Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/788

 778 CARDENAS CARDIFF tricity, and quackery with which his name is connected, and which is principally known to us through his own works. In 1552 he was called to Scotland by John Hamilton, arch- bishop of St. Andrews, to attend him for an illness with which he had been long afflicted. He succeeded, though apparently by mere good fortune, in effecting a cure, and was largely rewarded. In returning he drew the horo- scope of Edward VI., prophesying for him a long life ; but Edward died the year after, and Cardan found himself everywhere ridiculed, in spite of his attempted explanations. After travelling for ten months through the principal countries of Europe, he returned to Milan, where he lived a life of debauchery and ex- travagance that soon reduced him to absolute penury, in spite of his efforts to repair his for- tunes by gambling. His two sons followed the example of his vices ; the elder was executed for the murder of his wife ; the younger led a life which compelled even his father to aban- don him. The various quackeries which Car- dan practised during this period are innumer- able ; among them were magic and astrology, with pretended methods of cure, which, how- ever, brought him few advantages. He took the greatest pride in his many eccentricities, and in considering himself different in consti- tution and composition from other men. He pretended that he was accompanied by a fa- miliar spirit, and ruled by peculiar fates. In spite of his manner of life, he was called to Pavia in 1560, and in 1562 to Bologna, through the influence of friends, and was a professor in the latter city from 1562 to 1570; but he con- tinued in his former habits, and involved him- self in many difficulties from which he escaped by going to Rome, where he ended his life as a pensioner of Pope Gregory _XIII. Cardan's works present that singular mingling of learn- ing and absurdity which might be expected from the history of his life. He is said to have written 222 separate treatises besides his autobiography (De Vita Propria). The chief of these are the works already named, his mathematical essays, and his De Serum Varietate, a supplement to the treatise De Subtilitate. The best edition of Cardan's com- plete works is that of Lyons, Hieronymi Car- dani Mediolanensis Philosophi ac Medici cele- terrimi Opera omnia, Cura Car. Sponii (10 vols. fol., 1663). CARDENAS, a maritime city of Cuba, capital of the civil district of its own name, in the Western department, 103 m. E. of Havana; pop. about 11,000, comprising 7,700 whites, 500 free negroes, and 2,800 slaves. This city, situated in one of the finest sugar-producing districts in the West Indies, was founded in 1828 ; but it has grown so rapidly as to be at present one of the principal commercial centres of the isl- and. The streets are broad, regularly laid out, and lighted with gas ; a spacious square in the centre is embellished with a bronze statue of Columbus ; and the houses, a number of which have two stories, are neat, well built, and solid. The port, protected by a neck of land stretch- ing N. W. of the city, though shallow, is com- modious, and is much frequented by shipping, the loading of which is facilitated by a number of good wharves, extending for the most part a long distance from the shore. Cardenas is the headquarters of the military district ; it is connected by rail with Havana and Matanzas in one direction, and with Yucaro in the oppo- site direction; and several lines of steamers and coasting vessels ply to various other points. A large proportion of the mercantile commu- nity are Americans, to whom the place is said mainly to owe its importance; whence it is commonly called the "American city." The chief exports are sugar, molasses, and some coffee, of the first of which commodities 115,- 000 boxes are on an average furnished annu- ally from a single one of the surrounding plantations. CiRDI, l.udovifo. called also CIQOLI, a Floren- tine painter, born at the castle of Cigoli, in Tuscany, in 1559, died in Rome in 1613. He was the pupil of Santo di Titi, but was indebt- ed for his success to a careful study of the works of Correggio. His " St. Peter healing the Lame," now destroyed, was regarded as infe- rior only to the " Transfiguration " of Raphael. His other most esteemed pictures are "St. Je- rome " and the " Conversion of St. Paul " at Rome, the "Martyrdom of St. Stephen," the " Trinity," " Mary Magdalene," and the " Ecce Homo," at Florence. He enjoyed a consider- able reputation also as an architect, and de- signed the fine Renuccini palace at Florence, as well as many palaces and public edifices there and at Rome ; he excelled also in some degree as an engraver, and published a treatise on perspective. CARDIFF, the county town of Glamorgan- shire, Wales, on the river Taff, near its en- trance into the Severn, 22 m. W. of Bristol ; pop. in 1871, 39,675. At the beginning of this century Cardiff was a mere village ; but the con- struction of a fine dock by the marquis of Bute, a large local proprietor, and the consequent trade from the collieries of South Wales, con- verted it into an important commercial town. It is now the principal shipping port of the Welsh steam coal, besides iron, slates, and other local products. The Glamorganshire canal and the Taff railway terminate here, and the facili- ties for commerce have been greatly extended by the construction of a ship canal between the harbor and the town. In 1870 the exports amounted to 3,106,571, and the imports to 593,605. The greater part of the town is modern, and consists of good buildings, inclu- ding two fine churches and several other places of worship, an infirmary hospital, a union workhouse, and a town hall 175 ft. long, in the Italian style. There is an ancient castle, which has been converted into a mod- ern mansion, and is now in possession of the marquis of Bute.