I 



DE PRIMA DUCTUS SALIVALIS 



EXTERIORIS INVENTIONE & 



BILSIANIS EXPERIMENTIS. 



This Letter from Steno to Thomas Bar* 

 tholin, dated Leyden, April 22, 1661, 

 is found in Th. Bartholini Epist. Medi= 

 cin. Cent. III. Hafnia; 1667. pp. 86-95, 

 numbered Epist. XXIV. 



P. 3. 1. 1. from top. 



THOMAS BARTHOLINO] Thomas 

 Bartholin (1616—80), son of Casper 

 Bartholin the elder, was born in Copen* 

 hagen. He spent nine years of study 

 abroad and took his Doctor's degree at 

 Basle in 1645. Shortly after his return 

 to Copenhagen he was appointed Pro* 

 fessor of Anatomy at the University of 

 that town (1648), but as early as 1660, 

 when only forty four years old, he was 

 exempted from delivering lectures on ac* 

 count of his declining health. With the 

 title of Honorary Professor he retired 

 to his estate in the country, and from 

 there he constantly made his strong in* 

 fluence on the University felt. In 1670 

 his estate was burned down and the 

 whole of his library together with nu< 

 merous manuscripts was destroyed by 

 the fire. Bartholin was given many of> 

 fices of trust, infer alia he was a Judge 

 in the Supreme Court and Physician 



in Ordinary to King Christian V. — 

 Bartholin was an influential man of high 

 standing in his own country, the Uni* 

 versity of which was essentially under 

 his dominion. His reputation spread 

 outside his native country to the whole 

 of the then world of learning. This is ac* 

 counted for partly by his personal ac= 

 quaintance with most of the contempo* 

 rary scholars interested in Natural Sci* 

 ence, with whom he kept up an exten* 

 sive correspondence, partly by his ver* 

 satile literary activity. Adding a great 

 many amendments, Bartholin edited his 

 father's Anatomy; it was published se* 

 veral times, and, translated into many 

 languages, it was for a long time the 

 manual most in use in Europe. Besides, 

 Bartholin published various large col* 

 lections of letters, of medical journals and 

 of short treatises on Natural Science, 

 among which the collection that may 

 be considered the first periodical of 

 Natural Science — Acta Medica &■ Philo= 

 sophica Hafniensia, published from 1673 

 till 1680 — was looked upon with great 

 esteem. As an original investigator Bar= 

 tholin was of less merit, though one 

 important discovery, viz. that of the 

 lymphatic vessels, was made by him in 

 conjunction with his prosector Michael 

 Lyser. The same discovery had been 

 made, however, a very short time before 

 by Olof Rudbeck in Upsala, yet with* 



