VALLISNERI. 



; jprtceptor than ufual, his attention was direfted to natural 



and experimental philofophy, and the then prevalent hypo- 



thefes of Des Cartes. His tutor Biagi, a Jefuit, had the 



good fenfe and honefty to avow, that the philofophy of 



' Ariftotle might fuit theologians and monks, but that he 



himfelf knew many able and diftinguiftied men, at Bologna, 



and elfewhere, who, fo far from being indebted to that 



great perfon, never thought of his doftrines but to refute 



' then\. VaUifneri therefore removed to Bologna in 1683, 



: and very foon gave up theories and hypothefes for the ob- 



[I fervation of nature. Here the great Malpighi, to whofe 



il particular favour he was recommended by the princes of the 



':' houfe of Efte, direfted his anatomical enquiries, and from 



1 him he received, at his firft in.roduftion, a valuable lelTon 



' on the prefumption of thofe phyficians, who boail of a 



! fpecific for every difeafe. The learned and experienced 



' Malpighi, confined to his bed by illnefs, declared that he 



■ was unable to cure his own diforder. A candid confeflion, 



■ which then ailoniihed his hearer ; but of the truth of which 

 I VaUifneri declared himfelf fubfequently more and more con- 

 !' vinced by his own praftice of phyfic, when he found the 

 '! moll boafted fpecifics daily deceiving his expeftations. 



I The father of the young VaUifneri, himfelf a doftor of 

 I Jaws, offered his fon a choice between law and phyfic ; but 

 t his earheft inclinations and inquiries were too much allied to 

 the latter profeffion to allow of hefitation. An anatomill 

 I of animals from his youth, he devoted himfelf fo afliduoufiy 

 ji to diffeftions, in the inftruftive and flourifhing fchool of 

 j Bologna, that his health became a facrifice to his curiofity, 

 j and Malpighi was obhged to check the dangerous ardour of 

 ; his promifing pupil. VaUifneri would doubtlefs have gra- 

 ; duated in this famous univerfity, then in its meridian glory ; 

 I but at the time when this fliould have taken place, the duke 

 of Modena put forth an edift, prohibiting his fubjefts from 

 I taking degrees, except at Modena or Reggio. VaUifneri 

 I chofe the latter, and took his doftor's degree in 1 684 ; but 

 I in order to ftudy with advantage the neceffary fciences of 

 [ chemiftry and botany, as well as to improve himfelf in prac- 

 tical furgery and phyfic in the hofpitals, he was obliged to 

 I return to Bologna ; as our doftors of Cambridge or Oxford 

 , find it expedient to accomplifh themfelves in London and 

 1 Edinburgh. He fpent about three years more under the 

 I aufpices of Malpighi, who at length difmilled this favourite 

 pupil, v^ith the found advice of ftudying nature, and com- 

 i munic-iting matters of h&.. " Syftems," faid he, " are 

 ideal and mutable. Obfervation and experience are folid 

 i and unchangeable." 



