PROFESSORS QUARRELLING. 281 



of an internal part before the whole academy. He 

 quoted Greek in support of some assertion, and made 

 the mistake which had been corrected by Cardan once 

 before at Pavia, when Brauda made it. He quoted a 

 denial as an affirmation, by omitting the negative par- 

 ticle. Jerome, who had been dragged to the spot against 

 his own will by his class, said, " You have omitted ovV 



"By no means," said the disputant. 



Jerome quietly affirmed the fact, and the students, after 

 student fashion, directly became clamorous; the book was 

 produced, and Fracantiano silenced. But the philosopher 

 had made an enemy. Though he was so essentially a man 

 of books, that a defeat by him in such a form might have 

 been borne with a good grace, Fracantiano never could 

 forget that he had been humbled in the presence of the 

 whole academy. From that day he avoided Cardan 

 with so much determination that he ordered his attendants 

 to warn him when they saw that he was near, in order 

 that he might turn aside and escape encountering him 

 even in the streets. Amused at this enmity, some students 

 contrived one day to beguile Cardan into a room where 

 Fracantiano was presiding over some dissections. The 

 professor so interrupted rose to depart instantly, and went 

 with so much haste that he became entangled in his gown, 

 and fell down with his face upon the floor. 



If his mind had not been crippled past all cure by the 

 torture suffered through his son's crime and its punish- 



