Editing Lymphatic system (section)

==History==
[[Hippocrates]], in the 5th century BC, was one of the first people to mention the lymphatic system. In his work ''On Joints'', he briefly mentioned the lymph nodes in one sentence. Rufus of [[Ephesus]], a Roman physician, identified the axillary, inguinal and mesenteric lymph nodes as well as the thymus during the 1st to 2nd century AD.<ref name=Ambrose2006>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ambrose CT | title = Immunology's first priority dispute--an account of the 17th-century Rudbeck-Bartholin feud | journal = Cellular Immunology | volume = 242 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–8 | date = July 2006 | pmid = 17083923 | doi = 10.1016/j.cellimm.2006.09.004 }}</ref> The first mention of lymphatic vessels was in the 3rd century BC by [[Herophilos]], a Greek anatomist living in [[Alexandria]], who incorrectly concluded that the "absorptive veins of the lymphatics," by which he meant the [[lacteal]]s (lymph vessels of the intestines), drained into the [[hepatic portal vein]]s, and thus into the liver.<ref name=Ambrose2006/> The findings of Ruphus and Herophilos were further propagated by the Greek physician [[Galen]], who described the lacteals and mesenteric lymph nodes which he observed in his dissection of apes and pigs in the 2nd century AD.<ref name=Ambrose2006/>

In the mid 16th century, [[Gabriele Falloppio]] (discoverer of the [[fallopian tube]]s), described what is now known as the lacteals as "coursing over the intestines full of yellow matter."<ref name=Ambrose2006/> In about 1563 [[Bartolomeo Eustachi]], a professor of anatomy, described the thoracic duct in horses as ''vena alba thoracis.''<ref name=Ambrose2006/> The next breakthrough came when in 1622 a physician, [[Gaspare Aselli]], identified lymphatic vessels of the intestines in dogs and termed them ''venae albae et lacteae,'' which are now known as simply the lacteals. The lacteals were termed the fourth kind of vessels (the other three being the artery, vein and nerve, which was then believed to be a type of vessel), and disproved Galen's assertion that chyle was carried by the veins. But, he still believed that the lacteals carried the chyle to the liver (as taught by Galen).<ref name=flourens>{{cite book | vauthors = Flourens P |year=1859|title=A History of the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood|chapter= Chapter 3: Aselli, Pecquet, Rudbeck, Bartholin |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ahistorydiscove01flougoog/page/n67 67]–99|url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorydiscove01flougoog | quote = william harvey. |publisher=Rickey, Mallory & company|access-date=2008-07-11}}</ref> He also identified the thoracic duct but failed to notice its connection with the lacteals.<ref name=Ambrose2006/> This connection was established by [[Jean Pecquet]] in 1651, who found a white fluid mixing with blood in a dog's heart. He suspected that fluid to be [[chyle]] as its flow increased when abdominal pressure was applied. He traced this fluid to the thoracic duct, which he then followed to a chyle-filled sac he called the ''chyli receptaculum,'' which is now known as the [[cisterna chyli|cisternae chyli]]; further investigations led him to find that lacteals' contents enter the venous system via the thoracic duct.<ref name=Ambrose2006/><ref name=flourens/> Thus, it was proven convincingly that the lacteals did not terminate in the [[liver]], thus disproving Galen's second idea: that the chyle flowed to the liver.<ref name=flourens/> [[Johann Veslingius]] drew the earliest sketches of the lacteals in humans in 1641.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Natale |first1=Gianfranco |last2=Bocci |first2=Guido |last3=Ribatti |first3=Domenico |date=September 2017 |title=Scholars and scientists in the history of the lymphatic system |journal=Journal of Anatomy |volume=231 |issue=3 |pages=417–429 |doi=10.1111/joa.12644 |issn=0021-8782 |pmc=5554832 |pmid=28614587}}</ref>

