623 



SPALLANZANI, LAZARO. 



SPANHEIM, EZECHIEL. 



624 



passages of genuine power and beauty ; and that it is characterised 

 throughout by an elevation of thought and sentiment which distinguish 

 it even among books on ethical subjects. The author writes with the 

 glowing warmth of one whose heart is in his work, sometimes with an 

 intense ardour of feeling. The book is therefore of a popular cast, 

 though it often discusses principles ably and profoundly. It exhibits 

 also in a striking manner the real harmony subsisting between the 

 Christian precepts and the genuine dictates of the moral faculty, not- 

 withstanding apparent or supposed discordances. It is wholly free 

 from all sectarian and party feeling, and exhibits very advantageously 

 the benevolence which was a distinguishing characteristic of the 

 author's mind. 



SPALLANZA'NI, LA'ZARO, was born at Scandiano, a small town 

 near Reggio, in the duchy of Modena, on January 12th, 1729. His 

 early education was directed by his father, J. N. Spallanzani, who had 

 considerable reputation as a lawyer : and when he had reached the 

 age of fifteen, he was sent to the Jesuits' College at Reggio, where he 

 remained during several years. He then repaired to the University of 

 Bologna; and while there his studies were directed by his kinswoman 

 the celebrated Laura Bassi. He had early imbibed a fondness for the 

 natural sciences ; but his family insisted on his embracing his father's 

 profession, and he had completed the studies necessary for obtaining 

 the degree of doctor of laws before he could obtain permission to 

 abandon a pursuit which was extremely distasteful to him. Imme- 

 diately on quitting the profession of the law he embraced the eccle- 

 siastical habit, and applied himself to the study of languages so 

 diligently, that in the year 1754 he was chosen to fill the vacant chair 

 of logic, metaphysics, and Greek literature in the University of Reggio. 

 He held the appointment for six years, during which time he published 

 his first and only philological work, a critique upon a translation of 

 Homer in Italian verse by A. M. Salviani, in which there are many 

 important errors. 



During his stay at Reggio Spallanzani's name had become known in 

 many parts of Europe ; and he received invitations from the Univer- 

 sities of Coimbra, Parma, and Ce'se'ue, all of which he declined from 

 his desire not to be separated from his family. In 1761 however he 

 accepted a professorship at Modena, which was only a few miles distant 

 from his native town, and from this time dates the commencement of 

 the high reputation which he acquired by his investigations into dif- 

 ferent branches of natural science. In 1766 he published a sketch of 

 a work on the reproduction of animals ; and though during his sub- 

 sequent life he completed only a part of the researches which he had 

 planned, yet his labours are most valuable. In opposition to the 

 opinion of Buffon, which had been eagerly embraced by our country- 

 man Needham, he maintained and proved that the Infusoria are really 

 endowed with animal life, not mere organic molecules, as those authors 

 had supposed. In 1768 he published the result of his investigations 

 into the action of the heart and the circulation of the blood, a subject 

 which had engaged his attention for many years. A translation of 

 Bonnet's 'Contemplations de la Nature,' which appeared in 1769, was 

 the last work published during his stay at Modena ; and in the ensuing 

 year he was chosen professor of natural history at Pavia, which 

 appointment he continued to hold till his death. 



His treatise on the circulation of the blood had led to his being 

 invited to Pavia; and on entering on his new duties, to which those of 

 director of the museum were soon added, he entirely gave up literary 

 pursuits. The labours in which he now engaged are too extensive, 

 and of a character too purely scientific, to admit of an analysis here. 

 They were principally directed to elucidating the subject of the circu- 

 lation of the blood, and the functions of respiration, digestion, and 

 generation, on all of which he published treatises after his removal to 

 Pavia. The number and ingenuity of his experiments are not more 

 striking than his close and logical reasoning excellences which pro- 

 cured for him ono of the greatest honours that a scientific man of 

 that day could receive, in the dedication to him, by the illustrious 

 Haller, of the second volume of his physiology. Besides his larger 

 works, Spallanzani contributed numerous papers on natural history to 

 the Transactions of various learned societies. Nor did he rest content 

 with that knowledge only which could be acquired by books, or which 

 the museum of Pavia or the surrounding country might afford, but he 

 undertook journeys to different parts of Europe. In 1799 he travelled 

 through the greater part of Switzerland. In 1781 he visited the 

 coasts of the Mediterranean from Leghorn to Marseille, and remained 

 in the latter city for six weeks. In the year 1782 and 1783 he visited 

 Istria, traversed the shores of the Adriatic and ^Egean seas, and 

 explored the Euganean Mountains. All these journeys yielded some 

 fruit to the scientific traveller; but in 1785 he undertook a longer 

 voyage than any he had before made, and visited Constantinople. In 

 his route thither he visited Corfu and Cerigo ; and to him, and his 

 companion Zuliani, the Venetian ambassador, we owe a description of 

 the geology of these islands. Various objects of interest engaged his 

 attention during a stay of eleven mouths at Constantinople ; after 

 which he quitted that city, and returned through Germany to his own 

 country, from which he had been absent one and twenty months. 



During his absence, the envy of some of his colleagues at Pavia had 

 been at work, defaming hia character and accusing him of having 

 stolen various specimens from the museum. Spallanzani heard of this 

 while at Vicuna, from which place he sent an answer to the charges 



against him. His defence overwhelmed his enemies with shame, and 

 the return of Spallanzani to Pavia was a sort of triumphal entry ; the 

 students met their professor outside the walls, and conducted him 

 with acclamations to his own house. 



