564 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



portraits are less attractive, and give evidence of imperfect health in the 

 lines and wrinkles of his face. According to Atti, he was of medium 

 stature, with a brown skin, delicate complexion, a serious countenance 

 and melancholy look. T 



Accounts of his life show that he was modest, quiet and of a pacific 

 disposition, notwithstanding the fact that he lived in an atmosphere of 

 acrimonious criticism, of jealousy and controversy. Under all this he 

 suffered acutely, and his removal from Bologna to Messina was partly 

 to escape the harshness of his critics. Some of his best qualities showed 

 under these persecutions; he was dignified under attack and moderate 

 in reply. In .his posthumous works his replies to his critics are free 

 from bitterness and written in a spirit of great moderation. This pic- 

 ture from Kay's correspondence shows the same control of his spirit. 

 Under the date of April, 1684, Dr. Tancred Kobinson writes: "Just 

 as I left Bononia I had a lamentable spectacle of Malpighi's house all 

 in flames, occasioned by the negligence of his old wife. All his pic- 

 tures, furniture, books and manuscripts were burnt. I saw him in the 

 very heat of the calamity, and methought I never beheld so much 

 Christian patience and philosophy in any man before; for he comforted 

 his wife and condoled nothing but the loss of his papers." 



Malpighi was born at Crevalcuore, near Bologna, in 1694. His par- 

 ents were farmers, or landed peasants; enjoying a certain independence 

 in financial matters, they designed to give Marcellus, their eldest child, 

 the advantages of masters and the schools. He began a life of study, 

 and showed a taste for belles-lettres and for philosophy, which he 

 studied under Natali. 



Through the death of both parents, in - 1649, Malpighi found him- 

 self, at the age of twenty-one, an orphan, and, as the eldest of eight 

 children, domestic affairs devolved upon him. He had as yet made no 

 choice of profession, but, through the advice of Natali, he resolved, in 

 1651, to study medicine, and, in 1653, at the age of twenty-five, he re- 

 ceived from the University of Bologna the degree of M. D. 



In the course of a few years he married the sister of Massari, one' 

 of his teachers in anatomy, and became a candidate for a position in 

 the University of Bologna. This he did not immediately receive, but 

 about 1656 he was appointed to a post in the University, and began his 

 career as teacher and investigator. He must have shown aptitude for 

 this work, for soon he was called to the University of Pisa, where, for- 

 tunately for his development, he became associated with Borelli, who 

 was older and assisted him in many ways. They united in some work, 

 and together they discovered the spiral character of the heart muscles. 

 But the climate of Pisa did not agree with him, and after three years 

 he returned, in 1659, to teach in the University of Bologna, and applied 

 himself assiduously to anatomy. 