The idea that blood recirculates through the body rather than being produced anew by the liver and the heart was first accepted as a result of works of [[William Harvey]]—a work he published in 1628. In 1652, [[Olaus Rudbeck]] (1630–1702) discovered certain transparent vessels in the liver that contained clear fluid (and not white), and thus named them ''hepatico-aqueous vessels''. He also learned that they emptied into the thoracic duct and that they had valves.<ref name=flourens/> He announced his findings in the court of [[Christina, Queen of Sweden|Queen Christina of Sweden]], but did not publish his findings for a year,<ref name=eriksson>{{cite journal | vauthors = Eriksson G | title = [Olaus Rudbeck as scientist and professor of medicine] | language = sv | journal = Svensk Medicinhistorisk Tidskrift | volume = 8 | issue = 1 | pages = 39–44 | year = 2004 | pmid = 16025602 }}</ref> and in the interim similar findings were published by [[Thomas Bartholin]], who additionally published that such vessels are present everywhere in the body, not just in the liver. He is also the one to have named them "lymphatic vessels."<ref name=flourens/> This had resulted in a bitter dispute between one of Bartholin's pupils, Martin Bogdan,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ilab.org/db/detail.php?booknr=349906004 |title=Disputatio anatomica, de circulatione sanguinis |trans-title=Account of Rudbeck's work on lymphatic system and dispute with Bartholin |website=[[International League of Antiquarian Booksellers]] |access-date= 2008-07-11}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> and Rudbeck, whom he accused of [[plagiarism]].<ref name=eriksson/>

Galen's ideas prevailed in medicine until the 17th century. It was thought that blood was produced by the liver from chyle contaminated with ailments by the intestine and stomach, to which various spirits were added by other organs, and that this blood was consumed by all the organs of the body. This theory required that the blood be consumed and produced many times over. Even in the 17th century, his ideas were defended by some physicians.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1088603298 |title=Brill's companion to the reception of Galen |date=2019 |others=Petros Bouras-Vallianatos, Barbara Zipser |isbn=978-90-04-39435-3 |location=Leiden |chapter=Chapter 25, "Galen in an Age of Change (1650–1820)", Maria Pia Donato |oclc=1088603298}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Peter |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/65207019 |title=The Purple island and anatomy in early seventeenth-century literature, philosophy, and theology |date=2007 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=978-0-8386-4018-0 |location=Madison [NJ] |pages=217 |oclc=65207019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Galen {{!}} Biography, Achievements, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Galen |access-date=2022-12-07 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

[[Alexander Monro (secundus)|Alexander Monro]], of the [[University of Edinburgh Medical School]], was the first to describe the function of the lymphatic system in detail.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Turner|first1=A. Logan | name-list-style = vanc |title=Story of a Great Hospital: The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 1729-1929|url=https://archive.org/details/b29980537|date=1937|publisher=Oliver and Boyd|page=[https://archive.org/details/b29980537/page/360 360]}}</ref>

[[University of Virginia School of Medicine|UVA School of Medicine]] researchers Jonathan Kipnis and Antoine Louveau discovered previously unknown vessels connecting the [[human brain]] directly to the lymphatic system. The discovery "redrew the map" of the lymphatic system, rewrote medical [[Textbook|textbooks]], and struck down long-held beliefs about how the [[immune system]] functions in the brain. The discovery may help greatly in combating neurological diseases from [[multiple sclerosis]] to [[Alzheimer's disease]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-12-03 |title=Two UVA Findings in the Running for Year's Biggest Scientific Breakthroughs {{!}} UVA Today |url=https://news.virginia.edu/content/two-uva-findings-running-years-biggest-scientific-breakthroughs |access-date=2024-08-31 |website=news.virginia.edu |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery widths="150px" heights="150px">
Image:Galen detail.jpg|[[Galen|"Claude Galien"]]. Lithograph by Pierre Roche Vigneron. (Paris: Lith de Gregoire et Deneux, {{Circa|1865}})
Gabriele_Falloppio.jpg|[[Gabriele Falloppio]]
Image:Bartolomeus Eustachius.jpg|Portrait of [[Bartolomeo Eustachi|Eustachius]]
File:Olaus Rudbeck Sr (portrait by Martin Mijtens Sr, 1696).jpg|[[Olaus Rudbeck]] in 1696.
File:Thomas bartholin.jpg|[[Thomas Bartholin]]
</gallery>

===Etymology===
''Lymph'' originates in the [[Classical Latin]] word ''{{lang|la|lympha}}'' "water",<ref>{{L&S|lympha|ref}}</ref> which is also the source of the English word ''limpid''. The spelling with ''y'' and ''ph'' was influenced by [[folk etymology]] with [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|νύμϕη}} (''{{transliteration|grc|nýmphē}}'') "[[nymph]]".<ref>{{Cite OED|lymph}}</ref>

The adjective used for the lymph-transporting system is ''lymphatic''. The adjective used for the tissues where lymphocytes are formed is ''lymphoid''. Lymphatic comes from the Latin word ''{{lang|la|lymphaticus}}'', meaning "connected to water."