Daniel Whistler, M.D. (died 1684), wrote an essay on “The Rickets,” which is the earliest printed account we have of that disease.
Thomas Wharton, M.D. (died 1673), was a very distinguished anatomist, who remained in London during the whole of the plague of 1666. He was the author of the most accurate work on the glands of the body and their diseases which up to that time had appeared.
Raymond Vieussens in 1684 published a great work on the anatomy of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. He investigated the sympathetic nerve and the structure of the heart.
Leeuwenhoeck (1632-1723) discovered the corpuscles in the blood and the spermatozoa.
Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694), by his microscopical researches, first explained the organization of the lung and the terminations of the bronchial tubes. He traced the termination of the arteries in the veins, and thus completed the discovery of the circulation of the blood; by his researches in the deeper layer of the cuticle, and certain bodies in the spleen and kidney, he has given his name to these structures.
The invention of the MICROSCOPE in 1621 was of the utmost importance to the study of minute anatomy and physiology.
Pierre Dionis (died 1718), a famous French surgeon, published a work on the anatomy of man, which was translated into Chinese at the emperor’s request. He also wrote on rickets in relation to the pelvis, and advanced the study of dentistry. He explained the circulation, and wrote a monograph on catalepsy.
Thomas Bartholin (1619-1680), professor of anatomy at Copenhagen, made important investigations on the lacteals and lymphatic vessels.
Caspar Assellius (1581-1626) discovered the chyliferous vessels in the dog; Fabrice de Peiresc (1580-1637), dissecting a criminal two hours after execution, discovered them in man; Van Horne (1621-1670), in 1652, first demonstrated the vessels in man. (It has, however, been claimed that George Jolyffe discovered the lymphatics in 1650.)
Jean Pecquet (1622-1674), a French physician, published, in 1651, his New Anatomical Experiments, in which he made known his discovery of the receptacle of the chyle, till then unknown, and described the vessel which conveys the chyle to the subclavian vein.