blood, so does it subsequently, and when it has escaped from the shell, receive nourishment by the mesenteric veins; so that in either way the chyle passes through the same channels, and takes its route by the same path through the liver. Nor do I see any reason why the route by which the chyle is carried in one animal should not be that by which it is carried in all animals whatsoever; nor indeed, if a circulation of the blood be necessary in this matter, as it really is, that there is any need for inventing another way. I must say that I greatly prize the industry of the learned Pecquet, and make much of the receptacle which he has discovered; still it does not present itself to me as of such importance as to force me from the opinion I have already given; for I have myself found several receptacles of milk in young animals; and in the human embryo I have found the thymus so distended with milk, that suspicions of an imposthume were at first sight excited, and I was disposed to believe that the lungs were in a state of suppuration, for the mass of the thymus looked actually larger than the lungs themselves. Frequently, too, I have found a quantity of milk in the nipples of new-born infants, as also in the breasts of young men who were very lusty. I have also met with a receptacle full of milk in the body of a fat and large deer, in the situation where Pecquet indicates his receptacle, of such a size that it might readily have been compared to the abomasus, or read of the animal. These observations, learned sir, have I made at this time in answer to your letter, that I might show my readiness to comply with your wishes. Pray present my most kind wishes to Dr. Pecquet and to Dr. Gayant. Farewell, and believe me to be, very affectionately and respectfully, Yours, WILLIAM HARVEY. London, the 28th April, 1652. LETTER V _To the most excellent and learned John Nardi, of Florence_