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M A L 
MAL'PAS, a mountain of France, which was cut 
through for the Languedoc canal. 
MALPAT'TY, a town in the ifland of Ceylon : fifty 
miles north-weft of Trinkamaly. 
MALPI'CA, a town of Portugal, in the province of 
Eeira : ten miles welt-north-weft of Rofmarilhal, and fix- 
teen fouth-fouth-eaft of Cartel Branco. 
MALPPCO, a town of Spain, in Galicia, on the fea- 
conft : twenty miles weft of Corunna. 
MALPIE'V, a town of Spain, in New Caftile: twenty- 
five miles weft of Toledo. 
MAL'PIGHI (Marcello), a celebrated Italian naturalift, 
was born at Crevalcuore, near Bologna, in 1628. Having 
devoted himfelf to the ftudy of medicine, which he fe- 
lefted for his profeflion by the advice of Natalis, his tutor 
in philofophy, he began to apply himfelf to anatomy with 
great zeal under Maffari, who had a fchool for difleftion 
in his own houfe. He foon became diftinguilhed by the 
philofophical fpirit of obfervation with .which he purfued 
his enquiries ; and his ardent zeal for natural knowledge 
was accompanied with fingular modefty. His merit pro¬ 
cured him, in 1653, the degree of doftorin medicine, and 
the appointment of profeffor of phylic in the univerfity 
of Bologna in 1656; footi after which he was invited to 
Pifa by the grand duke of Tufcany, Ferdinand II. This 
prince, partly from his own hereditary tafte, and partly at 
the inftigation of his accomplifhed brother, the cardinal 
Leopold de Medici, was very defirous of encouraging the 
arts and fciences in his dominions. Here he formed a 
friendlhip with the celebrated Borelli, to whofe commu¬ 
nications he acknowledges himfelf indebted for the difco- 
very of the futility of the philofophy of the fchools, and 
of the neceftity of experiment as the foie foundation of a 
true philofophy. The air of Pifa, however, did not agree 
with Malpighi, whofe health was always delicate; and he 
was obliged to return to Bologna in 1659, where he was 
immediately re-appointed to the profelforthip of medicine. 
Here he relumed his inquiries with great diligence, and 
was the fir It who employed the microfcope in examining 
the circulation of the blood. In 1662, on the death of 
Caftelli at MelTina, Malpighi was invited by the tnagilfracy 
to fucceed him as profelfor of medicine in that fchool, 
with a large falary. He occupied this poft almoft four 
years with confiderable reputation ; but, as he paid little 
refpefl to the doctrines of the Galenirts and Arabians, and 
excited much jealoufy in his colleagues, he became in¬ 
volved in controverfies, which rendered his life very tin- 
eafy. He therefore refolved to return to Bologna in 1666 ; 
and accepted the offers of his countrymen to continue 
among them, notwithftanding the preffing invitations 
which he received from MelTina to refume his chair in 
that city'’. His anatomical purfuits now occupied a great 
portion of his time, at a villa, in the vicinity of Bologna; 
and his reputation extended throughout Europe, as a phi¬ 
lofophical inquirer; fo that, in 1669, he was elected a 
member of the Royal Society of London; which body 
afterwards teltified their regard for him by printing his 
works at its own expenfe. At Bologna, he continued to 
teach others, and to inftruct himfelf, with great reputa¬ 
tion, till the year 1691. Cardinal Pignatelli, who had 
known him, during his own refidence as legate at Bologna, 
being that year railed to the papacy by the name of Inno- 
cent*XII. chofe Malpighi for his chief phyfician and 
chamberlain. The latter of courfe gave up his academical 
appointments, and removed to Rome, where, having pre- 
vioufly fuffered from gout and nephritic complaints, he 
died of an apoplexy at the palace of Monte Cavallo, No¬ 
vember 29th, 1694, in the fixty-feventh year of his age. 
His remains were embalmed, and conveyed to Bologna, 
where they were interred with great funeral honours in 
the church of St. Gregory, and a lfatue was%re< 5 ted to his 
memory. He was married to the filler of his preceptor 
Maffari; but left no iffue. 
Malpighi is defcribed as a man of a ferious and melan¬ 
choly temperament, which is confirmed by his portrait in 
M A L 
the meeting-room of the Royal Society at Somerfet>h«ufe. 
