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LEFT MEDICI 176 MEDICINE at Venice, and there founded the library in the monastery of St. George. After one year he was recalled, and his life was thenceforth peaceful and prosperous. As chief magistrate Cosmo acted with consummate prudence. His influence on the political movements of Italy was im- mense. He once saved Florence from a war with Naples and Venice by calling in debts from these two States, and so incapacitating them from making war. In his latter years he applied himself to study, especially of the Platonic philos- ophy, and to farming. He died Aug. 1, 1464. PiERO I., his son and successor; born 1414, became the victim of a revolt in 1469. Lorenzo, usually styled The Magnifi- cent; born Jan. 1, 1449, and the son of Piero, was carefully educated, and early initiated in state affairs. At the age of 20 he married Clarice, a noble lady of the Orsini family, and the same year, 1469, succeeded his father as head of the Florentine republic. His will was su- preme and almost unquestioned, and a general license and corruption of morals made it easy for him to be tyrant. Liter- ature, philosophy, and art engaged the attention of Lorenzo no less than polit- ical affairs. The quiet of his reign was interrupted, in 1478, by the conspiracy of the Pazzi, to which Pope Srxtus IV. was a party, and which had for its object the overthrow of the Medici. The conspir- ators attacked Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano in the Duomo, when the latter was killed and Lorenzo narrowly escaped. The chiefs and many of the associates of the conspiracy were executed. The Pope then excommunicated Lorenzo, al- lied himself with the King of Naples, and declared war against Florence. Lo- renzo, with happy boldness, went as his own ambassador to Naples, and succeeded in detaching the king from the papal alliance; fear of the Turks induced the Pope soon after to make peace. In the spring of 1492 he fell ill and retired to his villa at Careggi. He died in Careggi April 8, 1492. Lorenzo was author of numerous lyrical and other short poems, many of them of a licentious character, and some devotional. He had three sons: Giovanni, who became Pope as Leo X. (q.v.), Giuliano, and Piero. The latter, Piero II., born Feb. 15, 1471, succeeded Lorenzo, and was deprived of his estates when the French invaded Italy in 1494. He was drowned Dec. 28, 1503, leaving two sons, Lorenzo and Cosmo. Giui-IANO, brother and successor of Piero, abdicated in favor of Lorenzo, 1513, and became Due de Nemours by his marriage with the aunt of Francis I. He died March 17, 1516. Lorenzo II., eldest son of Piero II., came to power by the abdication of his uncle, and governed under the influ" ence of Leo X., who invested him with the duchy of Urbino. He died May 4, 1519, leaving an only daughter. Catherine de Medici j born in Flor- ence in 1519. She married the Duke of Orleans, who became Henry II. of France, and her children were Francis II., Charles IX., Henry III., and Marguerite of Va- lois. Catherine de Medici was Queen Regent of France from 1560 to 1563. She died in Blois, Jan. 5, 1589. Alessan- DRO, proclaimed duke of Florence in 1532, was stabbed by his relative Lorenzino, after poisoning his cousin Hippolytus, 1537. Lorenzino, murderer of Alessan- dro, was assassinated at Venice by order of Cosmo I., 1548. Cosmo L, called "The Great," Duke of Florence, and Grand Duke of Tuscany, was the son of Gio- vanni, the "Invincible," descended from Lorenzo, and was born June 11, 1519. He was raised to power by the influence of Charles V., and abdicated in favor of his son, 1564. In 1569 he became Grand Duke of Tuscany, and died April 21, 1574. Francesco Maria, son and successor of Cosmo (1541-1587), and left only a daughter, Marie de Medici, born in Flo- rence, April 26, 1573. She became queen consort of Henry IV. of France. She died in Cologne July 3, 1642. Ferdi- NANDO I., brother and successor of Fran- cesco, was also cardinal and Grand-Duke of Tuscany, 1551-1609. CoSMO II., son and successor of Ferdinando I., 1590- 1621. Ferdinando II., son and successor of Cosmo II., 1610-1670. Cosmo III., son and successor of Ferdinando II., 1642- 1723. Giovanni Gaston, son and suc- cessor of the latter, was the last of the Medici who reigned over Tuscany, being compelled to abdicate and make way for Francis II., Duke of Lorraine, by the great Powers. He flourished 1671-1737. His daughter, Anna, wife of John Wil- liam, elector-palatine, was the last of the family. She died in 1743. MEDICINE, a remedy, a remedial agent, an antidote to disease; any sub- stance prescribed for the alleviation or removal of disease. Medicines are ad- ministered, as a rule, by the mouth, but sometimes also by the rectum, by inhala- tion into the lungs, by _ hypodermic in- jection into the cellular tissue, or in some rare cases by injection into the veins. The Egyptians are credited with some proficiency in the art; their embalming of bodies must have taught them the ele- ments of anatomy. The medical and sanitary arrangements of the Mosaic law are well known. Chiron, the fabled Cen- taur, is said to ha'"*^ brought some knowl-