charles greene cumston - notes on the life and writings of geronimo cardano

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Vol . CXLVI, No . 4 ] BOSTON MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL

Original 3Ut*iclc£.

NOTES ON THE L IF E AND WRITINGS OFGEI10NIM0 CARDANO.

B Y C H A R L E S G R E E N E C U M S T O N , M . D . , B O S T O N .

T ii k lives of the gre at physicians of antiq uity

and the Middle Ages cannot, I think, be devoidof interest to the present generation of the pro-fession, and this may be particularly true of thosemen who are not generally known in medical sci-ence, and it is for this reason that I have selectedthe following biography.

Geroninio Cardano was certainly a curious per-sonage even in his day, and his reputation isespecially due to his profound knowledge ofmathematical sciences and philosophy. His sys-tem of philosophy has been the cause of mucheulogy in recent times, and, lastly, in his relationto us as physicians we must remember that at

least onethird of his “ Opera om nia ” is devotedto medical subjects. His life, char acter and workoffer to the highest point the most peculiar fea-tures. His career was an unin ter rup ted chain ofmisery, suffering and strife. He was born atPavia on Sept. 24, 1501, although Haeser giveshis birth as occurring in 1505, while Duruy places it in 1500. I believe, howev er , that thefirst date given is correct . As his mot her wasnot married, she tried every method to procurean abortion, but without effect. It is said thatshe was 3 days in labor, and that finally the sectio cesarea was resorted to.

When Cardano was 4 years old he was takento Milan, in which city his father practised inhigh repute, both as a physician and an advocate.In 1524 lie went to Padua, and in the same yearwas admitted to the degree of M.A., while towardthe end of the following year he received thedegree of doctor of medicine.

Somewhere about the end of 1581 he married a poor woman, he himsel f bein g in the mos t co m- plete mise ry . During the previous 10 ye ars hisimpotency hindered him from having knowledgeof a woman, which was a great mortification, andhe attributed it to the evil influences of the planet

under which he was born. Wh en he enumerates,as he does in more places than one, the gre ate stmisfor tunes of his life, this ten year s’ impote ncyis always foremost among them.

At the age of 33 he became professor of mathe-matics at Milan, and 2 years later he was offeredthe professorship of medicine at Pavia, which herefused, as there was little likelihood of receivinga regula rly paid salary. In 1539 he was admit teda member of the College of Physicians at Milan,and in 1543 he read public lectures in medicinein that city and at Pavia the year following, butdiscontinued them because he could not obtain

paym ent of his sa lary, and he returned to Milan.In 1547 his friend Vesalius procured for him,from the Ki ng of Denma rk, an offer of a pe n-sion of 800 crowns and his table, which he tellsus he refused on account of the severe cold of

the climate, and also because to be well re-ceived in that kingdom he would be obliged torenounce the Catholic religion, in which he had

been bred . In 1552 he went to Scot land , ha vi ng been se nt fo r by th e Archb is ho p of St. And re ws,who had applied in vain to the physicians of theKing of France, and af terw ards to those of theemperor. This prelate, then about 40 years of

age, had been afflicted with a shortness of breathfor about 10 years, and which had returned everyweek for the past 2 years. He began to recoverfrom the moment that Cardano prescribed forhim. The latter took his leave of the archbishopin abou t 6 wee ks’ time, leaving him his pre scr ip-tions, which in 2 years wrought a complete cure.

Cardano’s journey to Scotland gave him anopportunity of visiting several other countries.In journeying there he crossed France, and re-turned through the Low Countries and Germany,along the banks of the Rhine. It was on this oc-casion that he went to London and calculated

King Ed wa rd’s nativity. This tour consumedabout 10 months, after which, returning to Milan,he continued there until October, 1552, and thenwent to Pavia, whence he was invited to Bolognain 1562. He taug ht in this latt er city until 1570,at which time he was thrown into prison fordebt, but some months after was sent to his ownhouse but was not restored to his liberty untilsome little time afterwards.

