Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-04-14
THE MILAN NOSE CONTEST.
Twenty-Threc Smellers In Line
Italian Respect for Big Noses.

Il ne lsduNtl.J
The nose has at all periods of their his
tory possessed peculiar significance for
Italians. As a symbol of intelligence IL
figures in familiar speech, ancient and
modern, a homo nasutissmus being
Seneca's equivalent for very clever
man and Naso a name held i'm honor by
the Otacillan. Octavan. .Oyidian. and
Voconian gems, while Nasica was cog
nomen of the ScipiOs. one Of whom,
Publius Scipio Nasica, was, as the most
yirtuous man I'm the State, chosen 10 ac-
company the image OF the Mater Idaea
10 Rome In the Italy Of to-day aver
naso and esser di buon nasO 60 have
nose. to be of good nose) are the first or
a series of phrases all turning on that
feature i'm its symbolic sense and giving
rise to proverbs infinite In the variety or
their application. The great Napoleon
was true to his Italian origin in his pre-
ference for a big nose," and the late
Lord Beaconsiield, descended from \ene-
tian jews. never concealed his scofn ior
the "aat-nosed Frank" He held, in fact
that 10 be sinus was the first step toward
being a simia or ape-a ''retrOcession in
evolution" admitted by some among the
facts for Darwin" such a horror have
Italians Of any lesion costing the face its
nose or rObbing the latter of its due pro-
portions that rhinOplasty among them
has long been one OF the surgical fine
arts" and the great Bolognese anato-
mist Tagliacozz. Q5i6-'S9) has for all time
given his name 10 an ingenious method
of replacing the feature when lost. quite
I'm keeping therefore, with all precedent as
well as with the fitness of things, IL Is IN
Italy that we find the cult of the nose
as vital as ever, insOmuch that within
the last seven years she has had TWO
ConcOrsi iii Nasi tor nose compeutions),
in which the owners Of the feature re-
ceived prizes according as they could
present it i'm greatest perfection as re-
CARDS type. size, beauty, and olfactory
power. The former of these concorsi was
held I'm 1891 at Padua on the initiative Of
the students Of that medical school, and
the citizens were invited. by universal
suffrage and secret voting, 10 name the
possessors of / nasi piu sviluppau ris-
pettabili moses the most pronounced and
respectable of the ancient Venetian town.
The prizes, consisting of pocket handker-
chiefs and snuff-boXes. were i'm due course
awarded by plurality of votes.
At Milan. and quite recently, q much
better ordered and more conclusive COM
petition Of the same kind has just come
OH. the Huolc proceedings bNlllN N'il-
trolled by a committee and the 'eXamina
tions" conducted I'm a Nasoteca furnished
with drawings and water-ColOrs Of heads
well provided with noses such as would
have gladdened the artistic sense Of Will
liam Hogarth. The competitors numbered
thrty-six. but not more than twenty
three appeared before the examiners. The
first prize gold medal was won by Il
Venetian. Fortunate Michielutu by name,
vender of lucifers, whose nose was
found 10 be of formidable proportions,
long well pronounced, aggressive, tren-
chant like a knife blade The second
prize fell to one Antonio PoZZi, possessed
Of "A nose Volunteering, assuming, with
nostrils wide and cavernous." The award
for this was a medal i'm enamel, while the
third prize. a silver medal Of the first
order. was adiudged TO Carlo Ascani, for
the refined. symmetrical proportions of
his nasal feature. The last two prizes,
silver medals Of the second and third or
ders. respectively, were given for a nose
without pretension, ingenious. but solid
and well planted" and for one "cOnside-
rable. regular, and worthy of respect"
The candidates who were unsuccessful
perhaps ''ploughed" would be a more sug-
gestive word-shared the festivities with
which the committee concluded its labors.
and so the COncOrso di Nasi became a
thing Of the past till the BuOn-temponi
(merry- Makers of a future year or an
| other city think fit % revive the harmless
competition.