Luigi Ferdinando, Count, an Italian geographer and naturalist, was descended of an ancient and noble family, and born at Bologna on the 10th of July 1658. He studied under Borelli and Malpighi, and acquired an extensive knowledge of the art of war and of for- He subsequently served under the Emperor Leopold II., against the Turks, by whom he was taken prisoner in 1683, but ransomed after a year's captivity. In the war of the Spanish succession, Marsigli, then advanced to the rank of marshal, being in the fortress of Brisack, which surrendered to the Duke of Burgundy in 1703, when the place was deemed capable of holding out much longer, was stripped of all his commissions, and had his sword broken over him. Marsigli now turned his attention exclusively to science, in which he had made great progress during his military career. In 1712 he presented the senate of Bologna with his astronomical and chemical instruments and apparatus, his plans of fortifications, models of machinery, &c., laying thereby the foundation of the Institute of the Arts and Sciences of Bologna. He also established a printing-house, furnished it with the best types for Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic; and in 1728 presented it to the Dominicans at Bologna, upon condition of their printing all the writings of the Institute at prime cost. This was called the Printing-House of St Thomas Aquinas. His writings on philosophical subjects are numerous and valuable. The most remarkable are—Osservazioni intorno al Bosforo Traccio verso Canale di Costantinopoli, Rome, 1681, in folio; Dissertatio de Generatione Fungorum, ibid., 1714, in folio, rare and curious; Brève Ristretto del Saggio Fisico intorno alla Storia del Mare, Venice, 1711, in folio, translated into French by Leclerc under the title of Histoire Physique de la Mer, Amsterdam, 1725, in folio; Danubiis Panonica-Mysicus Observationes Geographicus Astronomicus Hydrographici, Historici, Physici, perlatratus, Hague, 1726, in 6 vols. large folio; Etat Militaire de l'Empire Ottoman, de son Progres, et de sa Decadence, in French and Italian, Amsterdam and Hague, 1732, in folio, with 44 plates, and a map of the Ottoman Empire by Abubekir Effendi, with the names in the Turkish language. Marsigli died at Bologna on the 1st of November 1730.