PROFESSIONAL ETIQUETTE. 113 



tions with Cassanate, on the way to Edinburgh, Cardan 

 had learnt, in addition to the facts mentioned by him in 

 his letter, one or two particulars. These were, that the 

 archbishop's periodical attacks did not agree always, but 

 only generally, with the changes of the moon ; that some- 

 times, when he took care of himself, he might get through 

 fifteen or twenty days without them. That the duration 

 of each attack seldom exceeded twenty-four hours, but 

 that sometimes it remained upon him twice as long. That 

 his grace slept well, but that, on account of the urgency of 

 his affairs, he never took the quantity of sleep requisite to 

 free himself from crudities, especially since he was a great 

 eater and drinker. That he was irascible enough, had a 

 skin that exhaled freely, a chest of fair size, and rather a 

 thin neck. 



Upon the case, after he had personally studied it, Car- 

 dan's opinion resembles a long clinical lecture. It is a 

 very acutely reasoned study of asthma, based upon prin- 

 ciples laid down by Galen. Wonderfully absurd seems 

 now its medical philosophy, but in the year 2154 what 

 will be said even of our physic? Let us be modest in our 

 treatment of the physic of Cardan. He did not believe 

 with Cassanate that the matter finally expectorated had re- 

 mained in his grace's brain as it collected there during the 

 intervals between the attacks. If so, he thought that the 

 operations of the intellect must be impeded, and that the 



VOL. II. I 



