1616-1680

Danish physiologist who investigated the anatomy of the digestive system not only in animals but also in humans. He wrote about chyle, the milk-like contents of the lymph vessels of the intestines. His book, Vasa lyphatica et hepatic exsequiae (1653), or The Lymphatic Vessels and the Secretion of the Liver, introduced color plates into anatomical studies. He discovered the pancreatic duct in 1644 and the parotid glands in 1659. By the late seventeenth century the glands of digestion were known. This attacked and destroyed Galen's physiology, which centered on the liver as blood maker.