208 



depend on a derangement of action in the secretory organ, and sometimes* 

 likewise, on the general condition of the fluids; for, a gland cannot se- 

 crete a fluid endowed with the qualities which peculiarly belong to it, 

 unless the blood furnish it with the materials of secretion, and unless it be 

 in a state to bring about a due combination of their particles. When we 

 come to the article of accidental secretions, we shall speak of some, of 

 those disorders of the fluids, depending on a depraved condition of the 

 secretory organs*. 



XC1II. On the transfusion of blood. In the midst of the disputes to 

 which the discovery of the circulation gave rise, some physicians conceiv- 

 ed the idea of renovating completely the whole mass of the fluids, in per- 

 sons in whom they might be vitiated ; by filling their vessels with the 

 blood of an animal, or a person in good health. Richard Lower, known 

 by his work on the heart, first practised it on dogs, in 1665. Two years 

 afterwards, transfusion was performed at Paris on men : it excited the 

 greatest expectations : it was thought, that by this process, called trans- 

 fusing surgery (chirurgie transfusoire,) all remedies would be superseded, 

 that henceforth, to cure the most serious and inveterate diseases, it would 

 be necessary merely to tranfuse the blood of a strong and healthy man 

 into the veins of the diseased ; nay, they went so far as actually to imagine 

 they might realize the fabulous fountain of Jouvence ; they expected no 

 less, than to restore youthful vigour to the old, by infusing into them the 

 blood of the young, and thus to perpetuate life. All these brilliant chime- 

 ras soon vanished, some underwent the experiment, without any remark- 

 able effects from it, others were affected with the most violent delirium ; 

 a lad of fifteen lost his senses, after suffering two months from the most 

 violent fever. The legislative authority at last interfered, and prohibited 

 those dangerous experiments-}-. 



* See APPENDIX, Note B B. 



t M. M. Prevost and Dumas have recently made some very interesting experiments 

 on the blood, by which they have shown the different sizes and figures of the globule^ 

 in various animals, as well as the effects produced by transfusion. 



According to their observations the diameters of the red globules are, 



In man ; the dog ; rabbit ; pig ; hedgehog ; guinea pig ; muscarden - 



3750 

 of an (English) inch 1 



Iu the ass ... .......... 4175 



1 



Cat ; gray mouse ; white mouse . - * - - - - - 4275 



Sheep ; horse ; mule ; ox - - ........ 5000 



Chamois; stag 



She Goat ............. .7200 



In figure, the globules are all spherical in the mammalia. In birds they are elliptical, 

 and vary only in the length of their greater axes. In all cold-blooded animals they are 

 also elliptical. They found the colourless globule existing in the centre of the particles 



of blood has always the diameter of 7500^ in all animals and whatever be the form of the 

 globule containing it. 



