266 
a fublime pencil had already painted it, 
but the picture was not done after nature- 
SPALLANZANI here gives a hiltory of the 
fpermatic animalculz, which the cloquent 
hiftorian, above alluded to, always con- 
founds with the animalcula of infufions. 
We cannot but admire the modeft diff- 
dence of thisnew demonftrator, ftruggling 
againft his own opinion and the authority 
ot Buffon, and he appears to admit with 
repugnance the refults of his multiplied and 
in a thoufand ways varied obfervations, 
which expofe the teeblenefs cf the fyftem of 
organic molecule. . 
SPALLANZANI afterwards defcribes the 
vo]vox and the flow-moying animalculz 
(rotijére and tardigrade) thofe coloflufes 
of the microfcopic world, fo fingylar by 
their figure and organization, but more 
fingular ftill by their faculty of refuming 
life, atter a total fufpence of all the appa- 
rent aéts of it during many years. 
I do not here fpeak of the experiments 
of SPa LLANZANI on the death of animals 
in clofe veffels, becaufe he took up the 
fubjeé&t again ; and enlarged-and exemplified 
it by the new lights of chemiftry ; but 
this collection he concludes with another 
on the hiltory of vegetable mould grow- 
ing on the furface of liquors and moilt 
fubfances, the feeds of which he fhews 
to float in the air; and he remarks that 
thefe microfcopic champignons er mufh- 
rooms diftinguith themfelves from other 
plants by their tendency to grow in all di- 
rections, without conforming tothe almoft 
univerfal law of pérpendicularity of ftalk 
to the ground. 
SP ALLANZANI was placed at the head 
of the univerfity’s cabinet of natural hiftory, 
but he was little more than titular depo- 
fitary ofa treafure which no longer exited. 
He laid the foundations however fer its 
renewal, and, by his care, itis become one 
of the moit precious and ufeful. He en- 
riched it through his repeated traveis by 
Jand and fea, in Europe, in Afia, acrols 
the Apennines, the Alps, the Krapacks, 
at the bottem of mines, on the top of vel- 
canoes, at the mouth of craters: fup- 
ported by his ardent paflion in the midift 
of perils, he preferved the /ang-froid of 
the philofopher to contemplate thele won- 
ders, aud the piercing eye of an obferver 
to ftudy them. It is thus that he always 
aiftinguifhed the proper objects for i:n- 
proving {cience by favouring inftruction ; 
it is thus that he filled this depefitary with 
treafures, that all the gold in the world 
could: not have obtained, becaufe gold 
never {upplies the genius and the difcern- 
. ment of the enlightened naturalift. 
Life and Labours of Spallanzani. 
[April 1, 
In 1779 SPALLANZANI ran over Swit- 
zerland and the Grifons; he then went to 
Geneva, where he fpent a month with his 
friends, who admired him the more in his 
converfations after having admired him in 
his writings. I have feen him enjoy the 
pleafure he afforded to Trembley, Bonnet, 
and Defauffure ; his feeling foul came to 
meet that of thefe great men; he unravel- 
led the thread of his vaft thoughts, and 
animated himfelf by refleéting on the grand 
views they gave birth to. It. would be 
highly ufeful to recal thefe friendly con- 
verfations, not only for the honor of thofe 
who held them, but alfo for the inftruétion 
of pofterity. But it will be always im- 
portant to know that the geniufes of this 
great caft relifh the {weets of friendfhip, 
and experience as great joy in difclofing 
their hearts as in dilcovering the fecrets 
of nature. Cruel remembrance! thefe 
illuftrious men, who have been the or- 
naments of their age, by their know- 
ledge, their difcoveries and their virtues 5 
who have accomplifhed the happinefs of 
their friends by their indulgence, their 
fenfibility, their inftruétions, and- their 
examples; all thefe immortal men are now 
dead; and have left, to thofe who have loved 
and admired them, only the defpair of fee- 
ing them replaced, and the painful confo- 
lation of /having been cherifhed by them. 
SPALLANZANI returned to Pavia, and 
publifhed, in 1780, two new volumes of 
his Difertazione di Fifica Animale e Vege- 
tabile. We therein reveals the fecrets of 
the interpretation of two very obfcure 
phenomena, concerning the vegetable and 
animal coeconomy. 
Some experiments made by SPaLLaN- 
ZANI upon dige/tion, tor his leflons, enga- 
ged him to ftudy this dark operation; he 
repeated Reaumur’s experiments upon the 
gailinaceous birds; and he obferved that 
the trituration, which is in this cafe an aid 
to digeftion, could not however be a very 
owerful means. He faw that the gizzard 
of thofe birds which pulverife the ftones of 
fruit to pieces, as if done with needles or 
‘other fharp-pointed inftruments, did not. 
digeft the powder fo formed: that it was 
neceflary it fhould undergo a new opera- 
tion in the ftomach, before it could become 
fit chyle for affording the elements of the 
blood and other humours. He eftablifhed 
the point that the digeftion was performed 
in the Romach of numerous animals, by 
the powerful aétion of a juice which dif- 
folves the aliments ; and to render his des 
monftration the more convincing, he had 
the courage to make feveral experiments 
on himéelf which might have preved faite 
an 
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