284 
TRANSFUSION. 
the board of examiners; that I obtained the rank of honorary 
fellow of the London Veterinary Medical Society (being the third 
student from Ireland that won that title from the date of the 
foundation of the College, 1791); and publicly received “the 
approbation and thanks” of that body, for my “ Essay on the 
Principles and Practice of Shoeing,” which was read and discussed 
at their meetings; and, in one word, that, by humble but steady and 
indefatigable exertions, I succeeded in gaining every distinction 
within the reach of a student of the Royal Veterinary College. 
From that time till now I have endeavoured to keep up and 
extend any professional knowledge I had acquired ; and I record it 
with the most grateful acknowledgments to a large and influential 
circle of supporters, I have not been permitted to fall behind in the 
practical department. 
Permit me to say, in conclusion, that the public should take 
some interest in securing for the veterinary surgeon exemption 
from serving on juries; for while the law compels his absence from 
his place of business, a formidable disease or a bad accident, which 
would have yielded to seasonable treatment, may endanger or 
sacrifice the life of an animal, for which the owner would have 
refused hundreds of pounds. 
I am, respectfully yours, 
William M'Kenna. 
Belfast, December 13, 1849. 
Transfusion. 
The earliest account of the subject of transfusion that I have 
met with is in the seventh Number of the Philosophical Transac- 
tions, published in 1666, where it appears that Christopher Wren 
proposed to the University of Oxford, that he thought he could 
readily contrive a way to convey any liquid immediately to the 
mass of circulating blood. The proposition being made, Boyle 
planned an apparatus for the purpose of trying the experiment, the 
result of which was, that the effects of the poisons used by them, 
and carried directly into the circulation, were the same as if they 
had been taken into the stomach. This, and similar experiments, 
doubtless led to the transfusion of blood from one animal to another, 
the priority of which, like most experiments of importance, has 
been claimed by more than one Some French writers will have 
it, that the subject was spoken of by a Benedictine friar some ten 
years before the trial made by Boyle ; but, as no account was ever 
