THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 233 



tor as well, besides, as tlie Duchess of Marlborough observed, " bis 

 being dragged up in a basket three or four times a week to the top 

 of the building at great hazard." 



Wren was a prominent Freemason, " was for eighteen years a 

 member of the old Lodge of St. Paul's, then held at the Goose 

 and Gridiron, near the cathedral, now the Lodge of Antiquity ; 

 and the records of that lodge show that the maul and trowel 

 used at the laying of the stone of St. Paul's, together with a pair 

 of carved mahogany candlesticks, were presented by Wren, and 

 are now in possession of that lodge." 



Wren was neglected by the court in his latter days, but 

 amends were partially made at his death by a funeral of great 

 distinction, and an interment in his own cathedral. Over his 

 tomb in the crypt of St. Paul's were inscribed the words, worthy 

 of the man and the place, " Si monumentum requiris, circum- 

 spice ! " 



November 23, 1667. At the meeting of this date there was 

 performed an experiment such as had never before been attempt- 

 ed in England. The year before Dr. Wallis had reported the 

 success of some experiments made at Oxford by Dr. Lower, " of 

 transfusing the blood of one animal into the body of another." 

 But now the operation was to be tested upon a human being. A 

 poor theological student, Arthur Coga or Coyn, offered himself 

 as the subject. The operation was performed by Dr. Lower and 

 Dr. King without any untoward symptoms arising. Some one 

 asked the young man afterward why the blood of a sheep, rather 

 than that of any other animal, was used in transfusion. He 

 replied, "Sanguis ovis symbolicam quandam facultatem habet 

 cum sanguine christi, quia Christus est Agnus Dei." 



Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood, though for 

 some time strenuously opposed, finally became accepted, and at 

 once gave rise to the wildest speculations. In the blood were sup- 

 posed to lie all the ills and diseases which tormented human life, 

 and for their cure the bad blood had only to be drawn off, to be 

 replaced by the pure blood of some young, healthy animal, when 

 the sick would be restored, the maniac would recover his reason, 

 old age return to youth again, and man become immortal. 



Transfusion became the topic of the day. The courtier, the 

 peasant, the man of science, followed every experiment with in- 

 tense interest. It was a subject which appealed to the imagina- 

 tion and interest of every individual. If one may not secure im- 

 mortality one way, may he not in another ? 



It is to the credit of the medical profession that as a body it 

 deprecated the indiscriminate practice of such a hazardous experi- 

 ment. There is no telling where the delirium may have carried 

 the practice had not among the first cases occurred two deaths in 



