Confused about the meaning of a sentence from Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent
The following excerpt is from The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad:
“Typical of this form of degeneracy—these drawings, I mean.”
“You would call that lad a degenerate, would you?” mumbled Mr Verloc.
Comrade Alexander Ossipon—nicknamed the Doctor, ex-medical student without a degree; afterwards wandering lecturer to working-men’s associations upon the socialistic aspects of hygiene; author of a popular quasi-medical study (in the form of a cheap pamphlet seized promptly by the police) entitled “The Corroding Vices of the Middle Classes”; special delegate of the more or less mysterious Red Committee, together with Karl Yundt and Michaelis for the work of literary propaganda—turned upon the obscure familiar of at least two Embassies that glance of insufferable, hopelessly dense sufficiency which nothing but the frequentation of science can give to the dulness of common mortals.
“That’s what he may be called scientifically. Very good type too, altogether, of that sort of degenerate. It’s enough to glance at the lobes of his ears. If you read Lombroso—”
I fail to understand the meaning of those words in bold; can anybody explain or paraphrase the sentence with the bold part for me?
turned upon the obscure familiar of at least two Embassies
The definition of familiar that is relevant here is "One who frequents a place." So I would expect that the person being referred to (looking at the book, this appears to be Mr Verloc) hangs around two embassies.
that glance of insufferable, hopelessly dense sufficiency
The appropriate definition of sufficiency, from the Lexico dictionary is
1.2 archaic Self-sufficiency or independence of character, especially of an arrogant or imperious sort.
which nothing but the frequentation of science can give to the dulness of common mortals.
Here, frequentation means that he studies science a great deal. I don't believe that this implies that he is particularly good at it ... there's some sarcasm here.
So "the Doctor" believes he is an authority on science and that he is talking to an ignoramus, and this causes him to look at Mr Verloc with an insufferably arrogant gaze.
Comrade Alexander Ossipon[…]—
turned upon = directed towards
{the obscure familiar of at least two Embassies} – the regular visitor to at least two Embassies of whom little was known
that glance – that particular facial expression
of insufferable, hopelessly dense sufficiency – that arrogantly indicated that he was tired of explaining why he had called the artist “degenerate” as the reason for this was blatantly obvious and tedious and was not worthy of responding to.
which nothing but – which [attitude] nothing except
the frequentation of science – the habitual involvement with science
can give = can add and a further attribute
to the dullness of common mortals. – to the stupidity of so-called ordinary people.