TRANSFUSION. 97 



from the circulation, immediate suspension of all the vital 

 processes is the result. If we then return the blood to the 

 system, the animal is as suddenly revived. 1 To perform this 

 experiment satisfactorily, we must accurately adjust the ca- 

 pacity of the syringe to the size of the animal. Carefully 

 performed, it is very striking. 



Transfusion. Certain causes, one of which is diminution 

 in the force of the heart after copious hemorrhage, prevent the 

 escape of all the. blood from the body, even after division of 

 the largest arteries ; but after the arrest of the vital functions 

 which follows copious discharges of this fluid, life may be re- 

 stored by the injection into the vessels of the same blood, or 

 the fresh blood of another animal of the same species. This 

 observation, which was first made on the inferior animals, 

 has been applied to the human subject ; and it has been as- 

 certained that in patients sinking under hemorrhage, the in- 

 troduction of even a few ounces of fresh blood will restore 

 the vital forces for a time, and sometimes permanently. The 

 operation of transfusion^ which consists in the introduction 

 of the blood of one individual into the vessels of another, 

 was performed upon animals in the middle of the seven- 

 teenth century, and was soon after attempted in the human 

 subject. So great was the enthusiasm with which some re- 

 garded these experiments, that it was even thought possible 

 to effect a renewal of youth by the introduction of young 

 blood into the veins of old persons ; and it was also proposed 

 to cure certain diseases, such as insanity, by an actual renewal 

 of the circulating fluid. These ideas were not without ap- 

 parent foundation. It was stated in 1667, that a dog, old and 

 deaf, had his hearing improved and was apparently rejuve- 

 nated by transfusion of blood from a young animal. A year 

 later Denys and Emmerets published the case of a maniac 

 who was restored to health by the transfusion of eight ounces 



1 BERNARD, Lemons sur les Liquides de VOrganisme, tome i., p. 44. 



7 



