206 Medicine, 



At nearly the same period, the practice of dissect- 

 ing living animals furnished the occasion of dis- 

 covering the lymphatic vessels. Rudbec, a young 

 Swedish anatomist, was the first to detect them^ 

 and, after him, Thomas Bartholine, an anato- 

 mist of Denmark, who first appeared as a writer 

 on the subject. 



Malpighi, an eminent Italian, made great pro- 

 gress in anatomy soon after the period last men- 

 tioned. He was the first who used magnifying 

 glasses with address to trace the early appearances 

 in the formation of animals. lie likewise im- 

 proved anatomy by many other observations on 

 minute parts of the body, by his microscopical la- 

 bours, and by the dissection of animals. Between 

 the middle and end of the seventeenth century, 

 anatomy was much improved by the diligence of 

 Swammerdam, Van Horn, Steno, and De 

 Graaf. Professor Diemerbroeck, of Utrecht, 

 without much originality, compiled a work, which, 

 for many years, was regarded among students as a 

 standard authority. 



Towards the close of the same century Lewen- 

 HOECK obtained great celebrity by his improve- 

 ment on M ALPiGHi's use of microscopes. Though 

 many of the supposed discoveries of this anatomist, 

 particularly his account of the composition of the 

 red globules of the blood, and of animalcula ob- 

 served in the semen, are now discredited; it must 

 still be admitted that he advanced many steps in 

 bringing to light the more minute parts of animal 

 structure. Nock likewise soon afterwards added 

 to the stock of knowledge by his injections of the 

 lymphatic glands. The anatomical plates of Bid- 

 loo and Cow PER, published about this time, are 

 also entitled to respectful notice. 



In the latter part of the seventeenth century 

 anatomy was greatly advanced by the invention of 



