hysicians, out of envy, declared that Tiboldo had never suffered from
true phthisis. In his account of the case Cardan says that he, and the
physicians as well, were indeed untruthful over the matter, his own
falsehood having been the result of over-sanguine hope, and theirs the
outcome of spiteful envy. Tiboldo died after all of chest disease, but not
till five years later, and then from a chill caught through sitting in wet
garments.[259] The term consumption has always been applied somewhat
loosely, and Cardan probably would have been allowed the benefit of this
usage if he had not, in an excess of candour, set down the workings of his
mind and conscience with regard to this matter. Writing of his treatment
of Archbishop Hamilton, he says: "And in truth I cured scarcely any
patients of phthisic disease, though I did find a remedy for many who were
suffering from similar maladies, wherefore that boast of mine, that
proclamation of merit to which I had no right, worked no small profit to
me, a man very little given to lying. For the people about the Archbishop,
urged on by these and other considerations, persuaded him that he had no
chance of regaining his health except by putting himself under my care,
and that he should fly to me as his last hope."[260] It has already been
noted that Cardan's claim to some past knowledge in the successful
treatment of chest diseases had weight with the Archbishop and Cassanate,
and the result of his visit surely proved that their confidence was not
ill-placed; his boasting may have been a trifle excessive, but it was
based on hope rather than achievement; and if proof can be adduced that it
was not prompted by any greed of illegitimate fame or profit, it may
justly be ranked as a weakness rather than as a serious offence. To these
two instances of falsehood Naude adds a third, to wit, Cardan's claim to
the guidance of a familiar spirit. He refuses to let this rank as a
delusion; and, urged no doubt by righteous indignation against the ills
springing from kindred superstitions, he writes down as a liar rather than
a dupe the man who, after mastering the whole world of science, could
profess such folly.

Considering the catholicity of Cardan's achievements, and the eager spirit
of inquiry he displayed in fields of learning remote from his own
particular one, it is worthy of notice that he did not allow this
discursive humour, which is not seldom a token of instability, to hold him
back