Jerome Cardan

Jerome Cardan, by William
George Waters

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Title: Jerome Cardan A Biographical Study
Author: William George Waters
Release Date: October 22, 2006 [EBook #19600]
Language: English
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JEROME CARDAN

[Illustration]

JEROME CARDAN
A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY
BY
W.G. WATERS
"To be content that times to come should only know there was such a
man, not caring whether they knew more of him, was a frigid ambition
in Cardan."--SIR THOMAS BROWNE.
[Illustration]
LAWRENCE & BULLEN, Limited,
16 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London, MDCCCXCVIII.

RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, LONDON & BUNGAY.

PREFACE
No attempt is made in the following pages to submit to historical
treatment the vast and varied mass of printed matter which Cardan left
as his contribution to letters and science, except in the case of those
works which are, in purpose or incidentally, autobiographical, or of
those which furnish in themselves effective contributions towards the
framing of an estimate of the genius and character of the writer. Neither
has it seemed worth while to offer to the public another biography
constructed on the lines of the one brought out by Professor Henry
Morley in 1854, for the reason that the circumstances of Cardan's life,

the character of his work, and of the times in which he lived, all
appeared to be susceptible of more succinct and homogeneous
treatment than is possible in a chronicle of the passing years, and of the
work that each one saw accomplished. At certain junctures the narrative
form is inevitable, but an attempt has been made to treat the more
noteworthy episodes of Cardan's life and work, and the contemporary
aspect of the republic of letters, in relation to existing tendencies and
conditions, whenever such a course has seemed possible.
Professor Morley's book, The Life of Girolamo Cardano, of Milan,
physician, has been for some time out of print. This industrious writer
gathered together a large quantity of material, dealing almost as fully
with the more famous of the contemporary men of mark, with whom
Cardan was brought into contact, as with Cardan himself. The
translations and analyses of some of Cardan's more popular works
which Professor Morley gives are admirable in their way, but the space
they occupy in the biography is somewhat excessive. Had sufficient
leisure for revision and condensation been allowed, Professor Morley's
book would have taken a high place in biographical literature. As it
stands it is a noteworthy performance; and, by reason of its wide and
varied stores of information and its excellent index, it must always
prove a valuable magazine of mémoires pour servir for any future
students who may be moved to write afresh, concerning the life and
work of the great Milanese physician.
An apology may be needed for the occurrence here and there of
passages translated from the De Vita Propria and the De Utilitate ex
Adversis capienda, passages which some readers may find too frequent
and too lengthy, but contemporary opinion is strongly in favour of
letting the subject speak for himself as far as may be possible. The date
and place of Cardan's quoted works are given in the first citation
therefrom; those of his writings which have not been available in
separate form have been consulted in the collected edition of his works
in ten volumes, edited by Spon, and published at Lyons in 1663.
The author desires to acknowledge with gratitude the valuable
assistance in the way of suggestion and emendation which he received

from Mr. R.C. Christie during the final revision of the proofs.
London, October 1898.

JEROME CARDAN
CHAPTER I
LIKE certain others of the illustrious personages who flourished in his
time, Girolamo Cardano, or, as he has become to us by the unwritten
law of nomenclature, Jerome Cardan, was fated to suffer the burden
and obloquy of bastardy.[1] He was born at Pavia from the illicit union
of Fazio Cardano, a Milanese jurisconsult and mathematician of
considerable repute, and a young widow, whose maiden name had been
Chiara Micheria, his father being fifty-six, and his mother thirty-seven
years of age at his birth. The family of Fazio was settled at Gallarate, a
town in Milanese territory, and was one which, according to Jerome's
contention, could lay claim to considerable