Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 58.djvu/572

564 portraits are less attractive, and give evidence of imperfect health in the lines and wrinkles of his face. According to Atti, he was of medium stature, with a brown skin, delicate complexion, a serious countenance and melancholy look.

Accounts of his life show that he was modest, quiet and of a pacific disposition, notwithstanding the fact that he lived in an atmosphere of acrimonious criticism, of jealousy and controversy. Under all this he suffered acutely, and his removal from Bologna to Messina was partly to escape the harshness of his critics. Some of his best qualities showed under these persecutions; he was dignified under attack and moderate in reply. In.his posthumous works his replies to his critics are free from bitterness and written in a spirit of great moderation. This picture from Kay's correspondence shows the same control of his spirit. Under the date of April, 1684, Dr. Tancred Robinson writes: "Just as I left Bononia I had a lamentable spectacle of Malpighi's house all in flames, occasioned by the negligence of his old wife. All his pictures, furniture, books and manuscripts were burnt. I saw him in the very heat of the calamity, and methought I never beheld so much Christian patience and philosophy in any man before; for he comforted his wife and condoled nothing but the loss of his papers."

Malpighi was born at Crevalcuore, near Bologna, in 16941628 [sic]. His parents were farmers, or landed peasants; enjoying a certain independence in financial matters, they designed to give Marcellus, their eldest child, the advantages of masters and the schools. He began a life of study, and showed a taste for belles-lettres and for philosophy, which he studied under Natali.

Through the death of both parents, in-1649, Malpighi found himself, at the age of twenty-one, an orphan, and, as the eldest of eight children, domestic affairs devolved upon him. He had as yet made no choice of profession, but, through the advice of Natali, he resolved, in 1651, to study medicine, and, in 1653, at the age of twenty-five, he received from the University of Bologna the degree of M. D.

In the course of a few years he married the sister of Massari, one of his teachers in anatomy, and became a candidate for a position in the University of Bologna. This he did not immediately receive, but about 1656 he was appointed to a post in the University, and began his career as teacher and investigator. He must have shown aptitude for this work, for soon he was called to the University of Pisa, where, fortunately for his development, he became associated with Borelli, who was older and assisted him in many ways. They united in some work, and together they discovered the spiral character of the heart muscles. But the climate of Pisa did not agree with him, and after three years he returned, in 1659, to teach in the University of Bologna, and applied himself assiduously to anatomy.