380 LEEUWENHOEK AND HIs “LITTLE ANIMALS” 
(supported by Buffon)' on the subject of spontaneous generation. 
This dispute is too familiar for reconsideration here: and 
I need only note that Spallanzani successfully defended 
Leeuwenhoek’s position—though he paid little attention to 
his Dutch predecessor—and was able to support their mutual 
belief by many admirable new experiments. But despite his 
great experimental skill and instinctive appreciation of scientific 
principles, Spallanzani possessed no real knowledge of protozoa 
or bacteria. Most of the organisms which he studied can now 
be recognized only with difficulty, or not at all, from his 
descriptions. Spallanzani was a great experimentalist and 
physiologist, but no morphologist or systematist. Needham’s 
contributions, however, to all branches of protozoology and 
bacteriology may not unfairly be now assessed as nil. He 
may have been a good Catholic, but he was a hopelessly bad 
protozoologist and bacteriologist. 
Although the middle of the XVIII Century produced 
numerous confirmations of Leeuwenhoek’s protozoological 
discoveries, they were not—at that time—usually so regarded: 
they were rather considered as novelties. Nevertheless, 
Antony’s marvellous researches on the multiplication of 
Volvox and other phytoflagellates were extended by the work 
of Trembley’ (1744a, 1747), de Saussure * (1769), Ellis * (1769), 
and Corti’ (1774)—two Genevese, an Englishman, and an 
Italian. Germany, soon afterwards, also contributed her 
share to protozoology through the work of Gleichen* (1778), 
? John Turberville Needham (1713-1781), a British catholic priest who 
spent most of his life in France and Belgium. Elected F.R.S. in 1747. 
2 Abraham Trembley (1700-1784), sometime tutor to the sons of 
William Bentinck, English resident at The Hague. Later he came to 
England, and was elected F.R.S. in 1743. 
3 Horace Bénédict de Saussure [sew Desaussure ] (1740-1799), naturalist 
and celebrated Alpinist. For his life see especially Senebier (1801). He 
was elected F.R.S. in 1788. 
* John Ellis (1710 ?-1776), government agent in the West Indies, and 
author of the well-known work on Corallines. Elected F.R.S. in 1754. 
* Bonaventura Corti (1729-1813), a catholic priest. Professor of 
Natural History at Reggio, and a friend of Spallanzani. One of the earliest 
students of the Cyanophyceae, and the discoverer of Spirulina. 
* Baron Wilhelm Friedrich von Gleichen-Russworm (1717-1783). 
