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( Thomas Bartholin)
Thomas Bartholin (Thomas Bartolinus) (October 20, 1616 – December 4, 1680) was a Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian. He is best known for his work in the discovery of the lymphatic system in humans and for his advancements of the theory of refrigeration anesthesia, being the first to describe it scientifically. Thomas Bartholin came from a family that has become famous for its pioneering scientists, twelve of whom became professors at the University of Copenhagen. Three generations of the Bartholin family made significant contributions to anatomical science and medicine in the 17th and 18th centuries Thomas Bartholin's father, Caspar Bartholin the Elder (1585-1629), his brother Rasmus Bartholin (1625-1698), and his son Caspar Bartholin the Younger (1655 – 1738).[1] In December 1652, Bartholin published the first full description of the human lymphatic system. Jean Pecquet had previously noted the lymphatic system in animals in 1651, and Pecquet's discovery of the thoracic duct and its entry into the veins made him the first person to describe the correct route of the lymphatic fluid into the blood.[2] Shortly after the publication of Pecquet's and Bartholin's findings, a similar discovery of the human lymphatic system was published by Olof Rudbeck in 1653, although Rudbeck had presented his findings at the court of Queen Christina of Sweden in April-May 1652, before Bartholin, but delayed in writing about it until 1653 (after Bartholin). As a result, an intense priority dispute ensued.[3] Niels Stensen or Steno became his most famous pupil. Thomas and Rasmus Bartholin's publication De nivis usu medico observationes variae Chapter XXII, contains the first known mention of refrigeration anaesthesia, a technique whose invention Thomas Bartholin credits to the Italian Marco Aurelio Severino of Naples. According to Bartholin, Severino was the first to present the use of freezing mixtures of snow and ice (1646), and Thomas Bartholin initially learnt about the technique from him during a visit to Naples.
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