In 1571 Cardano went to Rome, where he livedwithou t any public employment. He was, how -ever, admitted a member of the College of Physi-cians in that city and received a pension from

the pope. Acc ording to Thuanus, he died atRome Sept. 21, 1575, while other historians placehis deat h in 1576. Befor e his deat h he had themisfortune to witness the execution of his soncharged with poisoning his wife.

From what precedes it would appear thatCardano was of a very fickle temperament, butone will have a much better idea of his singularand odd turn of mind by examining what he him-self tells us, concerning his good and bad quali-ties, in his “ De vita p ro pr ia ” : “ Natur e hasgiven me talent for manual work, a philosophicalmind adapted to the study of sciences, full of

taste, a good character, voluptuous, gay, pious,inconstant, friend of wisdom, inclined to medita-tion, inventive, full of courage, prompt, defenderof good things, inventor of new things, an enemyof the vox magis tr i , of moderate habits, inter-ested in everything related to medicine, zealousfor miraculous things, architect, mocker, sober,industrious, laborious, diligent, only living fromday to day, frivolous, never forgetting an injury,contemptuous of religion, envious, sad, traitor,setting snares, magician, enchanter, miserable,hateful, lubrie, solitary, slightly sympathetic, se-vere, divine, jealous, lascive, obscene, obsequious,

fond of conversation with elderly people, etc.”Besides this enumeration, he boasts in other

pa rts of his writi ng s of possessing quali ti es , per-haps it were better to say properties, of a hyper-

phys ical na ture, an d he ent er s most volunta ri ly



78 BOSTON MEDICAL ANV SURGIVAL JOURNAL [ J a n u a r y 23, 1902

iuto ecstacy. He makes objective the productsof his imagination with such force that he saysthat he could see them, not with the eyes of thesoul, but w ith those of the body. He was fore-warned by dreams of everything that was tohappen to him, and the future was indicated bycertain marks which appeared upon his fingernails, as it occurred to him especially more forci-

bly at the time his son was im pr isoned fo r hiscrime. Like Socrates, Card ano possessed an easygenius that he has defined in the dialogue entitled“ Tetim ” — “ a venereal genius mixed with Saturnand Mercury.”

Leibnitz, who was well versed in the meritsand talents of Cardano, has said that he was avery great man with all his defects, and withoutthem would have been incomparable. Cardanocertainly occupies a more distinguished place inthe history of the progress of philosophy andmathematics than in that of medicine, but he hascomposed a large number of works relating to the

healing art, some of which are still possessed ofmuch interest, and they certainly greatly con-tributed to break the chains of ancient ArabicGalenism. Cardano had as motto, “ Tempus mea

possession tempus ager mens.” He has justifiedthe choice which he made in this selection, as is pro ve n by the 222 tr ea ti ses co nt ain ed in the 10volumes which compose his entire works, whichare not even complete, and I will only mentionhere those treatises which directly apply to med-ical science.

“ De l ibris propr iis .” Nurem berg, 1544.“ De l ibris propriis eornmq ue ord ine et usu ac de ruira-

bil ibus operidu s in arte med ica fact is .” Lyo ns, 1557.“ De l ibri s pro pr i i s eo rum que u su l iber reco g n i tns .”

Bale, 1502.“ Contradice nt ium medico rum libri X .” Paris , 1546;

Ly on s, 1548; Ant we rp , 1504; Marbu rg, 1(507. The first tw o edit ions are incomplete.

“ De Sarza-Paril la ,” published with his “ Uontradicent ia me dic a.” Lyo ns, 154b.

“ De subt i l i tate l ibri X X I. ” Nuremb erg, 1550, and Paris , 1551. A fourth editio n pub lish ed at Bal e in 15(50 cont ains addit io ns and a refutat ion of Scaliger’s crit ic isms. Other edit ion s have appeared. This is certa inly Carda no’s ma sterpiece, and it contains strikin g proofs of his great kno wl edg e a nd super io r in t e l l ig ence , a nd a lso in ma ny ins ta nces his pueril i ty and want of system.

