386 USE OF ARTIFICIAL EESPIRATION AND TRANSFUSION. 



with which they are excreted. It is, however, possible that I 

 am mistaken in supposing that cobra-poison is more slowly 

 .exci'eted than woorara, as the facts on which I base the suppo- 

 sition are simply that the poison of the cobra, introduced into the 

 stomach, seems to produce death more readily than woorara 

 would do, and that animals poisoned by it may be kept alive 

 for a longer time by artificial respiration without ultimately 

 recovering. The poison of the viper, on the other hand, 

 according to Fontana, may be swallowed, in moderate quantity 

 at least, with impunity, though it also occasionally kills when 

 taken in this manner, as woorara likewise does when the 

 quantity is great and the stomach empty, so that absorption is 

 rapid. 



Enough has now been said to show the possible use of trans- 

 fusion, combined with artificial respiration, not only in poisoning 

 by carbonic oxide, but by strychnia and other poisons. Its 

 employment in collapse from hsemorrhage requires no remarks 

 at present. But, in order to make such a method serviceable, 

 it must be easily performed, and a supply of blood easily got. 

 Now, I believe that a very simple apparatus indeed will serve 

 the purpose of transfusing defibrinated blood. But how is a 

 sufficient supply to be got ? for it is evident that a considerable 

 quantity may be required. The requisite quantity of human 

 blood in most cases can hardly be obtained ; but it has been 

 experimentally shown that the blood of lambs and calves may 

 be transfused into the blood-vessels of man without doing him 

 any harm. 



Two hundred years ago, an objection was raised to this 

 method of proceeding by Laury {Revue des Deux Mondes, 

 January, 1870, p. 393), who said that, as the blood of a calf or 

 of any other animal whatever is composed of several different 

 particles fitted to nourish the different parts of the body, what 

 is to become of the particles which were destined to produce 

 horns ? And, if the blood of a calf be transfused into the veins 

 of a man, as the disposition and habits usually accord with the 

 temperament, will the blood of the calf not give the man the 

 stupidity and brutal inclinations of this animal ? Here we 

 almost seem to have Darwin's theory of pangenesis; and, if 



