Marcello Malpighi, 1628-1694
Personal Qualities.—There are several portraits of Malpighi extant. These, together with the account of his personal appearance given by Atti, one of his biographers, enable us to tell what manner of man he was. The portrait shown in Fig. 13 is a copy of the one painted by Tabor and presented by Malpighi to the Royal Society of London, in whose rooms it may still be seen. This shows him in the full attractiveness of his early manhood, with the earnest, intellectual look of a man of high ideals and scholarly tastes, sweet-tempered, and endowed with the insight that belongs to a sympathetic nature. Some of his portraits taken later are less attractive, and the lines and wrinkles that show in his face give evidence of imperfect health. According to Atti, he was of medium stature, with a brown skin, a delicate complexion, a serious countenance, and a 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. A family dispute in reference to the boundary-lines between his father's property and the adjoining land of the Sbaraglia family gave rise to a feud, in which representatives of the latter family followed him all his life with efforts to injure both his scientific reputation and his good name. 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 abuse and considerate in his reply. In reference to the attacks upon his scientific standing, there were published after his death replies to his critics that were written while he was smarting under their injustice and severity, but these replies are free from bitterness and are written in a spirit of great moderation. The following picture, taken from Ray's correspondence, shows the fine 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."
Fig. 13.—Malpighi, 1628-1694.
Education.—Malpighi was born at Crevalcuore, near Bologna, in 1628. His parents were landed peasants, or farmers, enjoying an independence in financial matters. As their resources permitted it, they designed to give Marcellus, their eldest child, the advantage of masters and schools. He began a life of study; and, before long, he 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 orphaned at the age of twenty-one, and as he was the eldest of eight children, the management of domestic affairs devolved upon him. He had as yet made no choice of a profession; but, through the advice of Natali, he resolved, in 1651, to study medicine. This advice followed, in 1653, at the age of twenty-five, he received from the University of Bologna the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
University Positions.—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 chair 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 a teacher and investigator. He must have shown aptitude for this work, for he was soon called to the University of Pisa, where, fortunately for his development, he became associated with Borelli, who, as an older man, 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.
Here his fame was in the ascendant, notwithstanding the machinations of his enemies and detractors, led by Sbaraglia. He was soon (1662) called to Messina to follow the famous Castelli. After a residence there of four years he again returned to Bologna, and as he was now thirty-eight years of age, he thought it time to retire to his villa near the city in order to devote himself more fully to anatomical studies, but he continued his lectures in the university, and also his practice of medicine.