6 GENERATION OF INSECTS 
studied medicine and philosophy at the University of 
Pisa, whence he returned with his Doctor's degree to 
practice in Florence, where his family, meanwhile, had 
settled. His parents were of the provincial nobility, and 
his father, Gregory, a well-known physician, supported the 
family by his profession. Francesco had the good luck 
to be called to attend the Grand Duke after a hunting 
accident. Subsequently he became court physician and 
was much beloved by Ferdinand II and by his son and 
successor, Cosimo III. This prince did not resemble 
his magnanimous father, the founder of the Accademia 
del Cimento, for he did not protect the arts and sciences 
through love of them, but rather from vanity and a sense 
of his own importance. Cosimo was a bigot, whose mind 
was chiefly occupied in prosecuting religious offenders 
or in settling matters of etiquette. Small wonder that 
Swammerdam refused an invitation to this Court, or that 
Steno, his friend, who accepted it, soon afterwards ab- 
jured Protestantism. Redi's training admirably fitted 
him for this position, which was a difficult one; for be- 
sides his duties as physician and head of the Medicean 
laboratory, he was often commanded to negotiate minor 
diplomatic matters or requested to act as mediator when 
friction occurred between the Grand Duke and his son. 
He was obliged to follow the Court in its migrations to 
seaside and villa, forced to interrupt his own work, and 
to add to his troubles, his nephews (Redi was unmar- 
ried), who through his influence held lucrative positions, 
were often in difficulties of a compromising nature. 
The favor accorded to Redi by Cosimo caused him to 
be courted by many learned men, and he unselfishly used 
his privileges for the benefit of his numerous friends, 
among whom were the poets Filicaja and Menzini, Bel- 
