I lombrichi di Spallanzani. "Notomie" inedite contro i "garbugli e pasticci" dell' "argomento di analogia".

As though embarrassed by the huge amount of material he stored up, Spallanzani hid entire parts of his biological project. A good example is given by 25 laboratory notebooks which were to constitute the basis of a major work on regeneration he announced in the year 1768 and never published. There Spallanzani recorded anatomical observations he carried out on some annelids with a refinement of method and critical understanding only equalled by Malpighi and Lyonnet when observing caterpillars. His research on these organisms highlights how critically Spallanzani referred to the various versions of the generally accepted principle of the uniformity of composition of animal structure.