BASSI, Laura Maria Caterina, an Italian lady, eminently distinguished for her learning, was born at Bologna in 1711. On account of her extraordinary attainments she received a doctor’s degree, and was appointed professor in the philosophical college, where she delivered public lectures on experimental philosophy till the time of her death. She was elected member of many literary societies, and carried on an extensive correspondence with the most eminent European men of letters. She was well acquainted with classical literature, as well as with that of France and Italy. In 1738 she married Giuseppe Verrati, a physician, and left several children. She died in 1778.

BASSIANUS, Joannes, a distinguished professor in the law school of Bologna, the pupil of Bulgares and the master of Azo. Little is known of his origin, but he is said by Carolus de Tocco to have been a native of Cremona. The most important of his writings which have been preserved is his Summary on the Authentica, which Savigny regards as one of the most precious works of the school of the Gloss-writers. Joannes, as he is generally termed, was remarkable for his talent in inventing ingenious forms for explaining his ideas with greater precision, and perhaps his most celebrated work is his “Law-Tree,” which he entitled Arbor Arborum, and which has been the subject of numerous commentaries. The work represents a tree, upon the branches of which the various kinds of actions are arranged after the manner of fruit. The civil actions, or actiones stricti juris, being forty-eight in number, are arranged on one side, whilst the equitable or praetorian actions, in number one hundred and twenty-one, are arranged on the other side. A further scientific division cf actions is made by him under twelve heads, and by an ingenious system of notation the student is enabled to class at once each of the civil or praetorian actions, as the case may be, under its proper head in the scientific division. By the side of the tree a few glosses were added by Joannes to explain and justify his classification. His Lectures on the Pandects and the Code, which were collected by his pupil Nicolaus Furiosus, have unfortunately perished.