Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 86.djvu/601  From Wikisource
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from finding others in the wrong, Cardan promptly found that the
Archbishop’s brain was too hot and too dry. He put his
distinguished patient on a cold and humid diet to resist the
attraction of the brain, yet had him sleep on a pillow of dry
straw or sea-weed, and had water dropped upon his shaven crown;
in addition, however, he prescribed a regimen of simple food,
much sleep and cold showers. The improvement that
resulted—naturally ascribed to the “humoral” procedures,—added
much to the glory of Cardan’s reputation and the profit of his
purse. This physician, learned and wise for his day, was yet the
very embodiment of all things superstitious. Every trivial
occurrence was an omen or potent. He cast horoscopes, wrote on
all manners of cosmic influences, and espoused the rôle of a
physiognomist. His distinctive contribution was an astrological
physiognomy, based upon the underlyin