tself in 1668, when
Francesco Redi (1626-1697) published his book on the generation of
insects and showed that meat protected from flies by wire gauze or
parchment did not develop maggots, whilst meat left unprotected did.
From this and from other experiments he was led to formulate the theory
that in all cases of apparent production of life from dead matter the
real explanation was that living germs from outside had been introduced
into it. For a long time this view held the field. Redi was, as his name
indicates, an Italian, an inhabitant of Aretino, a poet as well as a
physician and scientific worker. He was physician to two of the Grand
Dukes of Tuscany and an academician of the celebrated _Accademia della
Crusca_. Those works which I have been able to consult on the subject
say nothing about his religion, but there can scarcely be any doubt
that he was a Catholic. At any rate there is no doubt whatever as to the
other persons now to be mentioned in connection with the controversy,
which again became active about a century after Redi had published his
book. The antagonists on this occasion were both of them Catholic
priests, and both of them deserve some brief notice.

John Turberville Needham (1713-1781) was born in London and belonged on
both sides to old Catholic families. He was educated at Douay and
ordained priest at Cambray in 1738. After teaching in that place for
some time he journeyed to England and became head-master of the once
celebrated school for Catholic boys at Twyford, near Winchester. From
there he went for a short time to Lisbon as professor of philosophy in
the English College. Subsequently he travelled with various Peers making
"the grand tour." After that he retired to Paris, where he was elected a
member of the _Academie des Sciences_. He was the first director of the
Imperial Academy in Brussels; a canon, first of Dendermonde and
afterward of Soignies. He died in Brussels and was buried in the Abbey
of Condenberg. Needham was a man of really great scientific attainments,
and perhaps nothing proves the estimation in which he was held more than
the fact that in 1746 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society,
being the first Catholic priest to become a member of that distinguished
body. When one remembers the attitude at that time, and much later, of
Englishmen towards Catholics it is clear that Needham's claims to
distinction must have been more than ordinarily great. His clear, firm
signat