ivj of Glands and Tissues. 91 



close by the sea-shore he had ample opportunities for studying 

 the anatomy of fishes and other creatures of the sea ; and the 

 simpler structures which he found in these opened up in his 

 mind views as to the real nature of the like but more complex 

 structures of man and the higher animals. It is perhaps not 

 too much to say that during these four years there came to him 

 many of the ideas to develope which was the work of his life- 

 time. His quiet undisturbed life in Messina was the germinal 

 period of his career. 



But Sicily was not his home, and was not to be his home. 

 When, in 1666, the term of his appointment for four years had 

 come to an end, the Senate of Messina pressed him, in so 

 flattering a way, to continue in the chair that he felt unable to 

 refuse ; but he asked and obtained leave to pay a flying visit to 

 his native city. This he wished to do for one reason among others 

 that he might give personal attention to the still troublous 

 affairs of the family. He set out in the spring, staying on his 

 journey for a few days at Rome, where he met and made friends 

 with Stensen. The warm welcome with which he was received 

 at Bologna was a token of the fame which his researches were 

 already gaining for him. So great indeed had that fame become 

 that his enemies could not withstand it, and his friends found 

 themselves in a position to offer him the Chair of Medicine in 

 his native city. This Malpighi accepted, and the Senate of 

 Messina though much against their will set him free from the 

 promise which he had made to them. He never returned to 

 Sicily, but definitely took up once, more a place in his old 

 University. Here for a quarter of a century he remained, 

 labouring not only in season but also out of season, for the 

 feebleness of his body brought to him again and again times 

 in which he ought to have folded his hands, but in which his 

 active mind kept him still at work. Here he gave his lectures, 

 here he went about healing the sick, and here all the time the 

 best energies of his mind were being given to the task of 

 penetrating the secrets of nature hidden in living bodies. He 

 published the results of the inquiries which he had finished 

 at Messina, he completed those which he had only begun there, 

 and he carried on others wholly new. During the winter the 



