It has often been
remarked that the study of medicine goes hand in hand with a certain
boldness of speculation not altogether in harmony with the lessons of
the priest. No one who has lived in Italy long enough to get at the true
character of the people can have failed to observe this in Italian
physicians; and our doctor, like many of his brethren, was suspected of
carrying his speculations into forbidden fields. Still, his practice was
large, and went on increasing. Laymen, if they must needs be sick, were
glad to have him at their bedsides; and there were even men with purple
on their shoulders who had strong faith in his skill, if they had strong
doubts of his orthodoxy. Externally he conformed to the requirements of
the Church: heard mass of Sundays, and went once a year to the
confessional; for this much is a police regulation, a tax upon
conscience which every Roman is bound to pay. But he was too much behind
the scenes to do it with a good will, and saw professionally too much of
the daily life of the clergy, looked too freely and too closely at some
of their "pleasant vices," to feel much reverence either for them or for
their teachings.
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