FRANCIS REDI.
The principal works of this eminent physician, having any reference to zoology, are on the generation of insects, on the poison of the viper, and on intestinal worms. His observations and experiments were translated from the Italian into Latin, and published at Amsterdam in 1670 and 1686, and at Leyden in 1729. Fabroni gives his life in the third volume of his Vitæ Illustrium Italorum. Sprung from a noble family, he was born at Arezzo on the 18th February 1626. After finishing his studies at the University of Pisa, he settled at Florence, where he soon became known as a successful practitioner, and was appointed physician to Ferdinand II, grand duke of Tuscany, in which office he was continued by Cosmo III. Redi's experiments, directed by professional views, had for their chief object the treatment of the bite of serpents, and the destruction or removal of intestinal worms. His letters, however, published in 1724, in two volumes 4to, are replete with interesting observations in every department of natural history; his poetical works are said to be distinguished by elegance and grace; and his numerous literary compositions are described as evincing a pure and cultivated taste. He was a considerable contributor to the edition of the Dictionary of the Academia della Crusca, printed in 1691. He died at Pisa on the 1st of March 1694, at the age of sixty-eight, and was buried at Arezzo, in a tomb which his nephew decorated with an inscription, remarkable for its simplicity and good taste:—
Francisco Redi Patritio Aretino
Gregorius Fratris Filius.