A visit with Professor Davide Giordano at Venice / [Max Thorek].

  • Max Thorek
Date:
[1928]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A visit with Professor Davide Giordano at Venice / [Max Thorek]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tory. Besides this, he is a member of an inexhaustible number of medical, surgical and historical societies. Last year he was President of the International Congress of Surgery, held at Rome. Our own country was also represented on that occasion. Other countries, notably Roumania, Bel¬ gium, France, 'Switzerland, Spain, Portu¬ gal, Hungary, Czecho-Slovakia, and others, recognize his genius and shower him with honors in the form of distinctions and decorations of various sorts. I envy him, as you would. The life he leads is ideal. He lives in a palace, one side of which overlooks the Grand Canal, while the other leads into a beautiful tropical garden. In that garden he cultivates divers tropical fruits and belabors the soil with his own nimble hands. At tea, to which my family and I were honored by being in¬ vited, we were entertained by him and his charming wife, an esthetic, cultured lady of utmost refinement, and his accomplished daughters. Among those present was the distinguished Professor Eduardo Perron- cito, who discovered the Ankylostoma duo- denale. He is the master of parasitology of Italy and a most delightful gentleman. After tea we visited the library of Pro¬ fessor Giordano, where we were privileged to delight in rare volumes of medieval medicine and surgery. We reveled in modern and semimodern tomes, all labelled, classified and placed in proper position by our great host. I observed that while one roams through this atmosphere of art, culture and refine¬ ment one must never say that he admires some special thing, for a moment later he will be the embarrassed but proud possessor of the object of his admiration. I happened to express delight in a volume of surgery written by an author of the Fifteenth Cen¬ tury (Chirurgia Magna, Lanfranci, 1480), and in a flash Giordano autographed it and insisted that I accept this rare book. And so it went, day after day, one de¬ light after another. My resolutions were broken, to be sure, but I benefited greatly, and so will you if you make a pilgrimage to Italy and find Giordano in Venice. It is wise to pay homage at this font of learn¬ ing and shrine of profound surgical wisdom. You will find, at the Ospedale Civile, Pro¬ fessor Ligorio, the superintendent of that great institution, a courteous and learned gentleman, conversant with every phase of medical and surgical administration of hos¬ pitals, and the author of a recent volume on this subject. When Giordano bade me goodbye, and while his warm and masculine handclasp lingered in mine, his countenance beamed with that characteristic smile of his as he softly said in perfect English, “Come again soon, and remember me to my friends in America. I wish them all well.” I was moved. I could only reply in his own sentiment, “We also wish you well, and may you continue as you are ad mult os annos.” 850 Irving Park Blvd.
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