I The years 1687 and 1688 were ufefuUy palTed at Padua, 

 1 Venice and Parma, and at length VaUifheri fettled as a phy- 

 fician at Reggio. Here he planted a botanic garden, and 

 ; employed his leifure hours in excurfions among the neigh- 

 bouring mountains ; to coUeft herbs, minerals and petrifac- 

 I tions ; to obferve the ftrata of the rocks, and the origin or 

 ; nature ef the various fountains ; as well as to take the plea- 

 : fures of the chace, of which he was very fond. The firft 

 ' particular objeft of invcftigation to which this ingenious 

 ! philofopher devoted his attention, was the anatomy of the 

 I Silk-worm, by which he was led to the lludy of the me- 

 I tamorphofes and generation of other infefts. Malpighi and 

 I Redi were his guides ; but he foon found, in the intricacies 

 ' to this new and recondite courfe of enquiry, that he was 

 i able to extend their information, and correft fome of their 

 1 remarks. He gave his difcoverics to the world in the form 

 of two Dialogues in Italian, fuppofed to take place be- 

 j tween Pliny and Malpighi, on the arrival of the latter in 

 another world, Thefe brought great reputation to their 

 author, both for the value of their contents, and the ele- 

 12 



gance of their language and compofition. They introduced 

 him to the acquaintance and correfpondence of feveral 

 learned men, engaged in fimilar ihidies ; amongft others to 

 that of our diftinguifhed Dr. Martin Lifter. He was foon 

 afterwards invited to Padua, where he rofe fuccefTively 

 from one medical profeflbrfhip to another, tiU he obtained, 

 in 171 1, the firft chair of the Theory of Medicine. When 

 VaUifneri firft took his place among the teachers of phyfic 

 in this long-eftabli(hed univerfity, he was well aware of the 

 cautioii necelFary in opening the eyes of the Wind, and in 

 teaching the lame to walk. He had already exercifed his 

 own powers, and was a proficient in the praftical, or expe- 

 rimental, philofophy, of medicine, as weU as of anatomy 

 and phyfiology. But thofe accuftomed to lean upon others, 

 do not at once acquire, or even defire, the ufe of their own 

 faculties. Eftabhihed bodies naturally chng to eftabhihed 

 authorities, and it perhaps becomes them to be cautious of 

 embracing, without due deliberation, any unauthorized no- 

 velty, lo this duty, whatever others they may negleiS, 

 they muft be allowed to be pioufly attentive. Nothing 

 therefore could be more judicious than the fubjcft of our 

 new profeflbr's firft thefis, when he took the chair on the 

 14th of December, 170O; that "the Studies of the Mo- 

 derns do not overturn, but confirm, the Medical knowledge 

 of the Ancients." He pointed out in Hippocrates traces of 

 the greateft difcoveries, which the moderns by tiieir fuperior 

 opportunities had fully explained, fuch as the circulation of 

 the blood ; and thus without invalidating the merits of the 

 latter, he dexteroufly confirmed the authority of the former, 

 and flattered, inftead of alarming, their difciples. He thus 

 ftimulated them to enlarge the fphere of their own know- 

 ledge, fo that by improving the pracilical fciences of che- 

 miitry, anatomy, &c. they might further elucidate what the 

 ancients had not fully underftood or explained. In the 

 progrefs of his leftures, however, Valhlncri was too judi- 

 cious, and too honeft, to facrifice truth, to any ancient or 

 modern authority. He attacked, without fcruple, Avi- 

 cenna's theory of fevers, and the erroneous practice founded 

 thereon ; as well as the do<ftrines of the putrefcence of the 

 humours, the fanguification of the liver, with many me- 

 chanical hypothefes of the old fchool. All this did not in- 

 deed pafs without animadverfion, efpccially the new doftrine 

 of glandular fecretion ; but VaUifneri, fupported by truth 

 and experience, fiuaUy prevailed, and wrought a great 

 change in the theoretic medicine of his day. Improve- 

 ments in praftice foUowed of courfe ; and whenever the 

 enlightened teacher met with any troubleiomo oppofition, 

 or, as ufual, was attacked with mifreprekntation and ca- 

 lumny, he found an able proteftor ni Frederick Marcello, 

 procurator of St. Mark, who being charmed with his earliell 

 writings, had firft recommended him to his appointments at 

 Padua. 



The intervals of his academical duties were often devoted 

 by VaUifneri to rural excurfions, for the improvement of 

 his knowledge in natural hillory, as well as for the reilora- 

 tion of his bodily and mental powers, amid the wild and 

 majeftic, or the varioufly beautiful, fcenes of nature, which 

 lay fo profufely within his reach. In the fummer of 1704 

 he vifited the recefles of the Apennines, and climbed their 

 ftupendous precipices. The fcenery which infpired the 

 genius of Salvator Rofa, enlarged th-e mind, and enriched 

 the acquifitions, of our philofopher, and he defcendcd, hke 

 a fertilizing river, to benefit the world below. The follow- 

 ing year, h« undertook a lefs laborious journey, to vifit his 

 literary friends at Lucca, Pifa, Leghorn and Florence, and 

 was invited by prince Ferdinand of Tufcany to Pratahno, 

 where he met with a inoli flattering reception, the prince's 



holpitahty 



