- Project Runeberg -  The story of San Michele /
51

(1929) [MARC] Author: Axel Munthe - Tema: Medicine
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one already, to let the Countess pass in before
you, to examine the liver of the Count with more
attention than that of his valet, to go to the
garden-party at the British Embassy instead of
to your last-born, whose whooping-cough is
getting worse. Thirdly, unless his heart is very
sound he will soon show unmistakable signs of
precocious hardening of that organ; he will
become indifferent and insensible to the suffering
of others, like the pleasure-seeking people around
him. You cannot be a good doctor without pity.


Often, when a long day’s work was over, I,
who have always been interested in psychology,
used to ask myself why all these silly people sat
and waited for me for hours in my
consulting-room. Why did they all obey me, why could I
so often make them feel better, even by a mere
touch of my hand? Why, even after the power
of speech had gone and the terror of death was
staring out of their eyes, did they become so
peaceful and still when I laid my hand on their
forehead? Why did the lunatics in the Asile St.
Anne, foaming with rage and screaming like wild
animals, become calm and docile when I loosened
their strait-jackets and held their hand in
mine? It was a common trick of mine, all the
warders knew it and many of my comrades and
even the professor used to say of me: Ce garçon-là
a le diable au corps
! I have always had a
sneaking liking for lunatics, I used to wander about
quite unconcerned in the Salle des Agités as among
friends. I had been warned more than once that
it would end badly, but of course I knew better.

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