno-- placed in separate rooms. The ventilation tations by Petrarch; and it appears from1 is very good;the greatest cleanliness is a little note at the bottom of one of theobserved throughout the whole establishDr. CRESPI is the director of the pages, that he commenced to write them on the very day on which he first saw hiss Spedale Maggiore ; and Dr. SACco, who has acquired a great reputation among his Laura. .In a medical point of view, Milan, al-- countrymen, on account of his zealous exerthough without an University, may betions in the cause of vaccination, has the deemed the Paris of Italy. The hospitahs management of all the patients suffering "
I
,
i ment.
76
from fever. He has made
frequent experi-
ments, both in the hospital and in the country, with the chlorine in the putrid fever, or, as they call it, petechial fever. This fever is often epidemic in the neighbourhood of Milan. The intermittent form of fever is also very frequent and obstinate, especially late in the autumn ; and it is very evident that these two forms of fever are essentially only one and the same disease, assuming only a different character, to the difference of situation and other circumstances, as AUDOUARD has
of last Saturday astonished me ; and having the interest of both patients much at I determined to confirm, by what I was fearful you had only in your over anxiety to inform your despair.
heart observation imagined,
ing inquirers of the least dawn of improve. ment. Instead of being disappointed,
observed all the favourable symptoms you mention with the greatest satisfaction.In the case of the Middlesex (although when first put under your care I allow it wasa most unpromising subject), the mass of co. agulum, which was pressing sore upon the anterior lobes of its cerebrum, appears t6 fully explained. The Spedale di Sta Cataritia alla Ruota, for be rapidly absorbing, and both the soperior midwifery patients, and foundlings, is also and inferior memo’s to be regaining their iarge ; it was formerly a cloister, and is proper functions. Your practice in this situated very near to the Great Hospital. case, in particular, has been severely re. The yearly number of births is about 300. probated, but only by a set of milk-and. Professor GIANNI was lately the director water practitioners, who, in themselves, have of this institution, but he died a short time shown symptoms of disease, and are afraid coining under the hands of so ago, and at present professor Billi has the of one management of it. Only about 63 found- vigorous a physician. In the unfortunatt lings (gli esposti) live in the house, but case of St. George, it grieves me to say that about 300 are maintained at the expense of appearances are not so flattering, nor, with the institution in the country, in the same all due deference, do I think your treat. way as by the Hospital des Enj’ans troasves at ment has been equally judicious. Duncj Paris. The children are divided into three the progress of the disease, you have cei. classes, the lattanti, or sucklings ; the piccoli, tainly allowed several most marked symp. such as are able to take care of themselves ; toms to escape your acute observation,by and the graiidi, or those more grown up; combating which a more general beneficiffi and, according to this arrangement, they are effect might have been produced. Favour, placed in different parts of the building, and able symptoms, however, have shown them. taken care of until they reach the age of selves here as well as in the other cases, fifteen. which, with all the improvements made, I have not time in the present letter to and about to be made, in the medical pm say any thing to you about La Senacra, or fession, are equally attributable to yourtM the Trivulci, but I shall endeavour to do so praiseworthy exertions. I beg leave to say, that several of tb in my next. I shall go down to Pavia in a few days, and continue my tour southyounger part of the profession, who arein through Padua, Verona, Florence, andthe habit of visiting this lust case, ohsene Rome, and as " parvum parva decent," a most obstinate degree of inactivity in one you must not expect too nourishing an ac-of its inferior extremities, and are most anxions count of the state of medicine in the univer-to see the effect of an occasional introduc. tion of the acupuncturation needle. sities of Italy. It is the prayer of your correspondent, You shall hear from me as often as posas it must be of all who are in any way sible. connected with your convalescent patients, that you will continue to watch over them with a careful eye, administering palatable or unpalatable medicines, as your discretion To 7’o the Editor of THE LANCET. directs. Be not dismayed if your treatSIR,—However much the readers of your ment in some cases proves fatal; better,’ most useful Journal may differ in opinion, thousand times, both for patient and conwith reg’ard to your skill as a general prac- nexions, that he did not exist than lintitioner, I think all must admire the hold ger in such state as were the St. George’s and decided treatment you have employed and Middlesex Hospitals when first intrust in the two most obstinate cases of the St. ed to your care. So high an opinion has your arateful George’s and Middlesex Hospitals. Alof your medical skill, that admirei of active an means Correspondent though myself in such cases, I was fearful that you had he shall lose rao opportunity of availing himcarried the depleting system too far, and selfof it. that your poor patients had fallen into that A NEAR RELATION. indolent, chonic state, from which little good was to be expected. But, Sir, your bulletin
according
’
day
magnificent scale ;the physicians residing here appear to be more active than those farther South; the contra-stimulist doctrine proceeded from Milan; and the are on a
THE ITALIAN SCHOOLS.
