2 THE COCKROACH. 



was my delight in the work, so many unsuspected wonders of 

 nature revealing themselves to me, that I cannot tell it in 

 words." We must recall the complete ignorance of Insect- 

 anatomy which then prevailed, and remember that now for the 

 first time the dorsal vessel, the tracheal system, the tubular 

 appendages of the stomach, the reproductive organs, and the 

 structural changes which accompany transformation were 

 observed, to give any adequate credit to the writer of this 

 masterly study. Treading a new path, he walks steadily for- 

 ward, trusting to his own sure eyes and cautious judgment. The 

 descriptions are brief and simple, the figures clear, but not rich 

 in detail. There would now be much to add to Malpighi's 

 account, but hardly an}''thing to correct. The only positive 

 mistakes which meet the eye relate to the number of spiracles 

 and nervous ganglia mistakes promptly corrected by Swarn- 

 merdam. Had the tract De Bombycibus been the one work of its 

 author, this would have kept his memory bright, but it hardly 

 adds to the fame of the anatomist who discovered the cellular 

 structure of the lung, the glandular structure of the liver and 

 kidney, and the sensory papillae of the skin, who first saw the 

 blood-corpuscles stream along a vessel, who studied very early 

 and very completely the minute structure of plants and the 

 development of the chick, and whose name is rightfully 

 associated with the mucous layer of the epidermis, the vascular 

 tufts of the kidney, and the follicles of the spleen, as well as 

 with the urinary tubules of Insects. 



All that we know of Malpighi commands our respect. Pre- 

 cise and rapid in his work, keen to discover points of real 

 interest, never losing himself in details, but knowing when he 

 had done enough, he stands pre-eminent in the crowd of minute 

 anatomists, who are generally faithful in a few things, but very 

 unfit to be made rulers over many things. The last distinct 

 glimpse which we get of him is interesting. Dr. Tancred 

 Robinson, writing to John Ray, from Geneva, April 18th, 1684, 

 tells how he met Malpighi at Bologna. They talked of the 

 origin of fossils, and Malpighi could not contain himself about 

 Martin Lister's foolish hypothesis that fossils were sports of 

 nature. "Just as I left Bononia," he continues, "I had a 

 lamentable spectacle of Malpighi's house all in flames, occa- 



