ERCOLANI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. - Physician, veterinarian and anatomist, b. in Bologna on 23 Dec. 1817, d. there on 16 Nov. 1883. The political events of 1848 and 1849 led him to Turin; from there, after having taught in that School of veterinary medicine, he moved to Bologna as professor of pathological anatomy. He is remembered above all for his research on the structure of the placenta and the origin of the decidua in women and in the females of certain animals.
He also touched upon general problems of biology. The father of Italian veterinary medicine. E.'s original idea is that the epithelium of the chorionic villus functions like that of the intestinal villus. As for organic evolution, E. believed it demonstrable "in the evolution of a given animal type" (and by type he meant species). But he was not certain of evolution "from type to type" (that is, from one type of organization to another).
He wrote: Sulla filosofia biologica moderna, in G. P. E. and S. Tommasi, Evoluzione, esistenza e naturalismo (Naples 1877).
Bibliography3 worksM. Minghetti, G. B. E. Commemorazione, Bologna 1884; B. J. Grassi, Progressi della biologia, in Cinquec'anni di storia italiana, III, Milan
BIBL.: M. Minghetti, G. B. E. Commemorazione, Bologna 1884; B. J. Grassi, Progressi della biologia, in Cinquec'anni di storia italiana, III, Milan 1911, pp. 276-77; A. Ruffini, Filogenio, Milan 1925, pp. 633-37.
Scremin, Luigi. “Ercolani, giovanni battista.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, col. 478. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/ercolani-giovanni-battista.
MLA
Scremin, Luigi. “Ercolani, giovanni battista.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, col. 478. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/ercolani-giovanni-battista.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec5_ercolani_giovanni_battista,
author = {Scremin, Luigi},
title = {Ercolani, giovanni battista},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {V},
pages = {478},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ercolani-giovanni-battista}
}
One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.
Click or scroll to zoom · drag to pan · Esc to close
