II LIFE AND WORKS OF NICOLAUS STENO 



tholin the elder, Ole Worm andjergen Fuiren, to which list must still 

 be added, perhaps as the most celebrated of them all, the physician 

 and anatomist, Thomas Bartholin, the son of Casper Bartholin; also 

 Simon Paulli, the anatomist, called in from Rostock, who eventually 

 gave himself up to botanical studies; and finally, besides several 

 others, the abovesmentioned Ole Borch. 



Steno's studies at the University were anything but quiet and regu* 

 lar. Denmark was at that time at war with Sweden, and Copenhagen 

 was being besieged by the Swedish King, Carl X Gustaf. The students 

 of the University distinguished themselves by the way in which they 

 took part in the defence of the city, but lectures at the University 

 were partly, and for a time altogether, suspended. 



Before the official conclusion of peace, Steno, in accordance with 



the prevailing custom of the times, went abroad to continue his stu« 



Amster= dies at foreign universities. He first visited Amsterdam, to where he 



dam 1660. had been supplied with letters of introduction by Thomas Bartholin. 



The latter had already long been enjoying a European reputation, 



and through his travels abroad and his extensive correspondence, 



f>artly published later on, he was in close contact with the world of 

 earning of those days. In spite of his great credulity, which credulity 

 often led him astray, and in spite of having to share the honour of 

 his one great discovery, viz. that of the lymphatic vessels, as well with 

 Michael Lyser, his prosector, as with Olof Rudbeck of Upsala, this re* 

 markable man had yet founded a great school and had besides in 

 various ways given a vigorous impetus to the scientific life of his own 

 country. At an early period he had recognized Steno's intellectual 

 gifts, and he always estimated him according to his merits. He recom* 

 mended Steno to his friend and relative, Gerard Blaes, a well*known 

 scholar of those days, Professor at the High School of Amsterdam 

 (Athenxum), as well as Director of the Town Hospital (Het Gasthuis). 

 Blaes invited Steno to his house, and with him Steno lived during the 

 four months he spent in Amsterdam. 



Though only of short duration this stay was nevertheless of the 

 greatest importance to Steno, not only because of the general impres* 

 sions which he received through living in a great centre of civiliza* 

 tion, such as Amsterdam was in those days, but also because he be* 

 came personally acquainted with men of great learning and culture, 

 among whom were the two renowned physicians, Paulus Barbette and 

 Willem Piso, but especially Swammerdam, who was shortly afterwards 

 to acquire such universal fame. These four months which Steno spent 

 in Amsterdam, however, derived their chief importance from the fact 

 that, on April 7, 1660, he made his first anatomical discovery, in 

 that he found the parotid duct, called after him ductus Stenonianus. 

 Though this discovery beyond all doubt is due to Steno, Blaes neverthe* 



