FANO, GIULIO. — Physician and physiologist, born in Mantua on March 29, 1856, died there on September 27, 1930. He was professor of general physiology at the University of Rome. He demonstrated the inhibitory action of encephalic centers on spinal reflexes and the oscillations of atrial tone in the European eel. He dealt with general questions, addressing the origin of life and the evolution of species, and ultimately recognized the more philosophical than scientific character of evolution.
Bibl.: Articles on biological philosophy are collected in: P. Fano, Cervelo e cave, Bologna 1923. Luigi Scremin.