TRANSFUSION. 
285 
published previous to that in the Philosophical Transactions — and I 
think a subject so curious could not have remained dormant so long 
without ingenious men taking it up — the merit ought to be bestowed 
on Wren as the first who conceived the thought, and Boyle is 
deserving of the credit of having successfully executed it. 
In a pamphlet published in Paris in 1668, the writer observes, 
that he does not dispute the priority of the operation with the 
English, but insists that the religious Benedictine (whom I before 
mentioned), Pere Dom Robert des Gabets, mentioned the idea of 
transfusion to an assembly of learned men in the year 1658. 
Boyle, in his work on the “ Usefulness of Experimental Philo- 
sophy,” mentions, that a Foreign Ambassador, “ a curious person, 
at that time residing in London,” called on him, and informed him 
“ he had caused trial to be made of the infusion of the crocus me- 
tallorum upon an inferior domestic of his, that deserved to have 
been hanged;” but, however, this servant was a cunning fellow, 
for as soon as the experiment had commenced he pretended to 
swoom, which put a stop to the operation. 
A Frenchman, of the name of Denys, first attempted the trans- 
fusion of blood into the veins of the human subject ; this was 
shortly after repeated in England by Lower and King. You will 
find, however, numerous accounts of experiments of transfusion in 
dogs, sheep, &c., in the earlier numbers of the Philosophical 
Transactions, particularly in Nos. 20, 25, 26. 
Among the miraculous effects said to have resulted from trans- 
fusion, I may mention the following : — An old dog, on receiving a 
quantity of blood from a young one, “ did leap and frisk, whereas 
he was almost blind with age before, and could hardly stir*.” 
A horse, twenty-five years of age, having received the blood of 
some rams, became more vigorous, and ate with more appetite than 
before. 
A person, dull and sleepy, after being repeatedly bled, received 
a quantity of the vital fluid from a lamb, and immediately became 
light, gay, and cheerful. 
A man was cured of an inveterate madness in three months, by 
transfusion. 
A spaniel bitch, twelve years old, a little while after some blood 
from a kid had been conveyed into her veins, “ grew vigorous and 
active, and, in less than eight days, even proud.” 
Transfusion was strongly recommended by many foreign authors, 
particularly to old people, as it is said it would arrest the course of 
their destinies, and defend them from death. But Lamy opposed 
it, on the ground that all internal diseases were caused by the im- 
* Journal des Savans, No. 5 or 6. 
