GIOVANNI BATTISTA DELLA PORTA (c. 1538–1615)  ,

Italian natural philosopher, was born of a noble and ancient family at Naples about the year 1538 . He travelled extensively not only in Italy but also in France and Spain, and he was still a youth when he published Magia naturalis, sive de miraculis rerum naturalium lib . IV . (1558), the first draft of his Magia naturalis, in twenty books, published in 1589 . He founded in Naples the Academia Secretorum Naturae, otherwise known as the Accademia dei Oziosi; and in x610 he became a member of the Accademia dei Lincei at Rome . He died at Naples on the 4th of February 1615 . The following is a list of his principal writings: De miraculis return naturalium, in four books (1558); De furtivis litterarum notis, in five books (1563, and frequently afterwards, entitling him to high rank among the early writers on cryptography) ; Phytognomonica (1583, a bulky treatise on the physiology of plants as then understood); Magia naturalis (1589, and often reprinted); De humana physiognomonia, in six books (1591); Villa, in twelve books (1592, an interesting practical treatise on farming, gardening and arboriculture, based upon his own observations at his country-seat near Naples); De refraction, optices parte, in nine books (1593); Pneumatica, in three books (16ox); De coelesti physiognomonia, in six books (16o1); Elementa curvilinea (16or); De distillation, in nine books (1604); De munitione, in three books (1608) ; and De aeris transmutationibus, in four books (1609) . He also wrote several Italian comedies Olimpia (1589) ; La Fantesca (1592); La Trappolaria (1597); I'Due Fratelli rivali (16oi); La Sorella (1607); La Chiappinaria (1609); La Carbonaria (1628); La Cintia (1628) . Among all the above-mentioned works the chief interest attaches to the Magia naturalis, in which a strange medley of subjects is discussed, including the reproduction of animals, the transmutation of metals, pyrotechny, domestic economy, statics, hunting, the preparation of perfumes . In book xvii. he describes a number of optical experiments, including a description of the camera obscura (q.v.) .