146 THE HISTORY OF BIOLOGY 



work composed of botanical engravings and entitled Campi elysii, but this 

 was never completed , either, owing to the fact that he allowed himself to 

 be attracted to a new sphere of activity; he became engrossed in that ex- 

 traordinary, colossal, linguistic-archasological-patriotic work Atland, in 

 which he seeks to prove that Sweden is the oldest civilized country in the 

 world. He died in 1701, having shortly before seen a great part of his 

 scientific production go up in flames in the conflagration which destroyed 

 Upsala in the same year. 



Discovery of the "vasa serosa" 

 The anatomical work of his youth is, however, all that justifies Olof Rud- 

 beck's being regarded as the earliest in the long line of eminent naturalists 

 that Sweden has produced. In his first dissertation in i65z he gives an ac- 

 count of the circulation of the blood in the true spirit of Harvey and presents 

 a number of theses, one of which denies the existence of any spirit in the body 

 other than the animal, while another denies the property of the liver as a 

 blood-forming organ — proving that he was far in advance of Harvey's 

 standpoint. In a dissertation printed in the following year he describes 

 the lymphatic duct system, which he had independently discovered when 

 attempting to ascertain the structure of the lacteals; he describes the 

 course of these ''vasa serosa," as he calls them, not only within the trunk, 

 but also in the extremities; he gives an account of their distensions, the 

 lymphatic glands; he observes the nature of the lymphatic fluid — that it is 

 salt to the taste and coagulates in cooking; he tries to ascertain the movement 

 of the fluid in the vessels by observing their valves; and, finally, he endeav- 

 ours to work out a theory of the significance which the entire system has for 

 the body. 



Between the two rivals for the honour of having discovered the lym- 

 phatic duct system in its entirety, Bartholin and Rudbeck, there ensued a 

 struggle for priority, carried on with the aid of pamphlets, and breaking out 

 into mutual recriminations of a not very attractive character. National 

 chauvinism took a part in the game, and the question was debated long aftet 

 the death of the parties to the dispute, until finally an impartial examination 

 of the documents put an end to the controversy. After having investigated 

 the matter R. Tigerstedt came to the conclusion that Rudbeck was the first 

 to make the discovery, but that Bartholin had the prior claim as regards the 

 date of publication. That these two eminent scientists both came to the same 

 result independently of each other would now appear to be beyond all 

 doubt. 



The discovery of the lymphatic duct system constituted a great and im- 

 portant work supplementing Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the 

 blood. It was possible now for the first time for research to grapple with the 

 problem of how the food substances in the digestive canal are utilized by 