Three years afterwards he visited Sicily and Naples, and various 

 parts of the Apennines, in order to obtain geological specimens, in 

 which the museum at Pavia was very deficient. On his return he 

 devoted himself to lecturing, to arranging his numerous notes, and to 

 cultivating his style, which he endeavoured to form on that of Buflbn. 

 The French republic offered him the professorship of natural history 

 in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, but he declined to accept it, and 

 passed his latter years at Pavia, in the enjoyment of every honour 

 which a man of science could desire. The comfort of his declining 

 age was intermpted by severe bodily suffering, and after having 

 experienced frequent attacks of apoplexy, he died from the effects of 

 a fresh seizure, on February 12, 1799, aged 70 years. 



A catalogue of Spallanzani's numerous works, many of which have 

 been translated into English, is given at the end of his Life, in vol. 

 vii. of the ' Biographic Mddicale ; ' and a lengthened analysis of hia 

 labours will be found in the ' Eloge,' by M. Alibert, which is con- 

 tained in vol. iii. of the ' Me"inoires de la Socie'te' M6dicale d'Emulation.' 



SPA'NHEIM, EZEOHIEL, the sou of Frederic Spanheiin, a theo- 

 logian of some note, was born at Geneva, on the 7th of December 

 1629. Respecting his early education nothing is known; but from 

 the knowledge which he displayed when yet a young man, we must 

 infer that it was well regulated, and supported by considerable talents 

 on the part of the youth. When he was thirteen years old his father 

 was appointed professor of theology in the university of Leyden, 

 whither he removed with his whole family. Ezechiel here devoted 

 himself first to the study of antiquity, and afterwards to that of 

 theology, and attracted the attention of D. Heinsius and Salmasius, 

 who guided and encouraged him in his studies. He also studied the 

 Oriental languages, especially Hebrew and Arabic ; and the first time 

 that he appeared before the public as an author was in a controversy 

 respecting the original characters of the Hebrew alphabet, which he 

 denied to have been preserved by the Samaritans, as L. Capell had 

 maintained. The work he wrote on this occasion bears the title of 

 ' Theses contra L. Capellum pro Autiquitate Literarum Hebraicaruin,' 

 4to, Leyden, 1645. 



In 1649 his father died, after having shortly before written a work 

 on Universal Grace, which was now severely attacked by Amyrauld. 

 Spanheim fulfilled his filial duties towards his father by replying to 

 this unseemly assault ; but shortly after this event he returned to 

 Geneva, where the chair of professor of eloquence was offered to him, 

 which he accepted in 1651. This title of professor was however 

 merely an honorary distinction conferred upon him by his native city, 

 and he is not known ever to have undertaken the functions of a pro- 

 fessor in the university of Geneva. He only delivered two occasional 

 discourses in Latin, which however he published in French, under the 

 title, ' Discours sur la Creche et sur la Croix de Not. Sauv. Jesus 

 Christ,' 8vo, Geneva, 1655, a new and corrected edition of which was 

 published by the author at Berlin in 1695. In the meanwhile how- 

 ever the fame of his great acquirements was spreading and had reached 

 the ear of the elector-palatine Louis Charles, who appointed him tutor 

 to his son Charles. He discharged his duties to the perfect satis- 

 faction of the elector, and devoted all his leisure hours to the study 

 of the ancients, and of the German law, on which he published a dis- 

 sertation during this time. He also translated from the Greek into 

 French the Caesars of Julian, illustrated by coins and other ancient 

 documents. (8vo, Heidelberg, 1660; reprinted at Paris in 1683, and 

 at Amsterdam in 1728 ) As a translation, this work is of little value. 

 The great prudence which Spanheim had shown during the time he 

 stayed at the court of Heidelberg, induced the elector to send him 

 to Italy to renew his connection with the princes and states of that 

 country. In 1659 Spanheim thus set out for Italy, where he visited 

 Florence, Mantua, Parma, Modena, and Rome, and was everywhere 

 received with great distinction. The chief study which he pursued 

 in his leisure hours was that of numismatics; and in 1664 he pub- 

 lished his first work on this subject at Rome. For the purpose of 

 prosecuting his antiquarian studies still further, he also visited Naples, 

 Sicily, and Malta. In 1665 he returned to Heidelberg, and was hence- 

 forth employed by the elector in the most important political and 

 diplomatical affairs. He was successively sent by the elector to the 

 conferences of Oppeuheim and Spire, and to the congress of Breda. 

 Afterwards he was appointed minister resident of the elector in 

 Holland, and then in England, at the court of Charles II. During 

 his stay in England the ambassador of the elector of Brandenburg 

 was recalled, and Spanheim was requested and undertook, with the 

 consent of the prince palatine, to manage also the affairs of the elector 

 of Brandenburg. He discharged the duties of his twofold office so 

 well, that the elector of Brandenburg desired him to enter his service 

 exclusively. This Spanheim did, with the consent of his former 

 master, though not without his regret. Shortly after, in 1680 the 

 elector of Brandenburg sent him as his extraordinary ambassador to 

 Paris, at the court of Louis XIV,, which post he held for nearly nine 

 years. In 1689 he went to Berlin, where for some time he gave him- 

 self entirely up to his favourite studies, which he had never abandoned 

 during his public life. At Berlin he wrote his. celebrated Letters to 



