APPENDIX. 105 



(of birds) which he judged to be the lacteals, and had mentioned 

 as such in his lectures." 1 And again, "that about the years 

 1759-60, he had seen collapsed blueish vessels, which he con- 

 cluded lacteals, &c." 2 What shall we say of this? 



Nay, Dr. Monro has, upon this occasion, even ventured 

 another assertion, viz. " that the notes of his pupils taken for 

 three years before 1762, will be found to prove, that he then 

 taught the direct contrary" of what I have brought these testi- 

 monies to prove he has since taught. 3 Now, surely this is very 

 improbable ; and Dr. Monro should have adduced some testi- 

 monies to prove it. But supposing it were true, it would lead 

 to a conclusion unfavorable to him. It would show, that he 

 must have misled either the one set of gentlemen or the other; 

 for he says, he told the first he had seen the lacteals ; the 

 last prove he has since taught them that he never could see 

 those vessels. 



The reader, I fancy, by this time thinks with me that Pro- 

 fessor Monroes claim deserves no more of our attention. But 

 as he has printed some excerpts from his own book of notes, 

 with the parade of having them authenticated, as if they con- 

 tained the discovery, notwithstanding the above-mentioned 

 proofs of his having acknowledged repeatedly since he wrote 

 them, that he never could find those vessels, I shall next, there- 

 fore, make some remarks upon his notes. 



To begin with those relating to the turtle. He discovered 

 its lacteals in the summer 1765. I had seen them before that 

 time, viz. in the autumn 1763. Besides, I have since injected 

 and traced out the whole system ; 4 he does not even pretend to 

 have done so : it is, therefore, not difficult to determine who 

 was the first discoverer, and who had carried the discovery 

 farthest. 



Next, as to the lacteals in fish. To prove that he had found 

 those vessels eight years ago, he tells us, that in a note taken 

 from the dissection of a skate on April 24, 1760, he has said, 

 " He had discovered a whole system of lacteals and lymphatic 

 vessels running towards the heart, on the left of and above 

 the vena portarum, and from these the auricle of the heart was 

 blown up. They are proportionally larger, but have fewer 



1 State of Facts, p. 4. 3 Ibid. p. 26, in the note. 



2 Ibid, p. 27. 4 See Philosophical Transactions, vol. Ixix. 



