98 THE BLOOD. 



of blood from a calf; and another case was reported of a man 

 who was cured of leprosy by the same means. But a reac- 

 tion followed. The case of insanity, which was apparently 

 cured, suffered a relapse, and the patient died during a sec- 

 ond operation of transfusion. 1 It is almost unnecessary to 

 say that these extravagant expectations were not realized. 

 In fact some operations were followed by such disastrous con- 

 sequences, that the practice was forbidden by law in Paris in 

 1668, and soon fell into disuse. 



Transfusion, with more reasonable applications, was re- 

 vived in the early part of this century (1818) by Blundell, 

 who, with others, demonstrated its occasional efficacy in des- 

 perate hemorrhage, and in the last stages of some diseases, 

 especially cholera. There are now quite a number of cases on 

 record where life has been saved by this means ; and often- 

 times, when the result has not been so happy, the fatal event 

 has been considerably delayed. In a case which occurred at 

 New Orleans, when the system was prostrated by an obscure 

 affection and life became nearly extinct, about seven ounces 

 of blood in all were transfused in three operations, within two 

 hours, with the palpable effect of prolonging life for from 

 twelve to sixteen hours. 8 Berard had collected from various 

 sources thirteen observations of hemorrhage, which would have 

 been fatal, in which life w^as permanently restored by the 

 injection of a few ounces of healthy human blood. In all 

 but two of these cases the hemorrhage was uterine. 3 



1 BERARD, Cours de Physiologic, tome iii., p. 209 et seg. 



2 In this case the patient suffered extreme prostration after the delivery of a 

 seven and a half months' child. This continued for a few days, and at the time 

 of transfusion, the pulse was 140 and very feeble ; respirations six to eight per 

 minute ; nostrils compressed at each inspiration ; surface cool ; countenance Hip- 

 pocratic, and the coma so profound that the patient could not be aroused. After 

 each transfusion the lips became more florid, the nostrils dilated in inspiration, 

 and the surface became warmer. The patient lived twenty-four hours after the 

 first operation. The blood was taken from the arm of a healthy male and trans- 

 fused immediately into the median cephalic vein. 



3 BERARD, op. cit., tome iii., p. 219 et seq. 



