In His Name Author:Edward Everett Hale Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE FLORENTINE. The young physician whom Madame Gabrielle had summoned to the rescue, was a native of the city of Florence, and he had not bee... more »n so long a resident of Lyons but that he was still called " the Florentine." At that time the profession of a physician, as a distinct calling among men, was scarcely known. The clergy were expected to know something of the cure of disease, and in some instances they really attained remarkable skill in its treatment. But with the knowledge of Eastern art which had come in with the first and second crusades, and with the persistent study of those naturalists whom we call alchemists, a wider and more scientific knowledge of the human frame and its maladies was beginning to take the place of old superstitions and other delusions. And thus ithappened that here and there was a man who, without being a priest on the one hand or a barber on the other, had gained the repute of understanding disease and of the power of keeping death at bay. Such a man was Giulio the Florentine. He moved quickly and with a decided step. He spoke little, and always after a moment's pause, if he were questioned. It seemed as if he spoke by some sort of machinery, which could not be adjusted without an instant's delay. What he said was crisp and decided, as were his steps in walking. It was impossible to see his manner even of crossing the room, or of arranging his patient's head upon the pillow, without feeling confidence in him. " I felt as if there were a prophet in the house," said Mathilde, one of the maid-servants, who had been sent for hot water into the kitchen, and in that minute took occasion to repeat her hasty observations to the excited party assembled there. When he entered the sick-room, it was more than an hour after Felicie h...« less