VOL. II.J PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. |§S 



An Account of more Trials of Transfusion, with some Considerations 

 thereon, chiefly in reference to its circumspect Practice on Man; 

 together ivith a farther Vindication of this Invention from Usurpers. 

 By Mr. Oldenburg. N"" 28, p. 51J. 



In this paper Mr. Oldenburg states, that as the experiment of transfusion has 

 caused disputes among the curious both in England and other countries, so it 

 has put some upon suggesting such measures and cautions as may render it safe 

 and beneficial. Of the latter number is Mons. Gasper de Gurie de Montpoly, 

 who, while he admits the invention to be ingenious, and such a one as pro- 

 mises to be useful, is nevertheless of opinion that it requires to be practised 

 with much circumspection, otherwise it may be productive of mischief. No 

 considerate person, he observes, will venture upon a total transfusion, though 

 he thinks a partial one may be serviceable in some cases. To this purpose he 

 remarks, that he was pleased to learn that a moderate intromission of blood had 

 (according to his conjecture) succeeded well in the human subject, as appears 

 from a letter of Mons. Denis. The success of a larger transfusion in another 

 instance he ascribes to the healthy and robust constitution of the individual, 

 a labouring man. But to these instanced he subjoins two others, where the 

 event was unfavourable. One of these instances occurred in Baron Bond, son 

 to the first minister of state of the King of Sweden, who underwent the ope- 

 ration twice, and appeared to be strengthened by it the first time ; but died soon 

 after the second operation. His disease was a mortification of the intestines, 

 and he is thought to have been an unfit subject for the experiment. The other 

 instance was that of a dog, in a trial made by Mons. Gay en. He drew three 

 great dishes of blood from the dog that was to receive, and weighed the other 

 dog that was to furnish. When the operation was over he weighed the latter 

 again, and found his weight less by two pounds : of which, after abating an 

 Ounce more or less for the urine the dog made, and an ounce or two more for 

 the blood spilt in the operation, there remained at least Hlb. of blood 

 that was transfused. But the recipient dog, though well dressed and fed, died 

 five days after, the emittent dog being then alive. Lest an inference prejudicial 

 to the cause of transfusion should be drawn from the preceding observations, 

 Mr. Oldenburg remarks, that although considerable caution may be requisite, 

 yet several large transfusions have been successfully made in London, of which 

 a very remarkable instance was afforded in a bitch, which lost in the operation 

 near 30 ounces of blood, and was recruited accordingly. The animal not only 

 Survived to the date hereof, but afterwards underwent a more severe experiment^ 



