BARTHOLINUS, Gaspard, a learned Swede, born in 1585, at Malmoë. His precocity was extraordinary; at three years of age he was able to read, and in his thirteenth year he composed Greek and Latin orations, and delivered them in public. When he was about eighteen he went to the University of Copenhagen, and he afterwards studied at Rostock and Wittemberg. He then travelled through Germany, the Netherlands, England, France, and Italy, and was received with marked respect at the different universities he visited. In 1613 he was chosen professor of medicine in the University of Copenhagen, and filled that office for eleven years, when, falling into a dangerous illness, he made a vow, that if it should please God to restore him, he would apply himself solely to the study of divinity. He recovered, observed his vow, and soon after obtained the professorship of divinity, with the canonry of Rotschild. He died on the 13th of July 1630, after having written nearly fifty works on different subjects....
BARTHOLINUS, Thomas, a physician, son of the above, was born at Copenhagen in 1619. He studied medicine at Leyden for three years (1637-40). He then travelled into France, and resided two years at Paris and Montpellier, in order to improve himself under the distinguished physicians of those universities; after which he visited Italy, remained three years at Padua, and then went to Basel, where he obtained the degree of doctor in philosophy. Returning to Copenhagen, he was appointed professor of mathematics in 1647, and next year was nominated to the chair of anatomy, for which he was better qualified. This he held for thirteen years, distinguishing himself by several observations respecting the lacteal and lymphatic vessels, shortly after their discovery by Olaus Rudbeck. His close application, however, having affected his health, he resigned his chair in 1661, and retired to a little estate at Hagestaed, near Copenhagen, where he hoped to spend the remainder of his days in peace; but his house having been burnt in 1670, his library, with all his books and manuscripts, was consumed. In consideration of this loss the king appointed Bartholinus his physician, with a handsome salary, and exempted his land from all taxes; the University of Copenhagen also chose him for their librarian; and, in 1675, he was honoured with a seat in the grand council of Denmark. He died on the 4th of December 1680. He wrote Anatomia Gaspardi Bartholini Parentis, novis Observationibus primum locupletata, 8vo; De Monstris in Natura et Medicina, 4to; Schedion de Armillis Veterum, praesertim Danorum, 8vo; and several other works.
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