Editing Lazzaro Spallanzani (section)

==Scientific contributions==

===Spontaneous generation===
Spallanzani's first scientific work was in 1765 ''Saggio di osservazioni microscopiche concernenti il sistema della generazione de' signori di Needham, e Buffon'' (''Essay on microscopic observations regarding the generation system of Messrs. Needham and Buffon'') which was the first systematic rebuttal of the theory of the [[spontaneous generation]].<ref name="ariatti"/> At the time, the microscope was already available to researchers, and using it, the proponents of the theory, [[Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis]], Buffon and [[John Needham]], came to the conclusion that there is a life-generating force inherent to certain kinds of inorganic [[matter]] that causes living microbes to create themselves if given sufficient time.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roe |first1=Shirley A. |title=John Turberville Needham and the Generation of Living Organisms |journal=Isis |date=1983 |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=159–184 |doi=10.1086/353242 |pmid=6347964 |s2cid=27830790 }}</ref> Spallanzani's experiment showed that it is not an inherent feature of matter and that it can be destroyed by an hour of boiling. As the microbes did not re-appear as long as the material was hermetically sealed, he proposed that microbes move through the air and that they could be killed through boiling. Needham argued that experiments destroyed the "vegetative force" that was required for spontaneous generation to occur. Spallanzani paved the way for research by [[Louis Pasteur]], who defeated the theory of spontaneous generation almost a century later.<ref name="VR1928" />

===Digestion===
In his work ''Dissertationi di fisica animale e vegetale'' (''Dissertation on the physiology of animals and vegetables'', in 2 volumes, 1780), Spallanzani was the first to explain the process of digestion in animals. Here he first interpreted the process of [[digestion]], which he proved to be no mere mechanical process of [[trituration]] – that is, of grinding up the food – but one of actual [[chemical solution]], taking place primarily in the stomach, by the action of the [[gastric juice]].<ref name="EB1911" />

===Reproduction===
Spallanzani described animal ([[mammal]]) reproduction in his ''Experiencias Para Servir a La Historia de La Generación De Animales y Plantas'' (1786). He was the first to show that fertilisation requires both [[spermatozoa]] and an [[ovum]]. He was the first to perform [[in vitro fertilization]], with frogs, and an [[artificial insemination]], using a dog.<ref name=somma>{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|871355494}} |last1=Somma |first1=A. M. |last2=Somma |first2=L. M. |title=Lazzaro Spallanzani, in Transylvania drive |journal=Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Medical Sciences |date=2009 |volume=6 |pages=109–114 }}</ref> Spallanzani showed that some animals, especially [[newts]], can regenerate some parts of their body if injured or surgically removed.<ref name="ariatti"/>

In spite of his scientific background, Spallanzani endorsed [[preformationism]], an idea that organisms develop from their own miniature selves; e.g. animals from minute animals, [[animalcules]]. In 1784, he performed a filtration experiment in which he successfully separated the seminal fluid of frogs – a liquid portion and a gelatinous animalcule (spermatozoa) portion. But then he assumed that it was the liquid part which could induce fertilisation. A staunch ovist, he believed that animal form was already developed in the eggs and fertilisation by semen was only an activation for growth.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sandler |first1=Iris |title=The re-examination of Spallanzani's interpretation of the role of the spermatic animalcules in fertilization |journal=Journal of the History of Biology |date=1973 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=193–223 |doi=10.1007/BF00127608 |pmid=11609721 |s2cid=37213444 }}</ref>

===Echolocation===
Spallanzani is also famous for extensive experiments in 1793 on how bats could fly at night to detect objects (including prey) and avoid obstacles, where he concluded that bats do not use their eyes for navigation, but some other sense.<ref name="note-echo" /><ref name="stuart"/> He was originally inspired by his observation that tamed [[Western barn owl|barn owl]] flew properly at night under a dim-lit candle, but struck against the wall when the candle was put out. He managed to capture three wild bats in Scandiano, and performed a similar experiment, on which he wrote (on 20 August 1793):
{{Blockquote| Having seen this, the candle was taken away, and for my eyes like for those of my brother and cousins we were in complete darkness. Yet the animals continued to fly around as before and never struck against obstacles, nor did they fall down, as would have happened with a night-bird. Thus a place which we believe to be completely dark is not at all so, because bats certainly could not see without light.|sign=|source=}}

