SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 155 



Catholics it is clear that Needham's claims to 

 distinction must have been more than ordinarily 

 great. His clear, firm signature is still to be seen 

 in thecharter-book of the society, and it is interest- 

 ing to note that he signs his name " Turberville 

 Needham." Needham did not confine his atten- 

 tion to science, for he was an ardent antiquary, 

 and in 1761 was elected a Fellow of that other 

 ancient and exclusive body, the Society of Anti- 

 quaries of London. In this connection it may be 

 mentioned that Needham published, in 1761, a 

 book which caused a great sensation, for he 

 endeavoured to show that he could translate an 

 Egyptian inscription by means of Chinese char- 

 acters ; in other words, that the forms of writing 

 were germane to one another. He was shown 

 to be quite wrong by some of the learned Jesuits 

 of the day, who, with the assistance of Chinese 

 men of letters, proved that the resemblances to 

 which Needham had called attention were merely 

 superficial. 



But our interest now is in his controversy with 

 Spallanzani. Lazaro Spallanzani (1729-1799) 

 was born at Scandiano in Modena and educated 

 at the Jesuit College at Reggio di Modena. There 

 was some question as to his entering the Society ; 

 he did not do so, however, but repaired to the 

 University of Bologna, where his kinswoman, 

 Laura Bassi, was then professor of physics. He 

 became a priest, but devoted his life to teaching 

 and experimenting. He must have been some- 

 thing of what we in Ireland used to call a " poly- 

 math," for he professed at one time or another, 



