The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-03-18
Extraordinary Feat in Science.
TRANSMISSION of Dogs Blood.

The second annual meeting of the
alumni of Rush Medical College was
held at the College, corner of North
Dearborn and Indiana streets, on yes
terday morning. The hall was nearly
filed. The meeting was called to order
by the President, DR.. Ames, of Mime
sofa. 1t was announced that Dr. j. w.
Freer, Professor of Physiology and
Microscopical Anatomy, would exhibit
to the alumni the experiment of the
TRANSMISSION of blood. The experiment
ers consisted of DR.. Freer, DIR. Hunt,
DIR. Wadsworth. A muzzled dog was
| led into the room and placed upon the
table. A bottle of chloroform, sy-
ringe, a thick earthen mortar, India
rubber hose, and two frames containing
upright tubes, from foot to six feet In
height, were the prominent objects. DIR.
Freer stated that he was about to pre-
sent two experiments: The first would
show the force exerted by the heart and
the walls of the arteries upon the blood.
| This would consist in opening the caro-
|
blood to flow into the upright glass
tubes. The height of the blood in the
glass tubes would indicate the force.
| The second experiment would consist
in removing the blood from the animal
| until it became apparently exsapguina-
ted, and then restoring the dog to life
again by injecting the fluid back again
through the jugular vein.
| Chloroform was administered to the
| dog in order to render it passive, and
after about Is minutes had elapsed, the
beast was in a condition to be operated
upon.
An incision was made in the neck,
and the carotid artery laid bare. Two
ligatures were tied around the artery
about two inches apart, between which
an incision was made into the artery
and glass tube fitted into the incision
The tube was connected by the rubber
hose with an upright glass tube seven
feet long. AS soon as the Iigatures were
unbound, the blood flowed rapidly into
the tube, rising to a height of about six
feet, where it stood, with Il small oscil,
lating movement of about an inch,
caused by the beating Of the heart Of
the dog.
A small amount of carbonate of soda
in water solution had been placed in
the tube IN order to prevent the coagu
lation of the blood. While the red col
umn remained in this position for few
minutes, the eXperimenter explained
the phenomenon. If there was nC
pressure of the heart and arteries, thu
blood would not rise at all. Therefore
the height TO which 1t rose in atmos
pheric pressure would indicate tn,
amount of force exercised by the organs
mentioned.
1t should be mentioned that the ope
rator separated carefully from the artery
the pneumongastric nerve, before thu
, former was opened, as, if the nerve
should be injured, the dog would ceas'
, to respire. During these experiment
double impulse was apparent in thu
oscillation Of the fluid, which was sale
to be due TO the combined forces of tn
heart and the arteries.
The experiment of TRANSMISSION wa
, then performed. The blood from tn
. opened artery was permitted to tloy
( through the rubber hose into thicl
earthen mortar, which was itself sunl
) in warm water bath of about l03 de
3 grees, to preserve the temperature G
r the fluid. The sanguinary stream flow
ed with considerable force at first, an
Y in spurts which were synchronous wit
I. the beats of the heart. One of the oI
4 orators stirred the fluid aud remove
a the fbrin or clot, as it was necessary
: the success of the experiment that tn
mass should be preserved in liqui
i form.
a When the lecturer had arrived at tn
i point, the blood from the dog had cea