A few days later he took two bats and covered their eyes with an opaque disc made of [[birdlime]]. To his astonishment, both bats flew completely normally. He went further by surgically removing the eyeballs of one bat, which he observed as:
{{Blockquote|[The bat] flew quickly, following the different subterranean pathways from one end to the other with the speed and sureness of an uninjured bat. More than once the animal landed on the walls and at the roof of the sotterranei and finally it landed in a hole in the ceiling two inches wide, hiding itself there immediately. My astonishment at this bat which absolutely could see although deprived of its eyes is inexpressible.<ref name="dijk">{{cite journal |last1=Dijkgraaf |first1=Sven |title=Spallanzani's unpublished experiments on the sensory basis of object perception in bats |journal=Isis |date=1960 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=9–20 |doi=10.1086/348834 |pmid=13816753 |s2cid=11923119 }}</ref>}}

He concluded that bats do not need vision for navigation; although he failed to find the reason. At the time other scientists were sceptical and ridiculed his findings.<ref name=somma/> A contemporary of Spallanzani, the Swiss physician and naturalist [[Louis Jurine]], learned of Spallanzani's experiments, investigated the possible mechanism of bat navigation. He discovered that bat flight was disoriented when their ears were plugged.<ref name="peschier"/> But Spallanzani did not believe that it was about hearing since bats flew very silently. He repeated his experiments by using improved ear plugs using [[turpentine]], wax, [[pomatum]] or [[tinder]] mixed with water, to find that blinded bats could not navigate without hearing.<ref name=galambos42>{{cite journal |last1=Galambos |first1=Robert |title=The Avoidance of Obstacles by Flying Bats: Spallanzani's Ideas (1794) and Later Theories |journal=Isis |date=1942 |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=132–140 |doi=10.1086/347764 |jstor=226214 |s2cid=143497517 }}</ref> He was still suspicious that deafness alone was the cause of disoriented flight and that hearing was vital that he conducted some rather painful experiments such as burning and removing the external ear, and piercing through the inner ear. After these operations, he became convinced that hearing was fundamental to normal bat flight, upon which he noted: 
{{Blockquote|This experiment, which is so decisively in favor of hearing ... has been repeated by me with equal results both in blinded bats and in seeing one.<ref name="dijk"/>}}

By then he was too convinced that he suggested the ear was an organ of navigation, writing:
{{Blockquote|The experiments of M. Professor Jurine, confirming by many examples those which I have done, and varied in many ways, establish without doubt the influence of the ear in the flight of blinded bats. Can it then still be said that ... [for bats] their ears rather than their eyes serve to direct them in flight?<ref name=galambos42/>}}

His pupil, [[Paolo Spadoni]] (1764-1826), also published observations on the topic.<ref>''Dissertazione epistolare sul volo di pippistrelli acieccati e sul passagio de'veggente''</ref>

The exact scientific principle was discovered only in 1938 by two American biologists [[Donald Griffin]] and [[Robert Galambos]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Griffin |first1=Donald R. |title=Return to the Magic Well: Echolocation Behavior of Bats and Responses of Insect Prey |journal=BioScience |date=2001 |volume=51 |issue=7 |pages=555 |doi=10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0555:RTTMWE]2.0.CO;2 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Griffin |first1=Donald R. |title=Echolocation by Blind Men, Bats and Radar |journal=Science |date=29 December 1944 |volume=100 |issue=2609 |pages=589–590 |doi=10.1126/science.100.2609.589 |pmid=17776129 |bibcode=1944Sci...100..589G }}</ref>

===Fossils===
Spallanzani studied the formation and origin of marine fossils found in distant regions of the sea and over the ridge mountains in some regions of Europe, which resulted in the publication in 1755 of a small dissertation, "''Dissertazione sopra i corpi marino-montani then presented at the meeting the Accademia degli Ipocondriaci di Reggio Emilia''". Although aligned to one of the trends of his time, which attributed the occurrence of marine fossils on mountains to the natural movement of the sea, not the [[Flood geology|universal flood]], Spallanzani developed his own hypothesis, based on the dynamics of the forces that changed the state of the Earth after God's creation.<ref name="edizione" />

A few years later, Spallanzani published reports about trips he made to [[Portovenere]], Cerigo Island, and Two Sicilies, addressing important issues such as the discovery of fossil shells within volcanic rocks, human fossils, and the existence of fossils of extinct species. His concern with fossils witnesses how, in the style of the eighteenth century, Spallanzani integrated studies of the three kingdoms of nature.<ref name="prestes" />

