Science and medicine in France: the emergence of experimental physiology, 1790–1855

Caldani concentrated his experimental work on the differential "irritability" of the various parts in the nervous system; his fame derives also from his Institutiones of physiology, pathology, and anatomy, which synthesized his own contributions as well as those of his contemporaries in pursuance of Haller's "paradigm". His exchanges with Spallanzani (1729-99), spanning three decades (1768-98), started when the latter sent him a copy of his Prodrome di un'opera de imprimersi sopra le riproduzioni animali (1768). Thereafter, the entire experimental work of Spallanzani, especially that on functions such as generation, circulation, and digestion, formed the background of a lively and friendly intercourse between the two scientists. As stated by Ongaro in his informative introduction: "Sono toccati cosi pressoche tutti i temi dell'attivita e degli interessi scientifici dei due corrispondenti, dai problemi della generazione e dalle difficolta che il preformismo incontrava per spiegare i fenomeni di eredita e de ibridazione, di rigenerazione parziale e di mostruosita, alla circolazione sanguigna e alla morfologia dei globuli rossi; dalle rigenerazioni animali sulle quali il Caldani eseque alcune esperienze richiestegli dallo Spallanzani, alla digestione." (p. 15.) Abundant footnotes provide the necessary background to the scientific aspects of the exchanges. The correspondence bears testimony to the broader area of the cultural, social, and institutional setting for the activity of experimental researchers in late eighteenth-century Italy. But predominantly, the letters document the evolution of physiology in the Hallerian tradition, and the close connexion of observation and experience with the conflicting theories of that period. As an instance, one might mention the significant opinions expressed on Blumenbach's notions of Bildungstrieb ornisusformativus and on his vitalistic recasting of the Hallerian paradigm in Caldani's and Spallanzani's letters from August to November 1787 (pp. 209-222). Apart from the fact that a major part of the correspondence had not been previously published and that it deserved the type of scientific transcription Ongaro undertook, the present edition provides scholars with a useful tool for the historical understanding of the scientific achievements of Caldani, Spallanzani, and other eighteenth-century researchers, especially among Italians. As an additional feature of the edition, Appendices I and II present the correspondence between Caldani and Nicolo Spallanzani, brother of Lazzaro, from the latter's death in 1799 to 1807. The appendices are followed by an interesting 'Iconografia' and by the appropriate index and bibliography. Lesch maintains that "the challenge facing historians is to show how the sciences, while retaining this necessary degree …