Ruysch, Frederick

Ruysch, Frederick 

Born Mar. 23, 1638, in The Hague; died Feb. 22, 1731, in Amsterdam. Dutch anatomist.

From 1665, Ruysch worked at the University of Amsterdam (from 1685 as a professor). He studied mainly the vascular system. He was the first to describe the valves in the lymph vessels, a number of arteries and veins of the eyeball, and the bronchial arteries. He also studied the blood vessels of the brain. Ruysch discovered the integumentary tissue, which he called the epithelium. He developed a special method of embalming cadavers and a method for filling the blood vessels with a colored substance that hardens. He created an anatomy museum. In 1717, Peter I, who studied anatomy under Ruysch, purchased almost his entire collection and placed it in the Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg, which is now the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, where a large portion of Ruysch’s collection is kept to this day.

REFERENCE

Ginzburg, V. V. “F. Riuish: 1638–1731. (K 225-letiiu so dnia smerti.).” Arkhiv analomii, gistologii i embriologii, 1956, vol. 33, no. 3.