FONTANA
127
FONTBONNE
along the same lines. Among profane buildings his
strong restrained style, with its suggestion of the
School of Vignola, is best exemplified in the Lateran
Palace (begun 1586), in which the vigorous applica-
tion of sound structural principles and a power of co-
ordination are undeniable, but also the utter lack of
imagination and barren monotony of style. It was
characteristic of him to remain satisfied with a single
solution of an architectural problem, as shown in the
fact that he reapplied the motij of the Lateran Palace
in the later part of the Vatican containing the present
papal residence, and in the additions to the Quirinal
Palace. Fontana also designed the transverse arms
separating the courts of the Vatican. In 1586 he set
up the obelisk in the Square of St. Peter's, of which
he gives an account in " Delia transportatione dell'
obelisco Vaticano e delle fabriche di Sisto V " (Rome,
1590). The knowledge of statics here displayed,
which aroused universal astonishment at the time, he
availed himself of in the erection of three other an-
cient obehsks on the Piazza del Popolo, Piazza di S.
Maria Maggiore, and Piazza di S. Giovanni in Later-
ano. After his patron's death he continued for some
time in the service of his successor, Clement VIII.
Soon, however, dissatisfaction with his style, en\'y,
and the charge that he had misappropriated public
moneys, drove him to Naples where, in addition to
canals, he erected the Palazzo Reale on a design to-
tally devoid of imagination. His aim was to execute
a sharply defined plan in vigorous sequence, without
concern for detail, employing the means available but
without much originality. 'The chief lack in his work
is a want of the distinctive character of an individual
creation. Undue spaciousness, tremendous expanse,
with an appalling barrenness and coldness and with-
out the inspiration of inner motif, are his ideals.
Domenico's brother Giovanni (b. 1546; d. at Rome, 1614) is of less importance. His chief creations are gigantic fountains, spiritless in detail, at Frascati and Rome, where the Palazzo Giustiniani is also ascribed to him.
GuRLETT, Ge^chichte des Barockstils in Italien (Stuttgart, 1887), I, 217-18.
Joseph Sauer.
Fontana, Felice, Italian naturalist and physiolo- gist, b. at Pomarolo in the Tyrol, 15 April, 1730; d. at Florence, 11 January, 1S05. He received his early education at Roveredo and spent several years at the Universities of Padua and Bologna. After filling the chair of philosophy at Pisa, to which he was appointed by the Emperor Francis I, he was summoneti to Flor- ence by the Grand-Duke Peter Leopokl and made court physician. He was at the same time commis- sioned to organize and equip the museum, which is well known for its geological and zoological collec- tions and its physical and astronomical instruments, some of which are of much historical value. A special feature of the collections is the unique set of anatomical models which were made of coloured wax under Fontana's personal direction. They were of excellent workmanship and excited much attention at the time. Emperor Joseph II engaged him to make a similar set for the Academy of Surgeons in Vienna. Fontana spent the latter part of his life in Florence where his position as curator of the museum gained for him the acquaintance of most of the scien- tific men of the time. Though never in Holy orders, he is said to have worn the ecclesiastical dress. His death was due to a fall received on the public street, and he was buried in the church of Santa Croce near Galileo and Viviani. Fontana was a follower of Hal- ler and wrote a series of letters in confirmation of the latter's views on irritability. He made a special study of the eye and in 1765 carried on a series of ex- periments on the contractile power of the iris. He investigated the physiological action of poisons, par-
ticularly of serpents and of the laurel berry. He dis-
covered that the staggers, a disease of sheep, is due to
hydatids in the brain. He also gave much attention
to the study of the physical and chemical properties
of gases. He published a number of memoirs and
though a laborious writer was not always exact. His
chief works are " De' moti dell' iride" (Lucca, 1765);
"Ricerehe filosofiche sopra la fisica animale" (Flor-
ence, 1775) ; " Ricerehe fisiche sopra '1 veneno della
vipera" (Lucca, 1767), of which a larger and much
extended edition was published in two volumes in
1781 ; "Descrizioni ed usi di alcuni stromenti per mi-
surar la salubrita dell' aria" (Florence, 1774); "Re-
cherches physiques sur la nature de Pair d^phlogisti-
que et de Pair nitreux" (Paris, 1776).
CuviER in Biog. Univ. (Paris), XIV; Baab, Outlines of His- tory of Medicine (New York, 1SS9).
Henry M. Brock.
Fontbonne, Jeanne, in religion Mother St. John, second foundress and superior-general of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Lyons, b. 3 March, 1759, at Bas- en-Basset, Velay, France; d. 22 November, 1843, at Lyons. In 1778 she entered a house of the Sisters of St. Joseph which had just been established at Monis- trol (Haute-Loire) by Bishop de Gallard of Le Puy. The following year she received the habit and soon gave evidence of unusual administrative powers, par- ticularly through her work in the schools. On her election, six years later, as superior of the community. Mother St. John, as she was now called, co-operated with the saintly founder in all his pious undertakings, aided in the estaljlishment of a hospital, and accom- plished much good among the young girls of the town. At the outbreak of the Revolution she and her com- munity followed Bishop de Gallard in refusing to sign the Oath of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, not- withstanding the example of the Cur6 of Monistrol, who went so far as to abet the government officials in their persecution of the sisters. Forced to disperse her community, the superior remained at her post tiU she was dragged forth by the mob and the convent taken possession of in the name of the Commune, after which she returned to her father's home. Not long afterwards she was torn from this refuge, to be thrown into the prison of Saint-Didier, and only the fall of Robespierre on the day before that appointed for the execution saved her from the guillotine. Un- able to regain possession of her convent at Monistrol, she and her sister, who had been her companion in prison, returned to their father's house. Twelve years later (1807), Mother St. John was called to Saint-Etienne as head of a small community of young girls and members of dispersed congregations, who at the suggestion of Cardinal Fesch, Archbishop of Lyons, were now established as a house of the Sisters of St. Joseph. She restored the asylum at Monistrol, re- purchased and reopened the former convent, and on 10 April, 1812, the congregation received Government au- thorization. In 1816 Mother St. John was appointed superior general of the Sisters of St. Joseph, and summoned to Lyons to found a general mother-house and novitiate, which she accomplished after many difficult years of labour. During the remainder of her life she was busied in perfecting the affiliation of the scattered houses of the congregation, which had been formally decreed in 1828. Slie also established over two hundred new communities. An object of her spe- cial solicitude was the little band which she sent to the United States in 1836 and with which she kept in con- stant correspondence, making every sacrifice to pro- vide them with the necessities of life. Towards the end of her life. Mother St. John was relieved of the arduous duties of superior, and spent the last few years in preparation for the end.
RivAux, Life of Rev. Mother St. John Fontbonne, tr. (New York, 1887).
F. M. RUDGE.
