Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1858-11-06

TRANSMISSION.

Whether the mysterious principle at life rcsnes
III the blood or docs not reside there, it is certain
that the blood is an Indispensable feeder and Itr-
yctor Of both the nutrition and stimulation oftIe
human body. SO obvious has been this fact hat
from the earliest records Of science the throbkng
river has been increasingly explored by medca
curiosity rs a pathway To invaluable PATHOLOGICAL
and therapeutic discoveries. Noting how invariably
vital power failed as the blood flowed out, is
quite natural that the supply of the necessary iuld
by an artificial process when lost by hemorrhae or
wasted by disease, should have suggested Helf
even to the casual inquirer. Therefore woind
that the idea of the TRANSMISSION Of blood rons)ne
body to another, is not by any means exclusively
modern
Tho idea, however. was not pursued to anysat-
isactory result by the ancients, from lack the
requisite facilities for experiment, and it wasnot
until 1000 that the practlcablity Of injectingthe
blood OF one animal into another, without auSim-
Inediatcly harmful effect was demonstratd-
About that time, Denis. French mathematician.
after successful experiment had been mad,,ip-
on II dog, was so fortunate as to inject consfra-
bio quantity of calls blood into the veins ola aad
man. whom he had daringly seized for that ,ur
pose; with the most wholesome Temporary reult
and most hattering promise of future MEDICAL
achievement. "That night" (says a write in
Blackwood, who has recently recalled this andoth
er incidents connected with the transfusian IDA,
she (the madman, "slept well. The exert
ment was repeated on the succeeding day; he icpt
quietly, and awokc sanev'
But subsequently disappointment and dsster
were met with by the advocates of transusio-
That "heroic arm" of medicine was doomed DO
paralyzed for an indefinite period. Afterthe
blood Of sheep had beon made to replace tht of
healthy men, with very agreeable impunity 1.-THE
latter, and in the midst Of growing Euroean
enthusiasm on the subject. "the patient" (coain-
ues the writer to whom we refcrred,) ION WON
Denis had operated, again went mad, gain
treated with TRANSMISSION, and died during tn OPP
Grafton. The son of the Swedish minister Who
had been benefited by one TRANSMISSION, perihed
after second. A third death was assigned
similar cause and in April 1868 the Parlianut
of Paris made it criminal to attempt transfusin.
except with the consent of the Faculty Of Paris
Thus the whole thing fell into discredit, to I've e.
vived again in our own day, and to be placed,t
last on scientific basis"
1t was then that the novel idea would seem o
have occurred to the Faculty for the first tim.
! that all men do not partake to Predominant T.
tent OF either the calf nature or the dog nature
AT all events, homogeneity Of the receiving al
| supplying animals was soon admitted to I've one,f
| the conditions of safe and wholesome transfusd.
| In the words of the writer above quoted 'lh
more rigorous investigations of the moderns has
! established that only the blood Of animals of tn
same species can be transfused in large quantitie
without fatal results. The blood Of q horse
poison in the veins of dog; the blood Of shss