METOPOSCOPY. 53 



tain little matter that has any biographical interest, it is 

 not requisite to speak more of them here. It is enough 

 to state their bulk. The work on Music was divided into 

 five books. The first treated of general rules and principles ; 

 the second of ancient music, rhythms, hymns, choruses, 

 and dances ; the third of the music of the writer's own 

 time ; the fourth of the mode of composing songs and 

 counterpoint ; the fifth was on the structure and use of in- 

 struments, being an account of the various musical instru- 

 ments then commonly in use. This, too, was at the time a 

 valuable work, and in many respects original ; it may be 

 said also that there were one or two Italian tracts on 

 music left among his writings. Of the works hitherto 

 undescribed, the one concerning which Cardan himself 

 would most wish a biographer to speak fully, is that upon 

 Metoposcopy 1 , a kind of physiognomy invented by him- 

 self, or rather amplified so largely from a few existing 

 hints, as to rank practically as a new invention. Melam- 

 podius had written upon the mysteries of warts upon the 

 face ; the study of them is a part of Metoposcopy, but 

 that science is concerned chiefly with the lines not the 

 furrows upon the forehead. There are fine lines upon 



1 "HieronimiCardani Medici Mediolanensis Metoposcopia, Libris 

 xiii. et octingentis faciei huraanae eiconibus complexa. Lutetia 

 Parisiorum. Apud Thomam Jolly, 1658." That was the first pub- 

 lished edition of the book; from it are taken the succeeding state- 

 ments. 



