JEROME CARDAN 127 



mind, and, at last, Cardan was obliged to let his opinion 

 of the case be known ; and, as this was entirely hostile 

 to the treatment which was being pursued, the inevit- 

 able quarrel between the doctors burst forth with great 

 violence. The Archbishop was irate with his ordinary 

 medical attendant, probably the physician who was 

 left in charge during Cassanate's absence and this man 

 retaliated upon Cardan for having thus stirred up strife. 

 Cardan's position was certainly a very uneasy one. The 

 other physicians were full of jealousy and malice, and 

 the Archbishop began to accuse him of dilatory conduct 

 of the case, redoubling his complaints as soon as he 

 found himself getting better under the altered treatment. 

 So weary did Cardan become of this bickering that he 

 begged leave to depart at once, but this proposition the 

 Primate took in very ill part. 



Cassanate in his first diagnosis had traced the Arch- 

 bishop's illness to an excess of coldness and humidity 

 in the brain. Now Cardan, on the other hand, main- 

 tained that the brain was too hot. He found Cassa- 

 nate's treatment too closely fettered by his theory as to 

 the causes of periodic asthma, but he did not venture 

 to exhibit his own course of treatment till after he had 

 gained some knowledge of the Archbishop's temper and 

 habits. He came to the conclusion that his patient was 

 overwrought with the cares of State, that he ate too 

 freely, that he did not sleep enough, and that he was of 

 a temper somewhat choleric. Cardan set forth this view 

 of the case in a voluminous document, founding the 

 course of treatment he proposed to pursue upon the 

 aphorisms of Galen. He altogether rejected Cassanate's 

 view as to the retention of the noxious humours in the 

 head. The Archbishop had the ruddy complexion of a 

 man in good health, a condition which could scarcely 