He was indefatigable in the purfuit of knowledge, on the 
fure ground of experience and obfervation, ever candid ia 
his acknowledgments to thole who had given him any in¬ 
formation, and devoid of all oftentation or pretention on 
the fcore of his own merits. He ranks very high among 
the philofophers of the philofophical age in which he lived, 
the age of Harvey, of Redi, of Rudbeck, and of Bartholin, 
when nature began to be ftudied inftead of books, and the 
dreams of the fchools gave place to practical enquiries and 
obfervations. Hence arofe the difcoveries of the circula¬ 
tion of the blood, the abforbent fyltem of the animal 
body, and the true theory of generation. To fuch im¬ 
provements the inveftigations of Malpighi relative to the 
anatomy and transformation of infedls, particularly the 
filk-worm, and the development of the chick in the egg, 
lent no fmall aid. From thefe enquiries he was led to the 
anatomy and phyliology of plants, in which he is altoge¬ 
ther an original, as well as a very profound, obferver. His 
line of ftudy was the fame as that of Grew; but thefe phi- 
lofophers laboured independent of each other, and their 
frequent coincidence evinces the accuracy of both. The 
firft work which he publiftted in 1661, and which was af¬ 
terwards frequently reprinted, comprifed his microfcopical 
obfervations relative to the intimate ftruflure of the lungs, 
and was entitled Obfervationes Anatomicae de Pulmoni- 
bus, folio. He publiftied feparate tracts concerning the 
brain, the tongue, the external organ of touch, the omen¬ 
tum, throat, and the adipofe duits, between the years 
1661 and 1665 ; and, fubfequently, other trafts refpecting 
the ftrufture of the vifcera, the kidneys, fpleen, liver, 
membranes of the brain, &c. Malpighi became a member 
of our Royal Society, as we have already mentioned, in 
1669, in which year his effay de formatione pulli in ovo was 
firft printed, at London, in quarto, as well as his remarks 
on the Bombyx, or filk-worm, and De Glandulis conglo- 
batis, forming his three Dijfertationes Epijlolicce. His Ana- 
tome Plantartim, addreffed to the Royal Society, accom¬ 
panied by obfervations on the incubation of the egg, was 
publiftied by that learned body, in folio, with many 
plates, in 1675 and 1679. His works were republilhed at 
London, in 1686, making two folio volumes; and more 
correctly at Amlterdam, in 1687, quarto ; and a pofthu- 
mous volume appeared here, accompanied w ith an account 
of his life, in 1697, of which a re-impreflion vi'as given at 
Venice, and another at Leyden, the enluing year. Some 
other diflertations are to be found in the Bibliotheca 
Anatomica, publiftied by Le Clerc and Margetat Geneva, 
in 16855 especially De Cornuum Vegetatione; De Utero 
et Viviparorum Avis ; and Epiftolae quaedani pirca illam 
de Ovo differtationem. His only medical work, Conful- 
tationum Medicinalium Centuria prima, was edited by 
Gafpari, in 1713, quarto, Patau. He is not, indeed, dif- 
tinguiftied as a praftitioner; but he deferves praife for 
pointing out the mifchiefs of blood-letting in the malig¬ 
nant epidemics prevalent in Italy in his time. An edi¬ 
tion of the whole of his works was printed at Venice, in 
1733, in folio, by Gavinelli. 
Malpighi’s labours have thrown great light upon the ftruc- 
ture and phyfiology of the human, brute, and vegetable, 
creation ; asmay be feen by confulting his works mentioned 
above. He wrote alfo memoirs of his own life, dedicated 
to the Royal Society ; and to that learned body he left his 
porthumous papers. In his anatomical inveftigations he 
reforted to what in thofe days'were new methods, viz. 
maceration of the parts, injection of the veffels with co¬ 
loured liquors, and the employment of magnifying glaffes. 
By lucli means he was very fuccefsful in developing the 
intricate itructure of foine of the vifcera in man and qua¬ 
drupeds, as well as the minute fabric of infedts and vege¬ 
tables. He appears to have been the firft who tiled the 
microfcope for examining the circulation of the blood. 
His merits as a vegetable anatomift are of the higheft and 
molt original kind. The ltrufture and component parts 
of plants had been little attended to before he entered 
* upon 
