It is probably safe to say that Domenico Bertoloni Meli's recent book is the most comprehensive account to date of the works of Marcello Malpighi, a well-known seventeenth-century Italian physician and anatomist. Meli spent over a decade studying Malpighi's works within the wider context of early modern anatomy, natural philosophy and medicine, and his various publications on the subject are now brought together in a single book. This in itself is an impressive feat, as Malpighi's research ranged from studies on the silkworm to treatises on the liver, the lungs, the sense organs and the structure of glands, as well as anatomies of plants and investigations of insects. Meli's account is especially enlightening on the Italian context of early modern anatomy, but also caters to other interests in the history of science and medicine. Using Malpighi's work as a ‘lens’, Bertoloni Meli focuses particularly on the rise and spread of investigative techniques within anatomy and natural history, such as microscopy, injections, mechanical experiments and vivisection. Moreover, Mechanism, Experiment, Disease is interspersed with wonderful illustrations, which are accompanied by interesting reflections on the visual representation of theoretical schemas.

The book is divided into four parts, each tackling one aspect of Malpighi's formation as a leading physician and anatomist: the rise of microscopic anatomy; the mechanical organization of the body; natural history, including the anatomy of plants and insects; and the relation of anatomy to pathology and therapy. The introduction provides an overview of mechanical concepts within the new anatomy, which triggered the aforementioned range of investigative techniques to reveal structural and functional aspects of the body. The first part focuses mainly on Malpighi's apprenticeship in Pisa, Bologna and Messina and his professional relationships with other Italian physicians and anatomists, which are discussed within the context of broader European developments in anatomy and medicine. Part II focuses on Malpighi's and other European anatomists' research on glands and the problem of secretion, a major topic in seventeenth-century conceptualizations of the body. Malpighi's mechanical outlook on the body's organization is furthermore revealed in his research on the composition of fat and blood, which Meli contrasts especially with Descartes's writings on the subject. Part III investigates Malpighi's association with the Royal Society via his research on generation, insects and plants at the intersection between anatomy and natural history. This part is the most interesting for its discussion of the philosophical implications and agendas of studying the natural world. The study of insects and plants, in particular, seemed to lie at the intersection of a number of crucial issues in late seventeenth-century natural philosophy: generation, sexual reproduction, metamorphosis, analogies with automata and the profound link between observation and visual representation. The challenging size of insects, for example, fostered ever more refined microscopical and experimental techniques, as exemplified in Robert Hooke's Micrographia (1665). Hooke's magnificent illustrations are put alongside Malpighi's own, thus revealing the different philosophical agendas behind early modern publications. The study of lower animals and the mechanical organization of bodies were also invoked in the study of plants, resulting in curious analogies and metaphors. Malpighi, for example, compared the seeds of flowers ‘to the menstrual purgation of women, an analogy seemingly supported etymologically by the use of the term “flower” in the sense of menses' (p. 250). Hermaphrodite snails, on the other hand, fostered ‘a profound reconceptualization of sexual reproduction in nature, abandoning views based exclusively on the study of humans and higher animals and accepting a pluralistic perspective according to which modes of reproduction changed from species to species' (p. 270). Research on plants and animals was thus embedded in debates on the uniformity versus diversity of nature. However, towards the end of the century, contradictions in anatomical findings emerged, and anatomists began to realize that their ever-evolving techniques of investigation were not neutral tools of inquiry, but sometimes a problematic part of their research that could lead to controversies.

The final part investigates the link between anatomy, pathology and therapy in Malpighi's posthumous writings, which were mostly confrontational in style. As controversies and criticisms aimed at anatomists were often related to their inability to explain the causes of disease, Malpighi used his ripostes to present himself as a self-declared ‘Galileo of medicine’ who had opened new horizons for anatomy by means of the microscope. Bertoloni Meli also uses Malpighi's written medical consultations to denounce what he calls the ‘anachronistic distinction between anatomical research and medical practice in the seventeenth century’ (p. 331), arguing that they actually provided crucial documents in anatomical investigations of the causes and locations of disease. Here, too, illustrations were used to verify the medical significance of the new anatomy, often depicting particular mechanisms of the body. The Statua humana circulatoria is in this context of particular interest: the image, which was mainly used to display and explain blood circulation, depicts something akin to a robot, complete with hands, feet and penis.

In his epilogue, Bertoloni Meli reflects on the period's diversity of research techniques, questions and theories, and the number of publications, and rightly rejects the statements of some historians that ‘no significant discoveries whatsoever were made at the time’ (p. 358). His book is certainly evidence to the contrary, bursting with images and descriptions and conveying a vivid research atmosphere in which the experimental nature of every undertaking stood out.

A few queries: the book is a bit random in the provision of dates (Malpighi himself, of all protagonists, is not furnished with vital dates) and translations of Latin titles. Also, different styles, degrees of analysis and levels of enthusiasm appear in different chapters of the book, which is possibly due to the fact that the volume is based on a number of essays that have been submitted to different journals over the years. As a result, historians familiar with a particular anatomist or anatomical context mentioned in Meli's book might object to some generalizations. But, overall, for historians and students new to the history of anatomy and early modern natural philosophy, this book provides a thorough overview of Malphigi's multifaceted work within the context of seventeenth-century anatomy, medicine and natural philosophy.