Arcangelo Scacchi (9 February 1810 – 11 October 1893) was an Italian physician, mineralogist,

malacologist Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...

, and naturalist. He served as a professor of mineralogy at the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II (; , ) is a public university, public research university in Naples, Campania, Italy. Established in 1224 and named after its founder, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, it is the oldest public, s ...

. Between 1841 and 1884 he explored the volcanic lava flows of Mount Somma and named several minerals claimed as new forms from the deposits although they were subsequently re-identified as being already described. He also contributed to the study of volcanoes and molluscs.

Life and work

Scacchi was born in Gravina, Puglia to lawyer Patrizio and Giovanna Pentibove. He was educated at the

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

seminary before joining the

in 1827, graduating with a degree in medicine in 1831. He practiced medicine in Naples where he met Leopoldo Pilla and took an interest in mineralogy and geology, and following the death of Matteo Tondi, Pilla appointed Scacchi as an assistant in 1835. He described several new minerals on the basis of morphological measurements using a Wollaston protractor provided by

Teodoro Monticelli The name ''Teodoro'' is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish form of Theodore. People Given name * Teodoro Alcalde (1913–1995) * Teodoro Ardemans (died 1726) * Teodoro Borlongan (1955–2005) * Teodoro Buontempo (1946–2013) * Teodoro Cano ...

. These minerals included brocchite, which was found to be the same as a

humite Humite is a mineral found in the volcanically ejected masses of Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ) is a Somma volcano, somma–stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the sho ...

discovered by Jean-Louis de Bournon. Another mineral that he called voltaite turned out to have been described already by Scipione Breislak in 1792. He discovered what is now called as Afghanite. Despite failing in an oral examination on mineralogy and other problems, he was appointed director and professor at the museum of mineralogy in 1844. Here he was involved in acquiring several private collections into the Vesuvian collection. In 1845 he served as secretary during the 7th congress of Italian scientists held in Naples, leading an excursion to the

Phlegraean Fields The Phlegraean Fields (, ; ) is a large volcano, volcanic caldera west of Naples, Italy. The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff eruption (about 12ka BP) produced just 50 cubic kilometers. It is, however, one of relatively few volcanoes large enough to f ...

. Here he pointed out the volcanic cones and argued that they were formed by eruption and not local arching as suggested by the lifting theory of

Leopold von Buch Christian Leopold von Buch (26 April 1774 – 4 March 1853), usually cited as Leopold von Buch, was a German geologist and paleontologist born in Stolpe an der Oder (now a part of Angermünde, Brandenburg) and is remembered as one of the most im ...

. His idea was examined by

Charles Lyell Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known today for his association with Charles ...

. He was involved in studies of Vesuvius along with

Luigi Palmieri Luigi Palmieri (22 April 1807 – 9 September 1896) was an Italian physicist and meteorologist. He was famous for his scientific studies of the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, for his researches on earthquakes and meteorological phenomena and for i ...

and Giuseppe Guarini and interpreted the Melfi earthquake of August 1851 as being unrelated to volcanic activity nearby. Scacchi was not favoured by the

Bourbons The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. A branch descended from ...

and he was forced out of the Mineralogy Museum in 1848 and asked make it available for the Neapolitan Parliament. He however resisted and was punished by

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

, but the public education minister Francesco de Sanctis could not remove him from his position as professor, since he was too well known internationally. When Naples was unified into the Savoy Kingdom, Scacchi was appointed senator in 1861. He continued his mineralogical studies and his studies included mirror symmetry in crystal forms or

chirality Chirality () is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is distinguishable fro ...

. He described nearly 71 taxa of molluscs of which about 18 continue to be considered valid. Scacchi married Giovanna Cassola in 1845 and they had nine children of whom two died young.

References

External links

Osservazioni zoologiche
(1833) {{DEFAULTSORT:Scacchi, Arcangelo 1810 births 1893 deaths Scientists from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Italian malacologists Italian mineralogists