264 



NOTES 



Thus, when Steno found the vitelline 

 duct and correctly described its function, 

 it was to him and his contemporaries 

 a new and highly important discovery, 

 though it may seem strange that this 

 discovery had to be made afresh. In a 

 letter to Thevenot, written after 1665 

 and printed two years later as part of 

 Elementorum Myologix Specimen, Flo* 

 rentiae 1667, p. 49 (XXII vol. II pp. 

 95—96 in the present Edition), Steno 

 tells that it had been brought against 

 him as a charge that the same discovery 

 had been made at an earlier period by 

 Coiter, Huibertus and Meibomius. As 

 is mentioned above, it is quite true that 

 Coiter had described the vitelline duct, 

 but Steno was right in maintaining that 

 when Harvey, who had spent several 

 years of his life in studying these mat* 

 ters, did not understand Coiter's descrip* 

 tion, it was perfectly pardonable that he 

 himself, who had never until then had 

 anything to do with this subject, did 

 not understand it either, while on the 

 other hand he cannot be said to be right, 

 when he maintains that Coiter expressed 

 himself indistinctly. 



As regards Huibertus the editor of 

 the present Edition can give no infor* 

 mation, not even as to his identity, and 

 as to Meibomius' connection with this 

 discovery of Steno's he has likewise been 

 unable to find anything. 



However Steno was not the first to 

 find the vitelline duct, after the know* 

 ledge of it had been lost. Three years 

 after the appearance of his above*men* 

 tioned book Needham relates that he 

 had found the vitelline duct as early 



as 1654, however without having pub* 

 lished his discovery. 1 ) 



As to the demonstration of the vitel* 

 line duct in placental animals see the 

 introduction to the notes to Treatise 

 XXVI vol. II p. 167. See, moreover, 

 Vilhelm Maar, Om Opdagelsen af duc= 

 tus vitello=intestinalis. Det Kgl. Danske 

 Videnskabernes Selskabs Forhandlinger. 

 1908. V p. 233 ff. 



The figure belonging to this Treatise 

 is to be found on p. 163 of this volume 

 (right corner at the bottom). 



P. 212. 1. 19 from bottom. 



vac a bit] Ed. Hafniae 1664 has vo= 

 cabit. 



P. 213. 1. 18-19 from bottom. 



juxta obfervationes Harvxi] See 

 Exercit. De Generat. Animal. Exercit. 

 52 p. 164: Ariftoteles quidem decimo 

 poft nativitatem die, aliquid vitelli fuper= 

 ejje reperit: nos autem, etiam poft fex 

 feptimanas, nonnihil ejus, in ventre pulli, 

 intejiino affixum vidimus. 



P. 215. 1. 17 from bottom. 



authoritas Ariftotelis HarvxU 

 qve] See Aristoteles, DeAnimalibus Hu 

 storia ('Ai nepl xd Zqkx 'Ioropi'ai) lib. VI 

 c. 3 and Exercit. De Generat. Animal. 

 Exercit. 52 p. 164: qua? [sc. venae] om= 

 nes in unum truncum collects, in venam 

 Ports perforantur ; pleniorifque injecore 

 coctionis gratia, partem vitelli, quam ab= 

 forbent, eb deferunt. 



') Disquisitio Anatomica De Formato Foetu. 

 Authore Gualtero Needham. M. D. Londini 1667. 

 c. IV p. 97 ff. 



