Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SPALLANZANI, LAZARO (1729-1799)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 593 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

SPALLANZANI, LAZARO (1729-1799) , See also:Italian See also:man of See also:science, was See also:born at Scandiano in See also:Modena on the loth of See also:January 1729, and was at first educated by his See also:father, who was an See also:advocate. At the See also:age of fifteen he was sent to the Jesuit See also:college at Reggio di Modena, and was pressed to enter that See also:body. He went, how-ever, to the university of See also:Bologna, where his famous kinswoman, Laura See also:Bassi, was See also:professor of physics, and it is to her See also:influence that his scientific impulse has been usually attributed. With her he studied natural See also:philosophy and See also:mathematics, and gave also See also:great See also:attention to See also:languages, both See also:ancient and See also:modern, but soon abandoned the study of See also:law, and afterwards took orders. His reputation soon widened, and in 1754 he became professor of See also:logic, See also:metaphysics and See also:Greek in the university of Reggio, and in 176o was translated to Modena, where he continued to See also:teach with great assiduity and success, but devoted his whole leisure to natural science. He declined many offers from other Italian See also:universities and from St See also:Petersburg until 1768, when he accepted the invitation of Maria See also:Theresa to the See also:chair of natural See also:history in the university of See also:Pavia, which was then being reorganized. He also became director of the museum, which he greatly enriched by the collections of his many journeys along the shores of .he Mediterranean. In 1785 he was invited to See also:Padua, but to retain his services his See also:sovereign doubled his See also:salary and allowed him leave of See also:absence for a visit to See also:Turkey, where he remained nearly a See also:year, and made many observations, among which may be noted those of a See also:copper mine in Chalki and of an See also:iron mine at Principi. His return See also:home was almost a triumphal progress: at See also:Vienna he was cordially received by See also:Joseph II., and on reaching Pavia he was met with acclamations outside the See also:city See also:gates by the students of the university. During the following year his students exceeded five See also:hundred. His integrity in the management of the museum was called in question, but a judicial investigation speedily cleared his See also:honour, to the See also:satisfaction even of his accusers. In 1788 he visited See also:Vesuvius and the volcanoes of the Lipari Islands and See also:Sicily, and embodied the results of his researches in a large See also:work (Viaggi alle due Sicilie ed 'in alcune parti deli' Apennine), published four years later.

He died from an apoplectic seizure on the 12th of See also:

February 1799, at Pavia. His indefatigable exertions as a traveller, his skill and See also:good See also:fortune as a See also:collector, his brilliance as a teacher and expositor, and his keenness as a controversialist no doubt aid largely in accounting for Spallanzani's exceptional fame among his contemporaries; yet greater qualities were by no means lacking. His See also:life was one of incessant eager questioning of nature on all sides, and his many and varied See also:works all See also:bear the See also:stamp of a fresh and See also:original See also:genius, capable of stating and solving problems in all departments of science—at one See also:time finding the true explanation of " ducks and drakes " (formerly attributed to the See also:elasticity of See also:water) and at another helping to See also:lay the See also:foundations of our modern vulcanology and See also:meteorology. His See also:main discoveries, however, were in the See also:field of See also:physiology: he wrote valuable and suggestive papers on respiration, on the senses of bats, &c., while he made experiments (1768) to disprove the occurrence of spontaneous See also:generation, showing in opposition to J. H. Needham (1713–1781) that animalcules did not develop in See also:vegetable infusions which had been boiled and were kept in properly closed vessels. His great work, however, is the Dissertationi de fisica animale e vegetale (2 vols., 1780). Here he first interpreted the See also:process of digestion, which he proved to be no See also:mere See also:mechanical process of trituration, but one of actual See also:solution, taking See also:place primarily in the See also:stomach, by the See also:action of the gastric juice. He also carried out important researches on fertilization in animals (178o).

End of Article: SPALLANZANI, LAZARO (1729-1799)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SPALDING, WILLIAM (1809-1859) 		[next]
SPAN (from O. Eng. spannan, to bind, connect togeth...

Site © 2006 - Net Industries