Canestrini (Giovanni), Italian naturalist, b. Rerò, 1835. He studied at Vienna, and in '60 was nominated Professor of Natural History at Geneva. Signor Canestrini contributed to the Annuario Filosofico del Libero Pensiero, and is known for his popularisation of the works of Darwin, which he has translated into Italian. He has written upon the Origin of Man, which has gone through two editions, Milan, '66-'70, and on the Theory of Evolution, Turin, '77. He was appointed Professor of Zoology, Anatomy and Comparative Physiology at Padua, where he has published a Memoir of Charles Darwin, '82. Cardano (Girolamo), better known as Jerome Cardan, Italian mathematician, and physician, b. Pavia, 24 Sept. 1501. He studied medicine, but was excluded from the Milan College of Physicians on account of illegitimate birth. He and his young wife were at one time compelled to take refuge in the workhouse. It is not strange that his first work was an exposure of the fallacies of the faculty. A fortunate cure brought him into notice and he journeyed to Scotland as the medical adviser of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, 1551. In 1563 he was arrested at Bologna for heresy, but was released, although deprived of his professorship. He died at Rome, 20 Sept. 1576, having, it is said, starved himself to verify his own prediction of his death. Despite some superstition, Cardano did much to forward science, especially by his work on Algebra, and in his works De Subtilitate Rerum and De Varietate Rerum, amid much that is fanciful, perceived the universality of natural law and the progressive evolution of life. Scaliger accused him of Atheism. Pünjer says "Cardanus deserves to be named along with Telesius as one of the principal founders of Natural Philosophy." Carducci (Giosuè), Italian poet and Professor of Italian Literature at the University of Bologna, b. Pietrasantra, in the province of Lucca, 27 July, 1836. As early as '49 he cried, Abasso tutti i re! viva la republica--Down with all kings! Long live the republic! Sprung into fame by his Hymn to Satan, '69, by which he intended the spirit of resistance. He has written many poems and satires in which he exhibits himself an ardent Freethinker and Republican. At the end of '57 he wrote his famous verse "Il secoletto vil che cristianeggia"--"This vile christianising century." In '60 he became professor of Greek in Bologna University, being suspended for a short while in '67 for an address to Mazzini. In '76 he was elected as republican deputy to the Italian Parliament for Lugo di Romagna.