[From our Correspondent.]
of Rasori, Moscati, Sacco, Omodei, and Locatelli, still hold a respectable rank in medicine.
names
MILAN—No. 1.
RASORwas unfortunate
enough to incur of the Austrian was soon found for a visiting him with sufficient marks of dislinctioit, to cause him to lose the greater part of his practice. It was pretended that he had formed a plot to poison the Austrian army, and that out of sheer mercy the Emperor had spared his liberty and life ; but it is very improbable that he would now be possessing either, if any truth were in the report. The fact is, that Rasori is a liberalminded man, thinks too much, and is, therefore, dangerous to a monarch, who, like Francis, "does not wish for learned men, but for good subjects." Of the hospitals, the largest, as its name implies, is the
of the displeasurepretence THE labours and difficulties through which spies, and Jocundi acti labores.—CIC.
some
one
has
passed
are
said to be
pleasing to
the
recollection, and finding myself safely set down in the square of the cathedral of Milan, after having been twice upset since I de-
ap-
scended the Simplon, I determined to pend this sentence of Cicero to the top of my first letter, as a sort of witness to the truth of the doctrine. I need not describe to you the magnificent line of road formed by the wonder-working Napoleon, which serves as the main entrance into Italy from Switzerland. Hannibal is said to have softened the Alps with vinegar ; Napoleon opened a passage for the " Army of Italy," through the rocks, with gunpowder; sixteen thousand tons of which are said to have been expended in that great enterprise. Spedale lilagaivre. I hate the man," said the sentimental tourist, " who can travel from Dan to Beer- As a building, it is very fine ; the style sheba, and say all is barren;" there is of the exterior is gothic. It was founded something to be met with in every place to in the year 1456 by the Duke of Milan, amuse, and, occasionally, to instruct ; and and is, at present, supported partly by the although it is not to be expected that I shall estates of the founder, and partly by the find very much that is new in Italy, a land contributions of the Milanese. The wards already so many times ransacked by English are twenty-eight in number ; twenty-four wanderers and Austrian troops, yet I shall, for medical, and four for surgical patients. from time to time, send you a few commu- The number of ,beds is about 2000 ; they nications respecting the state of medicine are made of wood, are without curtains, in this unfortunate country. and are placed too close to each other. Well, now of Milan : the town presenis To this Institution eiglilleen physicians are nothing very wonderful at first sight ; it is appointed, and two of these are required to large, dirty, and dull ; the principal build- 1’? always present, to receive accidents, ings are the cathedral, of which almost every’ and. to attend to the casualties of the body has heard, and the large houses in thehouse. All kinds of patients are received, Corso della Porta Romana. This cathedralexcepting those affected with pellagra, that has been called the eighth wonder of thepest of northern Italy ; but if it should be world, like eighty other things; but it hascombined with any other disease, then the certainly a very imposing appearance ; itspatient is admitted. I hope, in some future communicahundred towers and eleven thousand saints, seeming to warn the heretical travellertion, to give you an account of that miserathat he is approaching the sanctum sancto-- ble disease, and also of the method of rum of papistical power. The whole of this! treating it. To every ward,there is a immense pile is built with fine Carragiani smaller ward appended for the convalescents, marble, brought from the neighbourhood off which is a good arrangement. Patients the Lago Maggiore. In the Ambrosiani having obstinate chronic affections, venereal library are some valuable manuscripts; and,, disease, the itch, or febrile disorders, are all among others, a Virgil, with copious anno-- placed in separate rooms. The ventilation tations by Petrarch; and it appears from1 is very good;the greatest cleanliness is a little note at the bottom of one of theobserved throughout the whole establishDr. CRESPI is the director of the pages, that he commenced to write them on the very day on which he first saw hiss Spedale Maggiore ; and Dr. SACco, who has acquired a great reputation among his Laura. .In a medical point of view, Milan, al-- countrymen, on account of his zealous exerthough without an University, may betions in the cause of vaccination, has the deemed the Paris of Italy. The hospitahs management of all the patients suffering "
I
,
i ment.
