By Gianna Pomata. Translated from the Italian by the author, with the assistance of Rosemarie Foy and Anna Taraboletti-Segre. 294 pp. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. $42.50. ISBN 0-8018-5858-5.
In Bologna, Italy, and surrounding cities in the 15th throughthe 18th centuries, physicians had to have a license to practicemedicine, although fees and privileges (and much controversyand in-fighting over these) were determined according to rank(charlatans, midwives, barbers, and physicians). There was aprofessional body, authorized and controlled by the state —the Protomedicato (the emphasis of Professor Pomata's fascinatingbook) — that dealt with licensure and discipline but seemedmore interested in professional standards and self-protectionthan in issues of malpractice. Women healers experienced "constraintsset by their gender," yet they challenged the system, oftensuccessfully. . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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