for emergency medicine. As stated by Pacchioni himself, this early experience involved the frequent management of head injuries, which aroused his particular interest in brain coverings. Thanks to Malpighi's support, in July, 1693, Pacchioni became the town doctor in Tivoli, quickly gaining popular esteem and approval. Here he spent 6 years under the patronage of the Duke of Modena at the Villa d'Este. Upon his return to Rome, he published in 1701 his first observations on the structure and function of dura mater: De Dura Meninge Fabrica et Usu Disquisitio Analomica. Pacchioni had a great passion for research and a constant devotion to constructive scientific debate, mutual confrontation with colleagues, exchange of experiences, and education of younger colleagues (he often presented candidates in the discussion of their doctoral thesis). Moreover, Pacchioni exhibited a remarkable attention to scientific progress beyond Italy's borders as shown by the frequent quotation of foreign authors in his works (Willis and Vieussens among others). Further evidence of his merits is the deferential friendship he shared with great men such as Giambattista Morgagni (1682-1771), Malpighi (1627- 1694), and especially with Lancisi (1654-1720), who requested the collaboration of Pacchioni in the preparation of his famous De Motu Cordis et Aneurismatibus (1728) and in the first edition of the Tabulae Anatomicae (1714) collected by Bartolomeo Eustachio (1500-1574). In 1700, Pacchioni was on the verge of becoming Lancisi's successor for the Chair of Anatomy at the University La Sapienza, upon the recommendation of Lancisi himself. Sadly, he decided to withdraw—formally in deference to his competitor Giorgio Baglivi (1668-1707), but more likely because the latter was known to be a protegé of Pope Innocenzo XII. The year 1705 was a special time in Pacchioni's life: he was appointed head physician at the ancient Ospedaledi S. Giovanni in Laterano, and published the original description of arachnoid granulations in his Dissertatio Epistolaris de Glandulis Conglobatis Durae Meningis Humanae. He was fellow of several prestigious academies such as the Accademia delle Scienze of Bologna, Accademia dei Fisiocritici of Siena, and the Accademia Cesareo-Leopoldina de' Curiosi della Natura of Leipzig; he also attended meetings of the Roman Accademia dell' Arcadia under the pseudonym of "Euforo Craneo" ("attentive observer of the skull"). He was sometimes asked for consultation as a police doctor. Final Years Precarious health forced Pacchioni to accept the less demanding charge of head physician at his favorite Ospedale della Consolazione, where he worked