“ De reruin varieta te libri X V I. ” Bale , 1557.“ In The ssalic um medicu iu act io secu nd a.” Bale, 1502.“ In septeni part iculas a phorismoru m Hippo crat is co in-

me nta ria .” Bale, 1504.“ De ven en is libri tre s.” Bale, 1504.“ De methodo med endi sect i ones tres .” Paris , 1505;

Marburg, 1007. The first two se ctio ns of this work we re pub lish ed for the first t ime at Veni ce in 1545 unde r the followi ng tit le: “ I)e lualo recent ioruin m edicorum med endi usu l ibellus centum errorcs i l lorum cont in ens. I tem alius de s impl ic ium medic ina ru in no x a .”

“ Poda gne enc om ium ,” in his “ Opuscula medica »:t phil- o.so ph ica .” Ba le, 150(5.

“ De aqua ” in the second vo lum e of his “ Opuscula medica et phil osoph ia .” Bale, 1500. In this same work wil l be found “ Liber de vitali aqua, seu de :<-there.”

“ Medicin. 'i - enc om ium ,” in his “ Opuscu la m edi ca .” Bale, 1500. In the first volu me of this work will he found “ Ars curandi parea ,” and in the second v olume wil l be found “ De radice cina rcspo nsum pet it ioni M. Anton ii Majoragli .” •

As to Cardano’s works, their analysis is sur-roun ded by t he gre ate st difficulty, because onevery page then; is a want of order; there arecontradictions, hesitations, repetition, in fact, theirstu dy is ren dere d very difficult. His medical

works compri se more than fo ur volumes of his“ Opera omnia,” and are composed of a multitudeof opuscules and short treatises which succeedeach other without any order and are in no wayrelated to one another . Upon reading them oneis constantly reminded of the author’s preoccupa-tion to write in order to make the greatest num-

ber of pages, an d he admit s himsel f that he was

pa id by the page, an d so made mo ne y by his pro-digious knowledge. In spite of all these defectsone cannot but see that he had a logical and lucidmind, that he was an observer.

He considers nature as the ensemble of thingsand beings, and the te rna ry division of the u ni-verse he admits, but he has reduced it to an en-tirely mathematical abstraction. He distinguishedthree principles in nature, namely, matter, whichis the soul of t he world, and whose princi palfunction is moveme nt and intelligence. Un derits multitude of varieties matter is unique andeternal, two modalities of force constantly acting

on it in ord er to descr ibe th e cycle of the fourelements. The four elements are heat, which isthe symbol of life, the humid, which rep rese ntsinertia and inorganization.

All bodies are susceptible to movement and allhave a vegetative soul. Inte llec t is one ; it envel-ops all beings. “ Th ere is stib luna only one in-tellect, and this intellect is only human as far ashuman ma tter can admit i t ; it penetrates manand by so doing produces in him acts of intelli-gence. This same intellect surroun ds the loweranimals, but on acc ount of the dispropor tion ofmatter, its entrance within them is prevented.

Thus it illuminates the interior of man, and onlysheds rays around the lower animals. The re isno othe r differe nce in this int elle ct of men andthat of beasts, and from this it arises that what is

per fect in th e human be ing is confused in an ima ls .”Cardano also admits the existence of an inter-mediary agent between the two worlds or the twoextreme principles, namely, God and Matter. Inorder to designate it, he employs the same termof sp ir i tus , which is already met with in Bacon,Arna uld de Villeneuve, and Cornelius Agripp a.In his “ De usu ciborum ” an enti re cha pte r isgiven up to the st udy of this element, which

serves as the link between the human body andthe divine principle.

He also deducts important consequences in themedical point of view for the tr eatm ent of dis-eases which are inflicted by the sj>iri tus.

As a disciple of the doct rine of concorda nceshe admits that the poisonous action of thingsshould be attributed to occult sympathies or an-tipathies, which unite the planets, living beingsand men ; and very logically he advises, besides a physical tr eatm ent, a kind of psychica l cure . Inanot her part he grou ps all the poisons — the word poison being ta ken in its most gener al meaning —as some arising in the human body and otherscoming from air and wate r of bad quality. Athird gr oup contains poisons properly speaking,while the fourth includes the venoms, some beingentirely deprived of a material substratum; these



Vol. CXLVI, No. 4] BOSTON MEDIOAL AND SURGIOAL JOURNAL 79

are the incantations, magic works (?) and phil-ters. Others have a certain material substratum,as fascination, whose effect is produced by a visualemission. He is imbued with the idea tha t lower

beings ar e in co ncord an ce wi th the superi or , and believes in as tro logica l me dicine , an d an ent ir e passage in his book “ C ontraieentrum med icoru m ”treats of unfortunate days in the point of view of

astrolog ical medicine. An d again, in this same book, he ment ions ep idem ics that he attr ibutes tothe influence of the constellations.

