Glisson, who was educated at Cambridge, receiving his M.D. in 1634, was a founding member of the Royal Society, President of the Royal College of Physicians 1667-1669, and Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge for 40 years. His treatise on the liver (first published London, 1654) was his second published work. It was the first book printed in England to give a detailed account, based on original research, of a single organ. Ten chapters are devoted to general anatomy, and forty-five to the liver. Glisson records his discovery of the 'common capsule', now named after him. The capsule of Glisson is the envelope of fibrous tissue enclosing the portal vein and hepatic artery. He also showed that the liver was not the origin of the venous system. The engraved plate shows a cast of the liver vessels It was reprinted in small format, Amsterdam 1659 and 1665, and The Hague 1681. Glisson also wrote a study of rickets (De rachitide, 1650) in collaboration with others.