Sect. I.] Anatomy, 363 



important step in the knowledge of animal bodies 

 than had ever been made before, and gave a new 

 spring to anatomical inquiries. In a few years after 

 Harvey's discovery, Asellius, an Italian physician, 

 found out the lacteals, or vessels which carry the 

 chyle from the intestines. And about the middle 

 of the seventeenth century, Pecquet, in France, was 

 so fortunate as to discover the thoracic duct, or com- 

 hion trunk of all the lacteals, which conveys the 

 chyle into the subclavian vein. At nearly the same 

 period, the practice of dissecting living animals 

 furnished the occasion of discovering the lymphatic 

 vessels. Rudbec, a young Swedish anatomist, was 

 the first to detect them; and, after him, Thomas 

 Bartholine, an anatomist of Denmark, who first ap- 

 peared as a writer on the subject. 



Malpighi, an eminent Italian, made great progress 

 in anatomy soon after the period last mentioned. 

 He was the first who used magnifying glasses with 

 address to trace the early appearances in the forma- 

 tion of animals. He likewise improved anatomy 

 by many other observations on minute parts of the 

 body, by his microscopical labours, and by the dis- 

 section of animals. Between the middle and end of 

 the seventeenth century, anatomy was much impro- 

 ved by the diligence of Swammerdam, Van I lorn, 

 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. 



Towai'ds the close of the same century, Lewen- 

 hoeck obtained great celebrity by his im})rovement 

 on Malpighi's use of microscopes. Though many 

 of the supposed discoveries of this anatomist (parti 



