The first experiments relative to the transfusion of the blood, appear
to have been made, and that with great propriety, on the lower animals.
The blood of the young, healthy and vigorous, was transferred into the
old and infirm, by means of a delicate tube, placed in a vein opened for
that purpose. The effect of this operation was surprising and important:
aged and decrepit animals were soon observed to become more lively, and
to move with greater ease and rapidity. By the indefatigable exertions
of Lower, in England, of Dennis in France, and of Moulz, Hoffman, and
others in Germany, this artificial mode of renovating the life and
spirits was successfully continued, and even brought to some degree of
perfection.
The vein usually opened in the arm of a patient was resorted to for the
purpose of transfusion; into this a small tube was placed in a
perpendicular direction; the same vein was then opened in a healthy
individual, but more frequently in an animal, into which another tube
was forced in a reclining direction; both small tubes were then slid
into one another, and in that position the delicate art of transfusion
was safely performed.
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