San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-12-22
TRANSFUSING BLOOD.
REMARKABLE OPERATION OF CHANG
ING A COMPLEXION.
A White Man Is Successfully Turned
Into AN Englishman, a Negro and a
Chinaman-A Physicians Bold Expert
ments with the TRANSMISSION of Blood.


ments with the TRANSMISSION of Blood.
did ever tell you, my dear Boswell,
how, shortly after taking the degree of
doctor of medicine, lost several years of
my life in one brief night;p the benevolent
old panacea inquired of iscomparatively
youthful acquaintance in the Palmer house
one evening. mo? Well, the event of
which speak took place in my Office. Yes,
the same occupy at present.
Among my servants was one whom /
supposed to be pure blooded Caucasian.
He was intelligent in face and polite in
manner and the gentleman for whom he
had formerly worked had recommended
him to me in the highest terms. and,
though he had taken occasion to dwell on
several characteristics in detail, he had
made no mention, not even giving hint,
about the man having any mixed blood in
his veins. Nor would l have suspected it
had Henry not come to me one day after
office hours and told me himself. He be-
gan, after receiving my permission, to use
short space of my time as he saw fit by
asking me if / believed in the efficacy of
the TRANSMISSION of blood. Upon my reply
ing in the affirmative he wanted to know
if thought a mans complexion might
not be changed by TRANSMISSION of the blood
of a different complexioned man.
"The question was a startler | had
never heard it before and | had never
thought of such a thing. Still it did not
seem illogical l asked Henry what
prompted his question. He hesitated a
moment, hung his head and replied, after
pledging me to secrecy, that he had African
blood in his veins. A very small quantity,
but still enough TO enable an expert to de-
tect just back of his finger nails the telltale
mark. He was, it seemed, engaged to
white girl. She had not known of the inn
purity of his blood until he, feeling it to be
his duty, had told her. She Immediately
broke the engagement, declaring that while
she would marry none other she would not
marry him. When Henry had come to
work for US as my office man he had taken
to reading my medical works, and had read
enough about TRANSMISSION to obtain pref
ty fair idea of it. And he had hit upon the
thought that it might be employed to
charge his veins with such pure Caucasian
as to dilute the African blood into an I'M
discoverable quality.
TURN Ed lNlO n NEIhO.
Before could recover from my surprise,
Boswell, he asked if would perform the
operation of TRANSMISSION. Being young,
impetuous and not overgiven to fully
weighing consequences | consented. He
had, counting on my acquiescence, made a
bargain with the brawny English janitor
of the building for limited quantity of
the blood, and it was not long before the
operation was well under way. BY this
time had gained my senses aud was en-
joying the thing more as joke than any
thing serious until the Englishman let fall
something about having hereditary faint
in his system. In a jiffy the operation
stopped so far as he was concerned, and
began to busy myself with letting out of
Henry's veins as much blood as it was safe
to spare, in hopes of Kidding them of all the
Englishman's disease tainted fluid.
sin my excitement let out too much.
Henry tainted, and terror stricken lest he
should die / ordered the Englishman to
fetch the first strong, able bodied man he
could persuade to part with some blood to
save another's life. In a few moments he
was back with his negro assistant. He was
not the color | wanted, but life was at
stake, and in the shortest time on record
had his blood flowing into the veins of
Henry. In little while Henry revived.
He opened his eyes and upon seeing that
the blood of black negro was flowing into
his veins he sprang up, broke the tube, and
with an oath declared that was trying to
rob him of what white blood he possessed
and to make him negro.
Overcome blythe strong conflicting emo
lions, from the fear that was an uninten-
tional murderer to the JOY of seeing Henry
restored to consciousness, tainted. When
came to myself the room was dark. i
lit the gas and saw Henry lying on the
floor asleep. His face and hands were jet
black He had become through my Grim
inal caralessness a negrol What could l
do2 He was much larger than |, and if /
awoke him he might upon discovering the
change that had come over him do me
violence. Ny eye CHANGED to light upon a
bottle of chloroform, and in an instant /
had saturated my handkerchief and laid it
to his nose. Satisfied that he would not
awake inside half hour hurried TO the
street, determined to find white man who
would consent to an operation.
TERRIBLE CRISIS.
at was bitterly cold night and sharp
sleet sweeping down State street drove
most everybody indoors After tramping
about in vain for nearly half an hour /
hurried back to the Office, my fear of per-
sonal violence by this time having given
way to one that Henry might in his despair
kill himself. AS entered the street door
l spied man crouching in the corner. /
babe him stand up, and as he did SO l rec
ognized him as the Chinaman who did my
laundry work He was u giant in size and
had a comnlexion of rich olive. had pre-
scriped for him several Jlmes anu nc
thought a great deal of me, and he had