OF WASHINGTON. 97 



fessor of the College of Rome (1638-1725), is noted for his con 

 nection with Kircher, already alluded to, and for his championing 

 of the theory of the origin of many insects from decaying animal 

 and vegetable matter. His work entitled " Observationes circa 

 viventia, quce in rebus non viventibus reperiuntur" etc., 

 Rome, 1691, is indicative of this tendency. These views were 

 combatted by Malpighi and Leeuwenhoeck, and especially by 

 Francesco Redi (1626-1697), a celebrated writer and physician 

 of Arezzo, and a "declared enemy of superstition," chiefly in 

 his work, which appeared in many editions, entitled "Esperienze 

 intorno alia generazione degl' Insetti" Florence, 1668 (228 

 pp. and 29 copperplates of remarkable beauty).* By means of 

 careful experiments he exploded completely the idea of sponta 

 neous generation of insects, except in the case of gall insects, 

 which he supposed must come from a certain "soul in plants 

 which evolves these worms." 



Martin Lister (1638-1711), a London physician, is chiefly 

 remembered in entomology for his translating or republishing 

 the works of Goedart and Ray. He is also the author of a 

 number of miscellaneous papers on popular subjects, such as the 

 " Acid of Ants " and "Cochineal Insects," and of a valuable 

 work on spiders (London, 1678). 



A very important branch of the entomological work of this 

 period was in the delineation and characterization of insects as 

 exemplified by the painstaking work of Madam Merian, and 

 Messrs. Frisch, Catesby, andAlbin. At this time illustration by 

 copperplate engraving was in a vigorous and flourishing condi 

 tion and several expert engravers were very much interested in 

 insects and with incredible pains and industry produced hundreds 

 of very beautiful plates, most of them afterward hand-colored 

 from life. These very expensive works apparently met a prompt 

 demand and often went through several editions and were fre 

 quently translated and republished in other languages. 



The most noted person of the period in this connection is 

 Madam Maria Sybilla Merian, a miniature painter, born in 1607 

 and dying in Amsterdam in 1717. She married a copper- 



*I have seen only the Latin translation published in Amsterdam, 1671. 