===Other works===

Spallanzani studied and made important descriptions on blood circulation and respiration.<ref name=somma/> In 1777, he gave the name [[Tardigrada]] (from Latin meaning "slow-moving") to the phylum of minute extremophile animals also called water bears.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2010-01-01 |title=Tardigrada |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123748553000145 |journal=Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates |pages=455–484 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-374855-3.00014-5 |last1=Nelson |first1=Diane R. |last2=Guidetti |first2=Roberto |last3=Rebecchi |first3=Lorena |isbn=9780123748553 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fox-Skelly |first=Jasmin |title=Tardigrades return from the dead |url=https://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150313-the-toughest-animals-on-earth |access-date=2021-08-16 |website=www.bbc.com}}</ref>

In 1788 he visited [[Vesuvius]] and the volcanoes of the [[Lipari Islands]] and Mount Etna in [[Sicily]]. He visited the latter along with [[Carlo Gemmellaro]]. He embodied the results of his research in a large work (''Viaggi alle due Sicilie ed in alcune parti dell'Appennino''), published four years later.

Much of his collections, which he kept at the end of his life in his house in Scandiano, were purchased by the city of [[Reggio Emilia]] in 1799. They are now on display inside the [[Palazzo dei Musei, Reggio Emilia |Palazzo dei Musei]] in two rooms denominated the ''Museo Spallanzani''.<ref>[https://www.musei.re.it/en/collections/palazzo-dei-musei-museums-palace/18371-2/ Spallanzani collection], Musei Civici of Reggio Emilia</ref>

===Publications===
[[File:Spallanzani, Lazzaro – Viaggi alle Due Sicilie e in alcune parti dell'Appennino, 1792 – BEIC 4304518.jpg|thumb|''Viaggi alle Due Sicilie e in alcune parti dell'Appennino'', 1792]]
* {{Cite book|title=Saggio di osservazioni microscopiche concernenti il sistema della generazione de' signori di Needham e Buffon|volume=|publisher=eredi Bartolomeo Soliani (2.)|location=Modena|year=1765|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3911760}}
* {{Cite book|title=Nuove ricerche sulle scoperte microscopiche|volume=|publisher=Jacques Lacombe|location=Paris|year=1769|language=fr|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12863078}}
* {{Cite book|title=Opuscoli di fisica animale e vegetabile|volume=1|publisher=Società tipografica|location=Modena|year=1776|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12786044}}
* {{Cite book|title=Opuscoli di fisica animale e vegetabile|volume=2|publisher=Società tipografica|location=Modena|year=1776|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12787049}}
* {{Cite book|title=Dissertazioni di fisica animale e vegetabile|volume=1|publisher=Giammaria Bassaglia|location=Venezia|year=1782|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12730373}}
* {{Cite book|title=Dissertazioni di fisica animale e vegetabile|volume=2|publisher=Giammaria Bassaglia|location=Venezia|year=1782|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12731420}}
* {{Cite book|title=Expériences pour servir a l'histoire de la génération des animaux et des plantes|volume=|publisher=Barthelemi Chirol|location=Genève|year=1785|language=fr|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12861497}}
* {{Cite book|title=Viaggi alle Due Sicilie e in alcune parti dell'Appennino|volume=1|publisher=Baldassare Comino|location=Pavia|year=1792|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=4304518}}
* {{Cite book|title=Viaggi alle Due Sicilie e in alcune parti dell'Appennino|volume=2|publisher=Baldassare Comino|location=Pavia|year=1792|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=4305249}}
* {{Cite book|title=Viaggi alle Due Sicilie e in alcune parti dell'Appennino|volume=3|publisher=Baldassare Comino|location=Pavia|year=1793|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=4305996}}
* {{Cite book|title=Viaggi alle Due Sicilie e in alcune parti dell'Appennino|volume=4|publisher=Baldassare Comino|location=Pavia|year=1793|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=4306751}}
* {{Cite book|title=Viaggi alle Due Sicilie e in alcune parti dell'Appennino|volume=5|publisher=Baldassare Comino|location=Pavia|year=1795|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=4307418}}
* {{Cite book|title=Lettere sopra il sospetto di un nuovo senso nei pipistrelli|volume=|publisher=Stamperia reale|location=Torino|year=1794|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3912067}}
* {{Cite book|title=Chimico esame degli esperimenti del sig. Gottling|volume=|publisher=Società tipografica|location=Modena|year=1796|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3912220}}
* {{Cite book|title=Memorie su la respirazione|volume=1|publisher=Annesio Nobili|location=Milano|year=1803|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12860453}}
* {{Cite book|title=Memorie su la respirazione|volume=2|publisher=Annesio Nobili|location=Milano|year=1803|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12861044}}