226 EARLY STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE ANATOMY 



no ill effects were observed. Only when fresh venoi 

 was applied to wounds did death ever follow. Redi, 

 who no doubt made the experiments, went on 

 examine the poison-gland and poison-tooth of the viper. 

 He seems to have concluded that the tooth was only 

 channelled, instead of being perforated by the poison- 

 duct, as it really is. 



The Generation of Insects ^ 



This treatise is historically important because it] 

 dispelled ancient superstitions by direct experiments. 

 It is a pity that Kedi's decisive proofs, which might 

 have been related very concisely, should be loaded with : 

 two hundred pages of discussion. The question to be; 

 settled was whether, as Aristotle had taught, insects] 

 could be generated spontaneously by putrefaction. Redi; 

 proved experimentally that the flesh of the same animal] 

 might yield more than one kind of fly, while the same 

 fly might be hatched from different kinds of flesh. He 

 saw the flies laying their eggs in flesh, and dissected 

 eggs out of their ovaries. The larvae and pupse of 

 common flesh-haunting flies were noted and compared. 

 It was thus proved that the generation of a particular 

 maggot or fly in flesh did not depend upon the kind 

 of flesh, but on the kind of fly which had got access 

 to it. Flesh was placed in bottles, some of which were 

 left open, while others were closed with paper or gauze. 

 The open bottles produced larvae, pupae and flies, while 

 the closed bottles produced none, though flies, attracted 

 by the odour, strove to enter, and in some cases laid 

 their eggs on the gauze. 



Among the baseless fables handed down from ancient 

 authors was the Bugonia fable, well-known to readers of 



1 Esp, intomo alia generazione degV Insetti. 



