CHAPTER XI 



WHILE Cardan was lying sick at Milan, a messenger 

 came from Pavia, begging him to hasten thither to see 

 his infant grandson, who had been ailing when he left 

 Pavia, and was now much worse. The journey under 

 the burning sun of the hottest summer known for many 

 years aggravated his malady, but he brought the child 

 out of danger. He caught erysipelas in the face, 

 and to this ailment succeeded severe trouble with the 

 teeth. If it had not been for the fact that the time 

 of the new moon had been near, he says that he must 

 have submitted to blood-letting; but after the new 

 moon his health mended, and thus he escaped the two- 

 fold danger that of the disease, and that of the lancet. 

 He tells of an attempt made against his life by a servant 

 for the sake of robbery, an attempt which came very 

 near success ; and of a severe attack of gout in the knee. 

 After a month's confinement to his house he began to 

 practise Medicine ; and, finding patients in plenty, he 

 nourished a hope that Fortune had done her worst, and 

 that he might be allowed to repair his shattered fortunes 

 by the exercise of his calling, but the activity of his 

 adversaries which may or may not have been provoked 

 solely by malignity was unsleeping. He hints at 

 further attempts against his good name and his life, 

 and gives at length some painful details of another 



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