Fi occcdi:igs of the Ohio State .-Academy of Science 453 



ilarvey's discovery. "And now for the fust time was clear 

 the puipose of those valves in the veins, v^^iiose struciuie and 

 position had been demonstrated to Harvey, by the very hands 

 (.)! their discoverer, his old master, i^'abricius, wi-o aid not 

 lightly understand their use, and concerning whicii succeed- 

 ing anatomists have not added anything to our knowledge." 



Harvey speaks of the s])irits but casts it aside as not es- 

 sential tt) his work. Howc\er, hi^ discovery killed the idea of 

 tne natural spirits being carried by the veins and tiie vital 

 spirits being carried by the artcr'es. He considers the blood 

 the same blood all the lime g^'ing in a circle meeting with 

 change in the lungs and in the tissues uf the body as it goes. 

 His discovery leads easily to the undei standing of the chemi- 

 cal [ilienomena going on in the bod}- and the reh'.tion of the 

 blood circulation to the nutrition in the body and the produc- 

 tion of power for the body to carry on the processes neces- 

 sary to its life. The fact that the food disappears from the 

 alimentary canal and in some way becomes blood was known 

 from the time men began to think of the activities in their 

 dvvn bodies, but how this was clone was Ijft to Har\'e\''s time. 



Gasper Aselli discovered the lactcals in 1G22 in a way 

 that some might think an accident. In working on the viscera 

 '•■i a dog- he noliced some fine white cords in the mesentery 

 taking them to be nerves at first, "but presently 1 saw that 1 

 was mistaken in this since I noticed that the nerves belonging 

 to the intestine were distinct from these cords, and wholly 

 ■lUilikf thtm. 1)111 presently recovering from his surprise he 

 ])ricked one of the larger cords with a sharp scalpel. and im- 

 nTcdiately a milky substance came forth. Afterwards he dem- 

 onstrated this to many learned men and they were all "very 

 much struck with the novelty of the thing." Aselli noticed 

 valves in the lacteals and saw that they hindered the fiow of 

 llie chvlc. but doubtless influenced by the belief of the times 

 tliat all of the food had to go to the liver for elaboration he 

 supposed that these lacteals ended in the liver; in fact he said 

 that he could trace them to the lixer. Tt was left for Pecquet, 