In his pathology a very important place is re-served to those diseases produced by evils, and hedescribes the symptoms which are variable ac-cording to whether they relate to a fascination ora sortilege. He desc ribes a person who is fasci-nated as having a whitish color of the skin, witha sadness in the eyes, crying often, suffering andsad. A person who has become ensorcel ated isalways exalted. lie speaks much. The eyes are

br ill ia nt . The th ou ght s follow in rapid ity. Sleep

is absent and the subject emaciates in a few days.Such are the theories which govern the med-

ical science of Cardano , an d conseq uent ly it iseasy to foresee how very strange and marvel-ous would be his therapeu tics. Fo r the appl ica-tion of ordinary remedies, or physical means, one pr incip le seems to do mi na te , namely, “ S imi l iu s imilibus curantur .” In his “ De rer um varietate ” he says t ha t nat ure is powe rfully aided bysimilar things, and as an illustration he says thatthe milk of the ass, the uterus of the hare, or thetesticles of the buck will grea tly aid in the pro-duction of pregnanc y. Fu rt he r on he says that

the contraries repel each other, as, for example,when blood has been separated from its serum anddried in the sun it will act as an hemastatic.

Being at the same time scientific and, perhaps,somewhat credulous, he mentions a number ofmarvelous cures, w hich he gives as authe ntic,and only uses his strong ly critical mind fo r thediscussion of explanatory hypotheses.• Among oth er passages there is one which is

interesting because it shows us that from an ex- pe riment he und ertoo k up on himse lf he endeav-ored to eliminate all causes of error. Laure ntiusGauscus Cherascius, who Avas an empirical physi-

cian of Tours, had a most remarkable magnetwhich if a stylet was rubbed on it the instrumentcould afterwards be made to penetrate a limbwithout giving rise to any pain to the patient.Cardano heard of this and undertook the experi-men t on himself. It Avas successful, because liehardly felt the slightest pricking sensation, and but a dro p of blood was seen in the wound . Intelling of this experiment he examines all thehypotheses which could possibly come to hismind, in order to explain this prodigy by a de-ceit, and he only arrive s at the conclusion thatthis magnet had a real efficaciousness.

Never thel es s, neither his logica l mind nor hisexcellent critical judgment can prevent him fromrelat ing facts such as these : A man bit ten by amad dog ate a crust of bread, after having hadthefinger pierced three times, reciting each time

the five dominical orati ons for the five wounds ofChrist. He was cured. He re is ano the r : Char lesZenus, the Venetian, received a very severe woundof the knee which no reme dy could cure. A ph y-sician applied a remedy on the other knee andthe wound closed.

Here is a sample of Cardano’s personal treat-ments : In ord er to cure a too thache, a. porous

body, such as cer ta in ba rks or roots, should be plac ed be tw een the thumb an d index finger.He also speaks of odontalgia, and it is interest-

ing to note that he discovered by chance on him-self a kind of magnetic process by which thiskind of pain could be calmed, and I here giveDu rey ’s literal translation of this p ass ag e: “ Ihad a violent toothache occurring in the last twoteeth of the left upp er ja w ; the pain extended tothe other teeth, the nose, the eyes, the ear; noremedy acted on it. I endeavored to separatethe teeth with the right hand, without any otherresult tha n t o increas e the pa in ; finally, by touch-

ing lightly, with the left thumb, the external as- pe ct of th e most pa in ful tooth, and with the in de xthe internal part, the pain lessened, decreasing allthe more the lesser I touched the parts. I haverepeated this experiment more than twenty timeswith success, until all the pain had disappeared.”

