JEROME CARDAN 283 



includes him amongst the atheistical philosophers ; but 

 a perusal of the Doctor's remarks leaves the reader 

 unconvinced as to the justice of such a charge. The 

 term Atheism, however, was at this time used in the 

 very loosest sense, and was even applied to disbelievers 

 in the apostolical succession. 1 Dr. Parker writes, 

 " Another cause which acted, together with the natural 

 disposition of Cardan, to produce that odd mixture of 

 folly and wisdom in him, was his habit of continual 

 thinking by which the bile was absorbed and burnt up ; 

 he suffered neither eating, pleasure, nor pain to interrupt 

 the course of his thoughts. He was well acquainted 

 with the writings of all the ancients nor did he just 

 skim over the heads and contents of books as some do 

 who ought not to be called learned men, but skilful 

 bookmongers. Every author that Cardan read (and he 

 read nearly all) he became intimately acquainted with, 

 so that if any one disputing with him, quoted the 

 authority of the ancients, and made any the least slip or 

 mistake, he would instantly set them right." Dr. Parker 

 is as greatly amazed at the mass of work he produced, 

 as at his powers of accumulation, and maintains that 

 Cardan believed he was endowed with a faculty which 

 he calls repr&sentatio, through which he was able to 

 apprehend things without study, "by means of an 

 interior light shining within him. From which you may 

 learn the fact that he had studied with such enduring 

 obstinacy that he began to persuade himself that the 

 visions which appeared before him in these fits and 

 transports of the mind, were the genuine inspirations of 

 the Deity." This is evidently Dr. Parker's explanation 

 of the attendant demon, and he ends by declaring 

 that Cardan was rather fanatic than infidel. 

 1 Dugald Stewart, Dissertations, p. 378. 



