SPALLANZANI 243 



Confronted with the charge of theft of which he was early 

 advised, Spallanzani hurried home from Vienna. By a special 

 decree of September 14, 1786, the Government of Lombardy 

 was ordered to intervene. The latter sent secretly to Scan- 

 diano, where it was reported that though certain objects 

 missing from the museum at Pa via were observed, there was 

 no indication to show that they belonged to the museum at 

 Pa via. An inquiry was opened at the Royal Palace of Milan, 

 where Spallanzani 's reply to the charge succeeded conspicu- 

 ously. The missing birds were badly prepared, had lost their 

 feathers and were eventually thrown away. The armadillo, 

 the snakes, the seal, the hammer-headed shark, and the sword- 

 fish had been given away in exchange. Other things had been 

 used in experiments, and finally the rare Conus — " Cono 

 ammirale " — turned up again in the museum and had never 

 really been lost. 



The Abbe preferred a counter- charge against Volta of break- 

 ing up agates and precious stones and distributing the pieces 

 among his friends. He also showed that the curator often 

 left things out on the table of the museum when students 

 and workmen were free to come in and out. 



A report of these lamentable proceedings was forwarded to 

 Vienna with a letter from the President to the Imperial 

 Chancellor Kaunitz, in which insistence was placed on putting 

 an end to intrigues among the professors, as it created a spirit 

 of faction among them and brought discord even among the 

 students. 



As a result of the inquiry Spallanzani was declared innocent, 

 Canon Volta was deprived of his office as Curator of the Museum 

 and sent away from Pavia, while Profs. Fontana, Scarpa, 

 and Scopoli were censured " for the grave prejudice to the 

 reputation of Prof. Spallanzani by having imputed to him 

 without proof " so grave a charge as theft. 



Spallanzani was delighted. He sent a warm letter of 

 gratitude to Wilseck, his " great protector and great Maecenas," 

 who presided at the inquiry, and distributed to all the European 

 centres of learning a circular, in reply to the one sent by the 

 conspirators, showing how his character had been cleared. 



In spite of the issue of a royal decree imposing silence upon 

 those concerned in the scandal, the reverend Abbe was unable 

 to restrain himself from reviling his calumniators with vitu- 