There is no doubt whatever but that the med-ical writings of Cardano were the means ofthrowing off the j’oke of Galen’s old system, asmodified by the Arabians, or at least they contrib-uted la rgely to this end. Fo r example, his jud g-ment is certainly excellent when he advises theexamination of the urine, from which diagnostic

signs could certainly be derived, and believingthem to be very certain, he departed from theteachings of Galen and Avicenna. He very wellappreciated the signs that could be drawn from

blac k ur in e, and at th e same time reproach edGalen foi^.his want of observation, and he pre-tends, contrary to Galen, that sediment in theurine is not, properly speaking, the immediate

product of coct ion, and con tr adi cts the ancienttheory by saying that coction may occur at the

beginnin g of even an acut e disease.It is to be regretted that Cardano took so little

time in the study of anatomy, although in many

parts of his works he str on gly re com men ds itsstudy. If he had had more extensive knowledgeof the h uman body he would have been able to have

pronou nce d himsel f in a more deci sive mannerupon certain objects of theory, and would nothave rendered himself culpable of several verygre at errors. Among others, he upheld th at thehear t did not have a single nerve. He pretendsthat Averrhoes only placed the origin of thenerves in this organ simply because he was ledinto error by white patches which were occasion-ally present upon its surface, and b}r its substance,which is very similar to that of nerves.

In other parts of his writings he believes thatthe heart has a sensibility, and admits three dif-fer ent sensitive faculties. The first is complete,and is the result of influence of the nerves, con-sequently only slightly marked in the superficial



80 BOSTON MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL [ J a n u a r y 28, 1902

p a r t of th e h ear t and entirely w anting in its in-terior. The second is incomplete, and only occursin a pathologic condition or in the tendons andligaments which during health are deprived of allsensibi lity. Th e thi rd is seated in the soul itself,in which the heart, which is the sour ce of life,also takes an active part.

He very ably and precisely demonstrated that

the various functions of the soul were localized invarious parts of the brain, and he says tha t thisopinion in no way influences the method of treat-ment.

The muscular fibres and the vessels are notattracted to each other, but are formed by at-traction.

I would here r ema rk tha t Cardano was fullyaware of the discovery of Fallopius, but he didnot fully seize its import.

He does not believe that putrefaction of theatmo sphere is an etiological fa ctor in contagiousdiseases, excepting when the atmospheric vapors

beco me altered. Cardano upheld tha t muco ussecretions coming from the nose and throat werenot always derived directly from the head, andthat very often they were produced by the organsof secretion located in the mouth and nose, sothat in reali ty he preconceived the great truthwhich later was so convincingly demonstrated byConrad Victor Schneider. l ie taught that themucous secretions developed outside of the ves-sels, which then absorbed them and carried themthroug hou t the economy in the circulation to dif-ferent organs, and disproved the theory that thevarious humors developed directly in the organsthemselves and are then exhaled by them into thecellular tissue. Cardano also says that it not in-frequently happens that unsalted mucus turns into bil e and tha t sa lt ed mucu s may transform int oatrabile.

Besides the various kinds of bile described byGalen, Cardano adds a num ber of others. Hestates tha t putrid fever is directly due to an over-heating of the blood and to changes taking placein the humors which become separated from thisfluid, because the blood itself can never undergo

putrefaction. l ie upho lds tha t the blood is im- perfectly prepared in the l iv er bu t is perfec tl y soin the heart.

He mentions the fact that frequently after hav-ing observed all the symptoms and signs of phthisis du ring life, a t autopsy the lu ngs wi ll befound perfectly normal, or only presentin g a fewsmall tubercles.

