VOL. II.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 18i» 



tent animal ; managing the remainder according to the known method of this 

 experiment. 



Mr. Oldenburg concludes this account with references to facts and observa- 

 tions given in former Numbers of these Transactions, in proof that the trans- 

 fusion of blood originated in England ; though some of the French journals 

 (he complains) have assigned the merit of this invention to their country- 

 men.* 



* In a note at p. 131, we hinted that the notions which philosophers once entertained respecting 

 the possibility of removing disease and prolonging life by the transfusion of blood, were extravagant 

 and ill-founded. Nor will tlie justness of tliis remark be disputed, as applied to tlie generality of those 

 morbid affections against which it was at first proposed as a remedy, and as applied also to the project 

 of procuring indefinite longevity. It must be confessed, however, that the accurate and well-contrived, 

 experiments of Professor Harwood place it beyond a doubt, that in cases of sudden and profuse eva- 

 cuations of blood, tlie fatal consequences, which would otlierwise ensue, may in the brute creation be 

 prevented by the immediate introduction of a proportionate quantity of fresh blood from another ani- 

 mal in a healthy state j a fact which seems convertible to medical use in certain cases of haemorrhage 

 occurring in the human subject. On this occasion we are happy to have it in our power to lay before 

 the public an account of the above-mentioned professor's interesting experiments and observations 

 hereon. 



Dr. Harw^ood, the present professor of anatomy in the university of Cambridge, having perused the 

 accounts of Lower and others concerning the transfusion of the blood, and being equally dissatisfied 

 witli the mode in which former experiments had been conducted, and tlie superstition and prejudice 

 which occasioned the subsequent relinquishment of the practice; was induced in the year 1785 to 

 make it the subject of his Thesis, preparator)-^ to taking his M. B. degree in that year. Upon thig 

 occasion the professor made a number of very interesting experiments, which he has since repeated 

 in a great variety of forms, some of them having been privately conducted, and others publicly ex- 

 hibited at his lectures on comparative anatomy in the schools of the university. From a great num- 

 ber of very curious experiments, the following have been selected, and we have the professor's per- 

 mission to lay them before the public. 



Experiment 1 . A dog of middling size, from whose jugular vein eight ounces of blood had been 

 previously evacuated, was supplied with -an equal quantity from the carotid artery of a sheep. Dur- 

 ing tlie operation the dog showed evident marks of uneasiness, but was little affected in any other 

 way, till about twenty-four hours after the operation, when he had a shivering fit, succeeded by a 

 considerable degree of heat, thirst, and tlie usual symptoms of fever, all of which disappeared in the 

 course of the next day, and the dog remained afterwards in perfect health. This experiment being 

 several times repeated, and tlie quantity of transfused blood being occasionally increased or diminished, 

 the feverish symptoms were observed to be more or less violent in proportion to the quantity of arte- 

 rial blood introduced into the vein of the recipient animal. It now occurred to Dr. H. that the unea- 

 siness of tlie animal during the operation, and the febrile disease with which he was attacked 

 some hours afterwards, might probably arise from the preternatural degree of stimulus occasioned by 

 the introduction of the highly oxygenated arterial blood into the right side of the heart. 



Experiment 2. The experiment was therefore repeated, with this difference, that the blood was 

 conducted through the tube from the jugular vein of the sheep, instead of an artery. The result was 

 exactly what the operator expected it to be, the animal was perfectly composed during the operation, 

 and did not suffer the smallest inconvenience at any time afterwards, 



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