Jean Riolan the Younger

Riolan is remembered for his traditional views towards medicine, and was a major proponent of the teachings of Galen.

He held a differing viewpoint in regards to the theory of his contemporary, William Harvey (1578–1657) on the blood's circulatory system.

He also postulated that blood often ebbed and flowed in the veins and that it was taken in as nourishment by different parts of the body.

Riolan attacked Thomas Bartholin on the question of the latter's discovery of the lymphatic system.

[1] Riolan's best known written works are Anthropographia (1618), which is a treatise on human anatomy, and Opuscula anatomica (1649), in which he is critical of Harvey's views of the circulatory system.