76
from fever. He has made
frequent experi-
ments, both in the hospital and in the country, with the chlorine in the putrid fever, or, as they call it, petechial fever. This fever is often epidemic in the neighbourhood of Milan. The intermittent form of fever is also very frequent and obstinate, especially late in the autumn ; and it is very evident that these two forms of fever are essentially only one and the same disease, assuming only a different character, to the difference of situation and other circumstances, as AUDOUARD has
of last Saturday astonished me ; and having the interest of both patients much at I determined to confirm, by what I was fearful you had only in your over anxiety to inform your despair.
heart observation imagined,
ing inquirers of the least dawn of improve. ment. Instead of being disappointed,
observed all the favourable symptoms you mention with the greatest satisfaction.In the case of the Middlesex (although when first put under your care I allow it wasa most unpromising subject), the mass of co. agulum, which was pressing sore upon the anterior lobes of its cerebrum, appears t6 fully explained. The Spedale di Sta Cataritia alla Ruota, for be rapidly absorbing, and both the soperior midwifery patients, and foundlings, is also and inferior memo’s to be regaining their iarge ; it was formerly a cloister, and is proper functions. Your practice in this situated very near to the Great Hospital. case, in particular, has been severely re. The yearly number of births is about 300. probated, but only by a set of milk-and. Professor GIANNI was lately the director water practitioners, who, in themselves, have of this institution, but he died a short time shown symptoms of disease, and are afraid coining under the hands of so ago, and at present professor Billi has the of one management of it. Only about 63 found- vigorous a physician. In the unfortunatt lings (gli esposti) live in the house, but case of St. George, it grieves me to say that about 300 are maintained at the expense of appearances are not so flattering, nor, with the institution in the country, in the same all due deference, do I think your treat. way as by the Hospital des Enj’ans troasves at ment has been equally judicious. Duncj Paris. The children are divided into three the progress of the disease, you have cei. classes, the lattanti, or sucklings ; the piccoli, tainly allowed several most marked symp. such as are able to take care of themselves ; toms to escape your acute observation,by and the graiidi, or those more grown up; combating which a more general beneficiffi and, according to this arrangement, they are effect might have been produced. Favour, placed in different parts of the building, and able symptoms, however, have shown them. taken care of until they reach the age of selves here as well as in the other cases, fifteen. which, with all the improvements made, I have not time in the present letter to and about to be made, in the medical pm say any thing to you about La Senacra, or fession, are equally attributable to yourtM the Trivulci, but I shall endeavour to do so praiseworthy exertions. I beg leave to say, that several of tb in my next. I shall go down to Pavia in a few days, and continue my tour southyounger part of the profession, who arein through Padua, Verona, Florence, andthe habit of visiting this lust case, ohsene Rome, and as " parvum parva decent," a most obstinate degree of inactivity in one you must not expect too nourishing an ac-of its inferior extremities, and are most anxions count of the state of medicine in the univer-to see the effect of an occasional introduc. tion of the acupuncturation needle. sities of Italy. It is the prayer of your correspondent, You shall hear from me as often as posas it must be of all who are in any way sible. connected with your convalescent patients, that you will continue to watch over them with a careful eye, administering palatable or unpalatable medicines, as your discretion To 7’o the Editor of THE LANCET. directs. Be not dismayed if your treatSIR,—However much the readers of your ment in some cases proves fatal; better,’ most useful Journal may differ in opinion, thousand times, both for patient and conwith reg’ard to your skill as a general prac- nexions, that he did not exist than lintitioner, I think all must admire the hold ger in such state as were the St. George’s and decided treatment you have employed and Middlesex Hospitals when first intrust in the two most obstinate cases of the St. ed to your care. So high an opinion has your arateful George’s and Middlesex Hospitals. Alof your medical skill, that admirei of active an means Correspondent though myself in such cases, I was fearful that you had he shall lose rao opportunity of availing himcarried the depleting system too far, and selfof it. that your poor patients had fallen into that A NEAR RELATION. indolent, chonic state, from which little good was to be expected. But, Sir, your bulletin
according
’
day