56 JEROME CARDAN 



the prescription something which I desired to add. Then 

 I privately tore up what I had written, and wrote out 

 another made of pearls, of the horn of unicorn, 1 and 

 certain gems. The powder was given, and was followed 

 by vomiting. The bystanders perceived that the boy 

 was indeed sick, whereupon they called in three of the 

 chief physicians, one of whom was in a way friendly to 

 me. They saw the description of the medicine, and 

 demanded what I would do now. Now although two of 

 these men hated me, it was not God's will that I should 

 be farther attacked, and they not only praised the 

 medicine, but. ordered that it should be repeated. This 

 was the saving of me. When I went again in the even- 

 ing I understood the case completely. The following 

 morning I was summoned at daybreak, and found the 

 boy battling with death, and his father lying in tears. 

 * Behold him/ he cried, ' the boy whom you declared to 

 ail nothing' (as if indeed I could have said such a thing); 

 ' at least you will remain with him as long as he lives/ 

 I promised that I would, and a little later the boy tried 

 to rise, crying out the while. They held him down, and 

 cast all the blame upon me. What more is there to say? 

 If there had been found any trace of that drug Diarob : 

 cum Turbit : (which in sooth was not safe) it would have 

 been all over with me, since Borromeo all his life would 

 either have launched against me complaints grave enough 

 to make all men shun me, or another Canidia, more fatal 

 than African serpents, would have breathed poison upon 

 me." 2 



1 "Mirumque in modum venenis cornu ejus adversari creditur." 

 De Subtilitate^ p. 315. Sir Thomas Browne {Vulgar Errors, 

 Bk. iii. 23) deals at length with the pretended virtues of the horn, 

 and in the Bestiary of Philip de Thaun (Popular Treatises on Science 

 during the Middle Ages) is given an account of the many wonderful 

 qualities of the beast. 



2 De Vita Propria, ch. xxxiii. p. 105. He also alludes to this case 



