142 THE FUNCTION OF THE ABSORBENT VESSELS. 



from the superior cava. He traced the lacteals to the thoracic duct, and thus 

 overthrew the doctrine of the liver being the great seat of haematosis. 



Of course, there was as great an outcry against this innovation in doctrine, as 

 there had been against the existence of lacteals, and even Harvey, who was now 

 nearly eighty years of age, could not at once loosen himself from the bonds of 

 early prejudice, and Thomas Bartholin, whose eyes had always been open to im- 

 provement in medicine, still thought that perhaps the finer parts of the chyle went 

 by the new ducts to the chest, " while the grosser, needing a larger concoction, 

 enter the liver." 



About eighty years after the discovery of Asellius, Rudbeck, professor at 

 Upsal, or Thomas Bartholin who was professor at Copenhagen and son of Cas- 

 par Bartholin, or Joliff, an English student, discovered the lymphatics. 1 * Rud- 

 beck says, he first happened to see them while examining the hemorrhoidal 

 vessels of a dog, Jan. 27. 1651. He published in 1653. Bartholin, that he 

 first chanced to see them while dissecting a dog, Dec. 15. 1651, but did not 

 notice them particularly till Feb. 28. 1652. He published in 1653. As to 

 Joliff, we only read in Glisson, that, at the beginning of June, 1652, going to 

 Cambridge for his doctor's degree, he showed them to Glisson, who was then 

 professor of medicine. Glisson published in 1654 ; Joliff never published, and 

 probably had learnt the continental discovery while travelling. Bartholin is 

 thought to have received a bint of Rudbeck's discovery. Haller gives the dis- 

 covery to Rudbeck. 



h See an interesting history of these discoveries, by Dr. Meigs, Philadelphia 

 Journal, 1 825. No. 2. New series. 