His manner of relating the histories of some ofhis cases readily dem onstra tes t hat he has doneso with no othe r end t han to satisfy his vanity.As an example of this, he says that out of twelve physic ians he was th e on ly one who was ab le todisc over a disease with which a certain countess

was afllicted, the other physicians believing thatshe was pregnant, while Cardano demonstrated beyond a doubt tha t the patient wasalllic ted wi tha hyd rops y of the uterus. In anoth er instanceCardano was called in consultation with other

practitioners, and lie declared tha t the disease

was opisthotonos, and all his colleagues ridiculedhim upon the dissonance of such a barbarousword, but he cured the patien t completely by fric -tions with oil of chamomile, and mithridates. Healso states that he has cured several cases of lep-rosy and phthisis, and in this latte r affection heemployed a dilute solution of sulphu ric acid, po w-dered orris root, syrup of rose, and one or two

other preparations.Sprengel asserts that Cardano was afflicted

with diabetes, and that for a time he daily voided100 oz. of urine; and Cardano himself relates thecase of an oth er person afflicted with this diseasewho voided 36 lbs. of uri ne daily , althoug h o nly 7

pounds in weight of fo od and drink were in ges te d.Ca rd ano ’s theor ies relative to the gene ral effects

produced by baths are most interesting, an d heardently combats the ancient Galenic indicationof ucontrarie contrariis opponenda.” He point sout tha t this law is not susceptible of having ageneral application because, for example, a diar-

rhea may be cured by purgatives. He also raiseshis voice against the ancient prejudice of giv-ing wine to pati ents afflicted with fever, and hecondemns the use of distilled waters which haveneither taste nor smell, because they are notonly useless, as t hey possess no pred om ina nt pr op -erty, but they may even be deleterious on accountof the metallic particles with which they are im- pregnated, and whic h are derived from the wa ll sof the receptacles in which they are distilled.Carda no believes tha t it is unwise to adm inisterlight laxative medicines in the beginning of allacute diseases, and also that it is better not to de-fer bloodletting in these affections for too long atime, becau se this o pera tion is one of the mostimportant means by which we may moderate atoo consi dera ble afflux of the hu mors. He also

be li eve s th a t purgatives sh ou ld be administeredafter the m aximum of the disease has beenreached, and that bloodletting is a most danger-ous practice durin g menstruation, towards thedecline of most all t ypes of fever, and believesthat this pra ctice is, general ly speaking, a salu-tary one.

He points out that bloodlett ing and blis tersare not indicated in every case of apoplexy, andthat paracente sis should not be perform ed in thosecases where the fluid collection is due to a diseaseof the liver, when resource has no t been ha d toother means and when congestion of the organhas slowly taken place.

Cardano knew without any doubt the curativevirtues of metals, because he says that a thin plateof gold will pre ve nt head aches if it be placed onthe corona ry suture. If placed upon the cardiacregion it will calm palpi tation s, and will soothethe pains of nephrolithiasis when pu t in co ntactwith the lumb ar region. We have here an entiresystem of therapeutics, because it is to the power possessed by met als tha t he attributes the cu rat ivevirtu es of the seals and bracelets of the royalty,lie believes that not only metals enjoy such prop-erties, bu t that precio us stones are also of value.Thus he states that jasp ar will control hemorrha ge,



Vol. CXLVI, No. 4] BOSTON MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL 8 1

that coral is excellent for a weak heart, and thatthe sapphire will cure the plague.

The therapeutic virtues of gems and metals areonly a particular branch of the doctrine of uni-versal concordanc e. Gold has not in itself a value,

but it is dir ecte d by th e sun wh ich infuses a partof its virtues into the metal. I t is the same withsilver, which is acte d on by the moon ; lead, which

is influenced by Saturn, and copper by Mercury,etc. If this idea be analyzed it is easy to see tha tif the time is chosen at which the sun has itsmaximum of influence, the therapeutic strength ofgold will be increased if applied at this time, andif it is placed on a part of the body which is sub-mitted to the direct influence of the sun, and, stillmore so, if the subject has been born tributary tothe sun, the action will be all the gre ate r. Fromthis example we see how all the occult theories onastrology and metallotherapy are intermingled.For example, seals do not act on account of thefigures engraved upon them ; their action is de-

pendent on the accord es ta bl is he d by th e thauma-turge between nature, the composition of the seal,the course of the stars and the nature of the beingto whom they are destined.

