Fontana. le Tenie. Opuscoli Scelti. VI. p. 108. Milan, 1783,
contains an account of the hydatids which produce
the symptoms of vertigo in sheep. 12. A Lettre à
M. ***, Journ. Phys. VII. p. 285, contains some re-
marks on the circulation of the sap in plants. 13. In
an essay, Sur le Tremella, Journ. Phys. VII. p. 47,
a zoophyte of a green colour, described by Adanson
and others as a plant, is shown to consist of a mul-
titude of little animals in continual motion.

14. Mr Fontana entered also very minutely, but
with more industry than accuracy or closeness of
reasoning, into the chemical novelties which occu-
pied so much attention throughout Europe in the
latter half of the last century. He seems, however,
to have had the merit of first applying the discoveries
of Priestley respecting the effects of the nitric oxyd
to the examination of the qualities of the atmo-
sphere, by means of the eudiometer, which is the
subject of his Descrizione e usi di alcuni stromenti
per misurar la salubrità dell' aria, 8. Flor. 1774,
4to, 1775, and is further illustrated in his (15.) Re-
cherches physiques sur la nature de l'air dephlogistiqué
et de l'air nitreux. 8. Par. 1776. He also observed
the remarkable property that charcoal possesses, of
absorbing several times its bulk of different gases.
16. In the Ricerche fisiche sopra l'aria fissa, 4.
Flor. 1775, he is by no means equally fortunate,
having fancied that the acidity of the fixed air is
not essential to it, but accidentally derived from the
stronger acid employed in expelling it from the
earth or alkali. 17. The Philosophical Transactions
for 1779, p. 187, contain his Experiments and Obser-
vations on the Inflammable Air breathed by various
Animals, consisting of a repetition of Scheele's attempt
to breathe hydrogen gas, which did not always create
a sensation of immediate uneasiness, though it was
sometimes productive of alarming consequences. 18.
In the same volume, p. 432, we find an interesting
Account of the Airs extracted from different kinds of
Waters, with Thoughts on the Salubrity of the Air
at different places, showing that the air afforded by
water is very different under different circumstances,
but that the quality of the atmosphere itself scarce-
ly ever exhibits any variations which can be render-
ed sensible by chemical tests.

19. To the Memoirs of the Italian Society Fon-
tana contributed several short essays; the first, en-
titled Principi generali della solidità e della fluidità
dei corpi, Vol. I. p. 89, Verona, 1782; containing
the prevalent theories of the day respecting the
change in the forms of aggregation of the same sub-
stance, together with experiments on the elasticity
of different gases. 20. The second is a collection
of definitions, entitled Sopra la luce, la fiamma, il
calore e il flogisto, p. 104, characterizing these sup-
posed elementary principles according to the ideas
of Bergman, Scheele, and others. 21. In a later
volume, V. p. 581 (1790), we find a Lettera del
Cavaliere F. Fontana al Sign. de Morveau, in which
it is conjectured that inflammable air may be a com-
pound of phlogiston and water, and it is observed
that the white crusts of flints contain as great a pro-
portion of pure silica as their internal parts. Our
author remarks, however, that his attention had of
late been much distracted from chemical pursuits by

the attention required for the completion of his col- Fontana.
lection of wax models of anatomical subjects, and
for the duplicates which he was preparing for the
cabinet of Vienna at the request of the emperor.
At a subsequent period, another series of copies of
these models was ordered by Bonaparte to be sent
to Paris; but it was there judged inferior to the pre-
parations already existing in the Ecole de Medecine,
which had been made under the direction of Lau-
monier, and Fontana's collection was sent to the
university of Montpellier. He was latterly en-
gaged for some time in the preparation of a colossal
model of a man, built up anatomically of all his com-
ponent parts, which were accurately represented in
wood; but this elaborate design was never com-
pleted.

22. He was also the author of a few other chemical and mineralogical papers of less importance, for instance of an Analyse de la Malachite, Journ. Phys. XI. p. 509; and, 23. A Lettre sur du vitriol de Magnésie trouvé dans des carrieres de gypse, en Piémont, Journ. Phys. XXXIII. p. 309. 24. His last work is entitled Principes raisonnés de la génération. He was also meditating an essay on the revivification of animals; but he did not live to complete it. A collection of his works, translated into French by Gibelin, was published at Paris in 1785, entitled Observations Physiques et Chimiques.

Fontana had become acquainted with a great number of contemporary men of science, by having travelled in various parts of Europe, for the purpose of enriching the cabinet of which he was superintendent; the same official situation brought him into contact with all foreigners of distinction who pass ed through Florence in their travels; and he seems to have enjoyed a more extensive reputation than many philosophers of deeper research and more irresistible penetration. He wore the habit of an ecclesiastic, and was not uncommonly called Abbé; he was well received in the best societies, though his manners are said to have been sometimes a little at variance with the dress which he adopted. He was treated with great respect by the French generals, when they took possession of Tuscany in 1799, and hence he became the object of some suspicion upon the return of the Austrians, especially with the insurgents of Arezzo, who preceded them, and by whom he was for a short time imprisoned. His last, illness was occasioned by an accidental fall in the street, on the 11th January 1805, and he died the 9th March 1806, at the age of seventy-five. He was buried in the church of the Holy Cross, not far from the tomb of Galileo. His Eloge was pronounced by Professor Mangili in the university of Pavia, the 12th November 1812. (CUVIER, in Biographie Universelle, Vol. XV. 8. Par. 1816.) (0. R.)

FONTANA (GREGORY), a profound mathemati.
cian and natural philosopher, younger brother of
Felix Fontana, was born at Villa de Nogarola near
Roveredo, the 7th December 1735.

He received the first rudiments of his education at
Roveredo, and continued his studies at Rome, where
he entered into the Scuole Pie, and soon distinguish-
He was en-
ed himself by his talents and assiduity.
trusted with the care of a part of the public instruc-