566 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the human bcdy. He was the first to insist on analogies of structure 

 between organs throughout the animal kingdom, and to make extensive 

 practical use of the idea, that discoveries on simpler animals can be 

 utilized in interpreting the similar structures in the higher ones. 



It is very interesting to note that in connection with this work, he 

 actually observed the passage of blood through the capillaries of the 

 transparent lungs of the frog, and also in the mesentery. Although 

 this antedates the similar observations of Leeuwenhoek, nevertheless- 

 the work of Leeuwenhoek was much more complete, and he is usually 

 recognized in physiology as the discoverer of the capillary connection 

 between arteries and veins. At this same period Malpighi also ob- 

 served the blood corpuscles. 



Soon after he demonstrated the mucous layer, or pigmentary layer 

 of the skin, intermediate between the true and the scarf skin. He had 

 separated this layer by boiling and maceration, and described it as a 

 reticulated membrane. Even its existence was for a long time con- 

 troverted, but it remains in modern anatomy under the title of the 

 malpighian layer. 



His observations on glands were extensive, and while it must be 

 confessed that many of his conclusions in reference to glandular struc- 

 ture were erroneous, he left his name connected with the malpighian 

 corpuscles of the kidney and the spleen. He was also the first to indi- 

 cate the presence of papilla? on the tongue. This is a respectable list 

 of discoveries, but much more stands to his credit. Those which follow 

 have a bearing on comparative anatomy, zoology and botany. 



Monograph on the Structure ami Metamorphosis of the Silkworm. 

 Malpighi's work on the structure of the silkworm takes rank among 

 the most famous monographs on the anatomy of a single animal. Much 

 skill was required to give to the world this picture of minute structure. 

 The marvels of organic architecture were being made known in the 

 human body and the higher animals, but mo insect — hardly, indeed, 

 any animal — had then been carefully described, and all the methods 

 of work had to be discovered.' The delicacy, beauty and intricacy of 

 the organic systems in this group of animals were well calculated to 

 arouse wonder and admiration. He Avorked with such enthusiasm in 

 this new territory as to throw himself into a fever and to set up an 

 inflammation in the eyes. "Nevertheless," says Malpighi, "in perform- 

 ing these researches so many marvels of nature were spread before my 

 eyes that I experienced an internal pleasure that my pen could not 

 describe." In the words of Miall: 



"We mus1 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 accom- 



