DISCOVERY OF ABSORBENTS. 333 



attention was their discovery deemed, that Galen and his 

 followers, down to the middle of the sixteenth century, 

 believed that the whole function of absorption, even that,of the 

 nutritive materials, was performed by the veins. In 1656, 

 Eustachius observed the thoracic duct in the horse, which he 

 believed to be a vein, and named vena alba thoracis. The 

 chyliferous vessels were first discovered in 1622, by Gaspard 

 Aselli, Professor of Anatomy at Pavia, while making the dis- 

 section of a living dog in the presence of some friends, and 

 were seen for the first time in man by Gassendi, in 1628. In 

 1649, Jean Pecquet observed anew the thoracic duct, while 

 dissecting a living dog, showed it to be the common termination 

 of the chyliferous vessels, and was the first to suggest that these 

 formed a distinct vascular system. 



Up to this time, the lacteals and thoracic -duct, only had been 

 the subject of observation, and the existence of the general 

 lymphatic system had not even been suspected. The honor of 

 having discovered the general lymphatics, has been warmly 

 contested by three men, Olaus Rudbeck, a young Swedish 

 anatomist, Thomas Bartholine, a Dane, and George JolyfT, an 

 Englishman. It is now generally admitted to belong to Rud- 

 beck, who observed the lymphatics in 1651, and in the following 

 year, demonstrated them publicly before the young Queen, 

 Christina, of Sweden. Since that time this interesting depart- 

 ment of anatomy has had many zealous and successful cultiva- 

 tors, among whom may particularly be mentioned, Ruysch, 

 Meckel, Lieberkuhn, the Hunters, Hewson, Monro, Cruikshank, 

 Sheldon, Soemmering, Schreger, Werner, Haase, and Mascagni ; 

 and more recently, especially in the field of comparative ana- 

 tomy, Fohman, Lauth, Lippi, Rossi, Panissa, Arnold, Miiller 

 and Breschet. 



Comparison between the Absorbent Vessels and the Veins. 



The absorbent vessels like the veins, constitute an immense 

 system, which originate as minute tubes in all portions of the 

 body, run from the circumference to the centre, and converge 

 into two or more canals of considerable size, which open into 



