66 JEROME CARDAN. 



the wolf formerly; but even the wolves now being ex- 

 terminated, all the flocks wander in safety." Then he 

 goes on to state how the sheep in England slake their 

 thirst upon the dews of heaven, and are deprived of every 

 other kind of drink, because the waters of the land are 

 deadly to them 1 . He adds that the moist grass of Eng- 

 land is quite full of worms, and assigns that as the reason 

 why the air is full of crows that feed upon them. There 

 are no serpents on account of " the immense cold." 



From other animals the philosopher rises in the next 

 book to man and the creation of him. There are three 

 kinds of men, he says the divine, which neither deceive 

 nor are deceived ; the human, which deceive but are not 

 deceived ; and the belluine, which cannot deceive but 

 are deceived. Men who deceive and are deceived belong 

 to a compound sort ; they are part human and part 

 belluine. The same book treats of man's religion, of his 

 form, shows how, if you would have black-eyed children, 

 you must entrust them to a black-eyed n/urse; treats of 

 education, and the proportion between different parts of 

 the human body. The nature and temper of man is 

 discussed in the next book. Cardan inquires why chil- 



1 De Subtilitate. Lib. x. p. 192. " Ergo nunc Britannia inclyta 

 vellcre est. Nee mirum cum nullum animal venenatum mittat, imo 

 nee infestum prseter vulpem olim et lupum, nune vero exterminates 

 etiam lupis, tuto pecus vagatur; rore coeli sitim sedant greges, ab 

 omni alio potu arcentur, quod aquae ibi ovibus sint exitiales," &c. 



