The University of Naples, founded by Frederick II.

Studies, researches and successes of Professor Moscati proceeded at the same rate with the love for the poor people. He gave proof of it on the occasion of the Vesuvius eruption on April 8^th 1906. The volcano belched forth streams of hot lava, stones of lapillus, and thick ashes, threatening and terrorising the inhabitants of nearby centres.

The Ospedali Riuniti of Naples had a branch in Torre del Greco, a pretty little town on the slopes of the Vesuvius, at six kilometres from Naples. It housed old, paralytics and sick people. Moscati, sensing the imminent danger, went immediately there and helped all the inmates to evacuate. Soon after, the roof of the building collapsed but there were no casualties.

Two days later he sent a letter to the General Sanitary Manager of Ospedali Riuniti, proposing allowances for those who had helped him. And what about him? He begged not to be mentioned and added jokingly: "Please, get about as suggested or you might stir up… some ashes!"

Moscati’s attitude of working always behind the scenes prevents us from having more details about his intervention during another disaster that overtook Naples in 1911: cholera!

We have to remember that Naples is a seaport and, at the time of Moscati, so many ships came from all over the world. Besides, there was a maze of narrow winding and ill-famed lanes where dirt and destitution were dominant and the moral standards quite low. Consequently, anything could happen there. Thank God, medical research had considerably improved so the number of casualties was lower than in the past.

Regarding Moscati’s work during the cholera, we know he was called by the Ministry to the Laboratory of the Health Board housed in the Prefecture. He carried much research into the causes of this disease and the means to eradicate it. At the end of his task, completed with the utmost care, he submitted a report about the necessary health improvements in the city and many of them were realised.

This is how Matilde Serao – a famous Italian writer - wrote about the Vesuvius eruption in the daily "Il Mattino" on April 22nd 1905: "I feel terribly depressed and sad before the silence of Resina and Torre del Greco, two pretty little towns lying along orange groves by the sea. Squalor and destitution everywhere, no sign of life anywhere. Portici, Resina and Torre del Greco were dream cities and now…. not a soul…they are deserted, dead, abandoned and it seems ages since life was there. There is no one to tell us about the awful panic, which drove people out during the night, at the dawn, in the morning. We can guess or imagine all this death and dereliction as our own eyes can see it. Portici, Resina, and Torre del Greco: did they ever exist? Were there ever any people in these houses and streets? The awesome pile of ashes rises over the mountain; ashes, dirty clouds, vapours everywhere: we see nothing but sudden frightful arrows of various colours, hundreds of sharp arrows cutting the opaque grey atmosphere. There is only one place where life is: on the mountain of terror. Down here all is dead!"

The Anatomy Lab in the Incurabili Hospital, with the Crucifix and the plaque placed there by Professor Moscati.

Professor Cardarelli, a member of the board of examiners, was stunned: he exclaimed - in Eugenio’s words - "He had never met a young man like my brother in all his 60 years of teaching. After that he was very fond of him so Joseph became his doctor in charge."

From then on, many young doctors and students used to follow Moscati from bed to bed during his ward rounds to learn the secret of his art. In the same year, proposed by Dr. Antonio Cardarelli, the Medical-Surgical Royal Academy made him an associate member and Ministry of Education gave him the University Teaching Qualification in Physiological Chemistry.

"The competition that had not been advertised since 1880 attracted some of the brightest doctors and professors coming from Naples and the whole Southern Italy. The board of examiners was made up of personalities such as Antonio Cardarelli, Enrico de Renzi, and Beniamino de Ritis. Moscati sent his application form to take part in the competition.

The gesture in itself was thought to be rather daring, even foolhardy. But the result was a big success […] and he got the prestigious prize so coveted amidst applause of his colleagues. Moscati was officially proclaimed winner of the competition and first on the list."

(Gaetano Quagliariello, Giuseppe Moscati, an extract from the review Medicus, April December 1948)

Professor Raffaele Rossiello has carried out a serious and in-depth study on the practice of pathological anatomy followed by Dr. Moscati. It is a pity – he says - that after the Saint’s death nothing much has been said about his activity as a forensic surgeon and a Director of the "Luciano Armanni", the Institute of Anatomy and Pathological Histology.

We are grateful to Dr.Renato Guerrieri, formerly Head Physician at the Incurabili Hospital, for the finding of three volumes containing 244 reports of autopsies attributed to Dr. Moscati. Thanks to him these volumes now form part of the collection of Dr. Moscati’s mementos.

Luciano Armanni ordered to engrave on the Anatomic Room entrance this sentence: "Hic est locus ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae." ("This is the place where Death likes to help Life"). But in that Room, as Prof. Nicola Donadio writes, "there was no trace of religion, the place was severe but desolate."

Prof. Moscati thought to put on the top of a wall in that room, dominating the whole place, a Crucifix with this most happy sentence: "Ero mors tua, o mors" (= "Oh Death, I will be your death"), quotation of the Prophet Osea (Os 13, 14).
Autopsies were to Moscati real lessons of life.

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