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DELLA PORTA, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (c. 15...

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 966 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DELLA PORTA, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (c. 1538–1615) , See also:

Italian natural philosopher, was See also:born of a See also:noble and See also:ancient See also:family at See also:Naples about the See also:year 1538. He travelled extensively not only in See also:Italy but also in See also:France and See also:Spain, and he was still a youth when he published Magia naturalis, sive de miraculis rerum naturalium See also:lib. IV. (1558), the first draft of his Magia naturalis, in twenty books, published in 1589. He founded in Naples the Academia Secretorum Naturae, otherwise known as the Accademia dei Oziosi; and in x610 he became a member of the Accademia dei Lincei at See also:Rome. He died at Naples on the 4th of See also:February 1615. The following is a See also:list of his See also:principal writings: De miraculis return naturalium, in four books (1558); De furtivis litterarum notis, in five books (1563, and frequently afterwards, entitling him to high See also:rank among the See also:early writers on See also:cryptography) ; Phytognomonica (1583, a bulky See also:treatise on the See also:physiology of See also:plants as then understood); Magia naturalis (1589, and often reprinted); De humana physiognomonia, in six books (1591); See also:Villa, in twelve books (1592, an interesting See also:practical treatise on farming, gardening and See also:arboriculture, based upon his own observations at his See also:country-seat near Naples); De See also:refraction, optices parte, in nine books (1593); Pneumatica, in three books (16ox); De coelesti physiognomonia, in six books (16o1); Elementa curvilinea (16or); De See also:distillation, in nine books (1604); De munitione, in three books (1608) ; and De aeris transmutationibus, in four books (1609). He also wrote several Italian comedies Olimpia (1589) ; La Fantesca (1592); La Trappolaria (1597); I'Due Fratelli rivali (16oi); La Sorella (1607); La Chiappinaria (1609); La Carbonaria (1628); La Cintia (1628). Among all the above-mentioned See also:works the See also:chief See also:interest attaches to the Magia naturalis, in which a See also:strange medley of subjects is discussed, including the See also:reproduction of animals, the transmutation of metals, pyrotechny, domestic See also:economy, See also:statics, See also:hunting, the preparation of perfumes. In See also:book xvii. he describes a number of See also:optical experiments, including a description of the See also:camera obscura (q.v.).

End of Article: DELLA PORTA, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (c. 1538–1615)

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