Discovery of the lymphatic system

The discovery of the lymphatic system as a separate network of vessels was made in the early 1650s. Jean Pecquet had noted the thoracic duct and its entry into the veins in animals in 1651. In December 1652 the Danish physician Thomas Bartholin published the first full description of the human lymphatic system. The Swedish anatomist Olof Rudbeck published a similar account in 1653, although he had shown his findings at the court of Queen Christina in April and May 1652, before Bartholin but delayed in writing them up, and an intense priority dispute followed. The Dictionary of Scientific Biography states that there is now little doubt of Bartholin's priority, and the episode remains a standard example of a contested claim to a medical discovery.