Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1851-02-03
TRANSMISSION Of the Blood

We find in the Courier des Etats Unis
of the 23d instant, curious and interes' ing
case which occurred IN the Hospital Of
Saint Louis, IN Paris, lately, in which the
blood Of one person was trans(used into the
veins Of another, and the life of the recipi
ent saved; or at least prolonged by the op.
Grafton. The patient was woman, and
after her .1ccouchsment profuse and ex.
haus,ing hemorrage followed. Her pulse
had ceased to beat for several minutes, and
nothing more than slight undulatory
shuddering could be perceived from time to
time. She was evidently dying, and as a
last resort Of bis art, the surgeon, NJ, Ne.
laton, determined to Try what effect trans
fusion would have, which determination
was soon carried out. One ofthe attend.
ants, NJ. Dofour, voluntarily offered to. lose
his blood in the cause Of humanity, and the
requi' ed qualify being taken from his arm.
it was injected from a syringe into vein
Of the head Of the patient, and passed i'm
media,ely into the system. The blood was
injected at about its natural temperature.
The whole quantity was from thirteen 10
fourteen ounces There were two in.
jeciions, the first Of about eight ounces. and
after an interval Of five minutes, five or six
ounces more. The woman revived imine.
diately, and was doing well for week af-
ter the operation, when she was carried off
by an inflammation of the bowels. The
,ranfusion was considered to be, however,
perfectly successful. ...- ...,...
b A minute account of the process OF the
TRANSMISSION is given, but that we omit, ns
every surgeon would knowihow to perform
the operation. s& sf,s Ht.5e as
TRANSMISSION of the blood was tried in
England and France nearly two hundred
years ago, and after being medical lobby
for a few years, fell into oisrepute and was
altogether abandoned. A, Paris ii was
prohibited, on account of some unsuccess-
full experiments, and Perrault, distin.
guished anatemist, gave it the coup de grace
BY bon mot: A man could not change
his blood, he said, as he does his Shirt
And SO tl.is theory, like thousand
others, was laid upon the shelf, apparently
forever, until resuscitaled by MN. Provost
and Dumas, about thirty years ago. who !
demonstrated, by experiments on animals,
that blood artifcially supplied by transiu-
sion would rcanlmaie them and restore the
vital energies; but the blood transfused
must be from an animal Of the same species
Of the recipient, and the physical and
properties Of the same. And i.
ough, always TO be the blood Of young
and healthy person, when the experiment
is to be tried on a human being. The old
erred by injecting the blood
IF quadrupeds into the human system, and
hey did not employ the same degree Of
skill that is now employed
Within the last twenty five years, there
nave been not less than ten or twelve cases
If TRANSMISSION in England and Germany,
md all have been successful, the account
'ays. But, upon the suppostion that they
rave not oil been, still. if a majority has,
/ is encouraging enough to justify the ex-
pertinent in desperate and in very doubtful
Eases. If the blood of all healthy persons
$ physically and chemically the same, or
cry nearly SO, reason would seem to in.
icate, that in cases where deficiency in
he quantity Of blood in the system is what
makes the danger, then an artificial supply
,ould be natural remedy Washing.
On Glode. E