| 1800. ] 
and had the addrefs to complete his proofs 
by artificial digeftions, made in glafles 
upon the table, by mixing the chewed 
aliments with the galtric juice of animals, 
which he knew how to extract from their 
ftomachs. But this book, fo original by 
the multitude of experiments and curious 
obfervations which it contains, is ftill 
more worthy of attention by the philofo- 
phic fpirit which deteéted it. 
This fubje€&t is one of the moft dificult 
in phyfiology; the obferver is always 
compelled to act and to look with darknefs 
around him; he is obliged to manage the 
animal with care, to avoid the derangement 
of his operations; and when he has la- 
borioufly completed his experiments, it is 
neceflary that he fhould well diftinguifh 
the confequences, fometimes erroneous, 
which may be drawn from thofe of obfer- 
‘vation, which never deceive when they are 
immediate. SPALLANZAN, in this work, 
is truly a fine fpectacle ; fcrupuloufly ana- 
lyfing the faéts in order to difcover their 
caufes with certainty; inventing happy 
refources for furmounting the obftacles 
which renew themfelves; comparing na- 
ture with his experiments, to judge of 
them; catching hold in his obfervations 
of every thing that is effential in them; 
meafuring their folidity by the augmenta- 
tion or diminution of fuppofed caufes ; 
drawing the beft-founded conclufions, and 
rejecting the moft plaufible hypothefes ; 
modeftly expofing the errors of thofe who 
have gone before him, and employing 
analogy with that wife circumf{pection 
which infpires confidence in an inftrument 
at once fo dangerous and fo ufeful. But 
let it be known, SPaLLANZANI had a 
capacity in particular for difcovering the 
truth: while the greater part of obferva- 
tors {carcely ever attain it, and then, after 
having defcribed around them a circuitous 
trace; he runs upon it by a ftraight line, 
and poflefles himielf of it fo as that it 
cannot efcape him. 
This work put John Hunter out of hu- 
mour; I know not the caufe, but he pub- 
lifhed, in 1785, Some Obfervations upon Di- 
géfiion, wherein he threw out fome bitter 
farcafms againft{t SPALLANZAN1, who 
took ample revenge by publifhing this 
work in Italian, and addrefling to Caldani 
in 1788: Una Lettera Apologetica in Rifpof~ 
ta alle Offervaxiene del Signor Giovanni 
Hunter. He expofes with moderation, 
but with an irrefiftible logic, the over- 
fights of the Englith phyfiologift, and 
points out his errors in a manner which 
left him no hope of a reply. 
~The fecond volume treats of the gene- 
Life and Labaurs of Spallanzani. 
267 
ration of animals and plants. SPALLAN- 
ZANI proves, by experiments, as fatisfacto- 
ry as they are furprifing, the pre-exiftence of 
germs to fecundation; he fhews the exiftence 
of tadpoles in the females of five different 
fpecies of frogs, in toads, and in falaman- 
ders, before their fecundation: he recounts 
the fuccefs of fome artificial fecundations 
upon the tadpoles of thofe five fpecies, 
and even upon a quadruped. e in the 
fame manner fhews the feed in the flowers 
before the emiffion of their farina, and, 
by a fubtile anatomy, of which one can 
hardly form an idea, he exhibits to the 
eye.in the flower of the /partium junceum, 
the filiqua, its feeds, with their lobes, and 
the embryo plant; he purfues them in 
their expanfion before and after fecunda- 
tion, and leaves not a doubt, but that the 
feeds and the pericarpia exifted long before 
the bloffoming of the buds, and confe- 
quently a long time before they could 
have been fecundated. He has repeated 
thefe obfervations upon various {pecies of 
piants with the fame refults ; in fhort, he 
has raifed the individuals of plants with 
female flowers which have borne fecun- 
dated feeds, although they were out of the 
reach even of fufpicion of a communication 
with the farina of the male flowers. Such 
is the feries of furprifing phenomena SPAL- 
LANZANI adds to the hiftory of nature. I 
will leave the mind to repofe a moment 
upon thefe fine difcoveries, in order to oc- 
cupy myfelf more particularly with the 
great man to whom we owe them. 
SPALLANZANI, according to cuftom, 
availed himfe!lf of the academical vacation 
of 1781, to make a journey, the object of 
which was to add to the cabinet of Pavia. 
He fet out in the month of July for Mar- 
feilles, where he commenced a new hiftory 
of the fea, which had prefented him with a 
crowd of novel and curious faéts upon 
numerous genera of the inhabitants of 
the ocean. He went likewife to Finale, 
to Genoa, to Maffa, and to Carrara, 
to obferve the quarries of marble fo 
famous with the ftatuaries; he returned 
to Spezzia, and thence brought to Pavia 
an immenfe harveft of fifhes cruftaceous 
and teftaceous, which he depofited in that 
cabinet of which his voyages and travels 
had rendered him fo worthy to be the 
guardian. He vifited in the fame view, and 
with the fame fuccefs, the coafts of Iftria, 
in 17823 the Apennine Mountains in 
1783, where he noticed the terrible bere 
canes, and the furprifing vapours which 
rendered that year fo famous in meteoro- 
logy. The cabinet of Pavia thus every 
year faw its riches increafe; and in the 
Mm 2 ) fame 

