Frederik Ruysch

Frederik Ruysch (1638 to 1731) was a Dutch anatomist and botanist, born in The Hague, who began as a druggist's pupil and studied at Leiden under Franciscus Sylvius, where Jan Swammerdam and Regnier de Graaf were fellow students. He graduated in 1664 with a thesis on pleurisy, became praelector of the Amsterdam surgeons' guild in 1667, chief instructor of the city's midwives in 1668 and forensic adviser to the Amsterdam courts in 1679. He is known for preserving anatomical specimens by arterial embalming and injection, for assembling one of Europe's most famous anatomical collections, and for his proof of valves in the lymphatic vessels.