Year: 1869

THIS operation, which consists in the
actual transfer of the blood of one living
body into the veins of another, has been
recently performed in the Pennsylvania
hospital, under the following circumstances:
A young man in the upper part of the
city was wounded on the inner surface of
the upper lip, by tripping and falling ON
the fragments Of pitcher which he had
been carrying in his hand The wound
continued to bleed for 10 days, after which
time the patient was sent to the surgical
wards of the hospital, which were at the
time, under the charge of DR.. T. G. Nor
ton. Several remedies were then applied,
and the arteries supplying the face were
tied, but without success in controlling the
flow of blood Recourse was next had to
cutting down to the common carotid or
great artery of the neck, and applying
Ggature, so as to obstruct entirely the
course of the blood to it. This was done
on the 18th of October last. The oozing
of blood still continued, but in lessened
quantity. On the following day, or the
18th, the patient was in such state of ex-
treme exhaustion from the long continued
hemorrhage that his death seemed to be i'm
minent and, as last resource, DR.. Morton
resolved to try the effect of TRANSMISSION. We
shall not pretend to describe theapparatus
used on the occasion, or the details of the
operation. Let it suffice for us to say that
two medical students barred their arms and
gave the blood required for the occasion.
Five ounces and half of their blood
were infused into the vein of each arm of
the patient, the marked good effects of
which were evinced in five minutes by
rallying of the pulse and otherwise be-
ginning reaction. There was no further
discharge of blood from the original
wound, and in ten days the patient was
able to walk in the ward, and rapidly re-
gained strength.


Whatever may be the termination of
this case, regarded as one of wound with
complicated symptoms, there can be no
question of the entire success of the opera
tion of TRANSMISSION, and of it's saving life
and restoring the patient, for a while at
least, to the exercise of his ordinary func-
tions. TRANSMISSION was first practised in
the early part of the seventeenth century,
although its use in England and on the
continent generally dates from the middle
of this century. The first operations were
on animals, and the first instance of one
being performed on man, if we except
that described by Libarius, wasin Paris, by
Denys and EmmereZ, in 1866.


IL OuO ouCOOouIhS yCdl tuclI cAdIuplo
was followed by Lower and King in Eng
land. In these and other cases of sub
sequent date, the blood was taken from an
animal-a sheep or calf, but grave OBJ
jections to this course present themselves
in the different characters of the globules
of the blood of animals from those of the
human subject, and in later times the
TRANSMISSION is always from one to another
of individuals of our own species. The
profession is much indebted to DR.. Blum
7 DELL an eminent English accoucher, for
. his ingenious researches concerning trans
fusion, and his improved method for its
successful use He showed in the result
of cases of excessive exhaustion from loss
of blood, occurring in his large obstetrical
practice, and when life seemed about to
ebb away how it could be suddenly and
completely rescued by TRANSMISSION. The
New York Medical Record, of Oct. 1, con-
tains an account, by DR.. Joseph Buscher,
of q successful case of TRANSMISSION. The
patient was young German woman who
had lost much blood by typhus fever. The
fresh blood was taken from the arm of her
husband. PhIddeyl1ksG Ledger.