Background
Grassi was born on March 27, 1854 in Rovellasca, Italy, in what is now the Province of Como.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Constituzione E Sviluppo Della Società Dei Termitidi Giovanni Battista Grassi, A. Sandias T.C. Galàtola, 1893
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Grassi was born on March 27, 1854 in Rovellasca, Italy, in what is now the Province of Como.
He was educated at the University of Pavia, graduating with an M. D. degree in 1878. For the next five years he studied zoology at the universities of Heidelberg and WürzburgWurzburg in Germany.
In 1883 Battista returned to Italy to accept a position as professor of comparative anatomy at the University of Catania. In 1895 he was appointed a professor of comparative anatomy at the University of Rome.
His early studies were on the parasitic worms, such as the Old World hookworm, Ancylostoma; the intestinal roundworm, Ascaris; the tapeworm, Taenia, and the threadworm, Filaria. His other investigations were on the life habits and the social life of the termite; the effects of the Phylloxera insect on the grape vines; and a study of the marine arrow worms, the phylum Chaetognatha.
In 1886 he described the Koenemia mirabilis, a new order of arachnids.
He also investigated the life cycle of eels and during 1892 to 1893 he was able to observe the metamorphosis of the conger eel larvae. Grassi's most important contributions were his studies of the protozoan Plasmodium, the malarial parasite, and the methods of transmission of the infection to man. Charles Laveran first observed the parasite in living blood in 1880; however, it was Grassi who described the complete life cycle of Plasmodium in birds and man. In 1898 he demonstrated that mosquitoes in the genus Anopheles carried the parasite in the digestive tract and were the vectors transmitting malaria to man. Sir Ronald Ross had also identified these mosquitoes as the transmitting agents; he demonstrated the life cycle of the parasite in the digestive tract of the mosquito. Later, Sir Patrick Manson proved that the bite of a malaria-infected mosquito transmitted malaria to man.
The combined findings of Grassi, Laveran, Ross, and Manson led to the campaign which greatly reduced the incidence of malaria in Europe, particularly in Italy. Grassi's many honors included membership in the Academy of the Lincei and in the Italian Scientific Society and an honorary degree from the University of Leipzig. Among his writings are: Contribuzione allo studio dei parasiti malarici (1892; "Contribution to the Study of the Malarial Parasites").
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
In Heidelberg, Grassi married Maria Koenen.