lO GENERATION OF INSECTS 



singularly clear reasoning power, and a large measure 

 of common sense, not an habitual concomitant of knowl- 

 edge at the time. After disproving the generation of 

 animals in dead matter, he logically tried to disprove it 

 in a living medium, and in the case of insects arising 

 from galls, he thought that the fly laid its egg in the 

 slit twig, and that the usual transformation occurred. 

 Unfortunately his observations, far from confirming his 

 opinion, caused him to change it; that Nature prepared 

 the gall for the insect seemed evident, so Redi, ever dis- 

 trustful of himself, sacrificed his idea to that of Aris- 

 totle, acknowledging the creative power of the spiritus. 

 This error was subsequently corrected by Redi's pupil, 

 Vallisneri, who continued his investigations. 



The *' Esperienze Intorno alia Generazione degl' In- 

 setti " gives the circumstances and methods by which 

 Redi reached his important conclusions and is the work 

 by which he is best known to men of science. Many 

 editions prove that it was fully appreciated by his con- 

 temporaries : the book appeared in 1668, and in 1688 

 reached the fifth edition, the one from which the follow- 

 ing translation was made. A Latin version was pub- 

 lished in Amsterdam in 1671 and was reprinted as Part 

 1st of a larger work, '' De Insectis," in 1686. Pou- 

 chet (1859) mentions a French translation: "Collection 

 Academique," Tome YI. The title of the work gives lit- 

 tle hint of its varied contents. It is a formal letter 

 grown into a book showing the attitude of seventeenth- 

 century Italians towards their surroundings, and afford- 

 ing a clear insight into their conception of Nature. The 

 opinions of priests, philosophers, and poets of the period, 

 on natural phenomena of perennial interest, are here set 

 down with grave simplicity enlivened by occasional hu- 



