The Anaconda standard., 1899-08-27
GIVE BLOOD FOR FRIENDS.
Men Who Come Forward With Unique
Offers.

When a man in excess of emotion de-
clares he would give his hearts Di1ni
for friend, so deep and lasting is the
bond of affection between them, the
statement is in most cases very muCh
overdrGwn. He does not anticipate
that any such sacrifice will be de-
manded of him and if it were he would
probably be called away to New York
by a telegram. But there are men who
have given up their life fluid willingly
and cheerfully to save the life CT a
friend and have yielded it up in the
only way it could possibly afford any
assistance to the afflicted one-by trans
fusion from the body OF one to the body
of the other. There is perhaps no more
striking test of real friendship and af-
fection than such gift. 1t is even
more remarkable than its sister opera
ton skin grating. because in the lat
ter case the subject experiences only a
little pain and no real danger, while
in the TRANSMISSION of blood the man
who Yields up portion of his life fluid
may experience serious results from its
loss.
Indeed. so dangerous is the expert
ment that it is only in extreme cases
that physicians resort to 1t and the rec
ords show that it is seldom successful
in revivifying dying man to such an
extent as to restore his health and
strength permanently. Quite often
doubtless TRANSMISSION of blood has pro-
longed the life of a patient considerably
and there are many instances OF the
recovery of those whose heart beats
were gradually growing fainter until
the rushing current of healthy, vigor-
Gus blood drawn from the arm of a vol
unteer subject revived the faintins
heart and brought back its strength
| Such an instance was recorded only a
| few days ago in Chicago, when the life
of eX-Judge Prendergast was despaired
| of until a young man, who had served
| in his office as a clerk, offered himself
| as a subject for the operation of trans
| fusion of blood.
| For more than a month Mr.. Prender'
| CAST has been under medical care II
| various hospitals, suffering from amaze
| mia. and the treatment did not appeal
| to do him much good. He gradually
| grew weaker, and when it was appar
| ent to the attending physicians that hi!
| weakened condition and impoverished
| blood supply would probably result il
| death TRANSMISSION of blood was decided
| upon as a last resort. John Morrisey
| who had been an assistant in Mr.. Prem
| dergasts law office and was a clos'
| friend of the jurist, offered himself az
| subject and the operation was con
| Quoted by Drs. Murphy, Billings anC
| Coey at the Chicago hospital. 1t wa
| not considered necessary to administe
| an anaesthetic to either man and whei
| MOrrisey had seated himself close to tn
| bed an artery was opened in his lef
! wrist and a suction pump attached, tn
small rubber hose of the pump being s.
| connected with an inCision in Mr. Prem
| dergast's arm that the blood WOul
| flow directly into his arteries. F.
| three-quarters of an hour the surgeon
| worked the suction pump on the table
| and in that time five ounces of blOo
| passed from Morrisey's body into tina
of the sick man. The result was an i'm
mediate revival of the patient. For a
| hour he sat and talked with the ma
| whose blood was flowing into his veins
and he spoke with vigor and spright
illness which had been unknown to hir
for many weeks. Whether the opera
ton will ultimately prove successful
a matter of grave doubt with the sur
| geOns however. and the progress O
the patients cOnvalescence is bein
carefully watched. Morrisey declare
he felt no bad effects from the opera
tion and was able to leave the hospita
nattended an hour after he had yield
ed up five ounces of arterial blood I
save the life of his friend and forme
employer.
| The transfer of living cuticle fror