Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 453

GASPARE ASELLI (1581-1626) De lactibus sive lacteis venis. Apud Jo. Bapt[ist]am Bidellium 1627 [24] 79 [1] pp., 4 col. fold. plates, port. 21.6 cm.

Aselli was born at Cremona and studied medicine at Pavia where he received degrees in medicine, surgery, and philosophy. He subsequently spent most of his professional career as a surgeon in Milan where he performed many anatomical and physiological experiments including those that led to his discovery of the lymphatic vessels. Rediscovery would be a more appropriate term because the lymphatics had been described by earlier researchers but none were successful in identifying their functional significance. He also served for a time as first surgeon to the Spanish Army in Italy and, shortly before his death, was appointed to the chair of anatomy and surgery in Pavia's Athenaeum. Aselli wrote a number of unpublished notebooks and papers to record his work in a variety of medical subjects. Among them were his observations in surgery and therapeutics as well as studies of recurring calculi, anal fistulas, and poisonous drugs. The latter was one of the most important of these because it was the first time drugs had been classified by their clinical effects and toxic actions. The present work is the only one of Aselli's studies to appear in print and it was not published until the year after his death by two of his close friends and colleagues. It was while vivisecting a dog to demonstrate the recurrent nerves and diaphragm that he discovered a network of mesenteric vessels that contained a milky white fluid. What he had uncovered were the mesenteric lymphatic vessels which he called the lacteals. After repeated experimentation and study, he concluded that they lead into the liver which was then believed to be the central organ of the venous system. It remained for Pecquet (see No. 543 ff.) to correct Aselli's misconception when he discovered the thoracic duct in 1651. Choulant-Frank comments that "the woodcuts are treated in a very spirited manner and in colored chiaroscuro" (p. 240). These wood blocks are the earliest anatomical illustrations in color printing. Also present in this edition is a well-executed copper engraving of Aselli.

See Related Record(s): 543

Cited references: Choulant-Frank, p. 241; Cushing A279; Garrison-Morton 1094; Osler 1846 (portrait wanting); Waller 502; Wellcome 6837

Gift of John Martin, M.D.