Cardano also was conversant with the proced-ures of cures pro duced by sy mpat hy, as can bedemonstrated by the following example, which herelates in his “ De rerum v ar iet ate ” : In or der tocure a quartian fever, all the urine voided by the

pati ent durin g th e attack shou ld be mixed withflour and then scattered along the road with thehope that a hungry dog may devour it, and if thisshould come to pass the animal will con tra ct the

fever and the pati ent will be cured. Cardanoalso relate s the follow ing case : A p atri arch , byname Castelnuovo, suffered with toothache forthree days, and this is the way he was cured bya sorcerer. The latte r took a nail and with itwrote a few en igma tic lines upon a tablet,touched t he diseased tooth thre e times with thenail, and then drove the latter into the tabletupon which he had written. The pain ceased im-mediately, and the sorcere r promised tha t itwould never return if the nail remained stuck inthe tablet, and in poi nt of fact, for the 10 yearsthat the patie nt lived af terward s, he never had a

return of his toothache.In his “ Contradieentrum medicoruni ” Cardano

says th at for a long time it has been questionedwhether enchantments could serve as therapeu-tical means, and he concludes that in certain casesthey may be useful. Fact s corro borati ng this had

been re corde d by Dioseorides, Ar istot le, Avicenna,Avenzoar and others, and Cardano himself relatesseveral, as, for example, where a man was in amost desperate condition on account of having

been st ruc k by li gh tn in g, an d who was cu re d byinunctions made with oil and wool.

Cardano endeavors to scientificially explainthese cures, and says tha t one should admi t tha tthere is in nature many t hings which remainenigmas, and it is only from time to time that anexplana tion may be given to them. On the otherhand, in cases of cure such as these, one should

attribute a certain role to the influence of theimagination, which so frequently transforms thethoughts and sensations of man, and whose actionis in many instan ces so rapid. And althou gh thisaction may have been most insignificant it should,nevertheless, be still taken into account, because

phys ic ia ns know better than any body else thatvery trifling causes will oftentimes produce very

great and marked effects upon the human organ-ism. lie also believes tha t one should adm it thatthe mind of one man may act on that of ano the r

by its proper force, by mod ifying the sp ir itus ofthe one upon whom he wishes to bring under hisinfluence, and, thanks to this mysterious action,the individual undergoing the incantation becomesto a certain point the tool of the enchan ter. Car -dano also points out that similar facts may occa-sionally result from the action of the will of theindividual upon himself. Certain people are especially en do wed wi th a gift to influence others , because men ta l po wer varies in de gr ee from one

subject to another, and, in short, one should ad-mit that magic operations are occasionally usefulin medicine, and for this reason their employmentshould be allowed when the end to be obtained isto effect a cure. If the y do not always succeed,that is no reason why the physician who employsthem should be termed an impostor, because, likeall forces, the one necessitated by the incantationmay present oscillations, or even a complete ces-sation in an individual who oftentimes is in pos-session of this gift.

To quote fur the r from the works of this br il-liant mind would be interesting, and would carry

us far beyond the in tended limits of this short biograph ic al sketch, but I ha ve en dea vored toshow, in what has already been extracted fromhis writings, that Cardano was a great physicianand observ er of mankind. From the variousworks on medical histo ry and from the origina lworks of Cardano himself that I have been ablein the past to consult, I cannot but think that hedid not believe sincerely in the occultism and themysterious magic in which his works abound, andthat all that pertains to them was only written inorder to increase the number of pages for whichhe was paid.

LYMPHATIC AND PORTAL INFECTIONSFOLLOWING APPENDICITIS.1

BY .JOH N C. M UNRO , M.D. , BOSTON,

Assistant Visiting Surgeon, Boston City Hospital.

P o r t a l or lymphatic infections, singly or com- bined, fo ll ow ing ap pe nd ic iti s, ar e no t so ra re asmany would have us believe. The obscurity ofthe symptoms, often insidious, at times fulminat-ing, the difficulty in determining a lesion of the

appendix, even when suspected, tend to confuse agroup of symptoms already variable. In a paper publ ished in th e “ Pro ceedings of the Philadel- ph ia Coun ty Medica l Soci ety for Dec em ber, 1900,”

1Four of these cases were contributed to the last series of the Boston City Hospital Aledical and Surgical Reports.

charles greene cumston - notes on the life and writings of geronimo cardano

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