“We decree that in future no one is to assume the title of doctor, to proceed to practise or to take medical charge, unless he has previously been found competent in the judgment of teachers at a public meeting in Salerno, has moreover by the testimony in writing of his teachers and of our officials approved himself before us or our representatives in respect of his worthiness and scientific maturity, and in pursuance of this course has received the state-licence to practise. Whoever transgresses this law, and ventures to practise without a licence, is subject to punishment by confiscation of property and imprisonment for a year.” “No surgeon shall be allowed to practise until he has submitted certificates in writing of the teachers of the faculty of medicine, that he has spent at least one year in the study of that part of medical science which gives skill in the practice of surgery, that in the colleges he has diligently and especially studied the anatomy of the human body, and is also thoroughly experienced in the way in which operations are successfully performed and healing is brought about afterwards.”[774] For centuries after this barbers in other countries practised surgery without let or hindrance. The doctor was bound to give advice to the poor gratis, and to inform against apothecaries who did not make up his prescriptions in accordance with the law. The doctor’s fee in the daytime within the town was half a gold tarenus; outside the city he could demand from three to four tareni, exclusive of his travelling expenses.[775] Doctors were not permitted to keep drug-shops. Apothecaries were obliged to compound the medicines in conformity with the doctor’s prescriptions, and the price they charged was regulated by law. Inspectors of drug-shops were appointed to visit and report. The punishment of death was imposed on the officials who neglected their duties.[776] These laws have served as the pattern for succeeding enactments for the regulation of medical education and practice. In 1252 King Conrad created the school of Salerno a university, but King Manfred in 1258 by his restoration of Naples University left Salerno only its medical school. On the 29th of November, 1811, a decree of the French Government put an end to the oldest school of medicine in Europe.