A is a metallic cup, of 6-oz. capacity, to receive the supply of
blood. B an outer casing, which will hold 5 oz. of hot water,
introduced through an aperture at C. D is a passage leading into
an elastic barrel, composed of vulcanized india-rubber, E, of
which the capacity is 1 oz. F′ the exit for the blood into the
injection-pipe G. At D and F there are ball-valves, capable of
closing the upper openings when thrown up against them, but leaving
the lower openings always free. The blood, or other fluid, poured
into the cup A, has free power to run unobstructed through D, E, F;
a small plug H is therefore provided to close the lower aperture
F when necessary. The tube G is of vulcanized india-rubber, and
terminates in a metal tube O for insertion into the vein. This
diagram is one-half the actual size of the instrument.]
Although some of the early experiments on blood transfusion had
been done in England, and although its revival in the nineteenth
century was initiated in England, yet it is to be noticed that most
of the references to it up to 1874 are to be found in the works of
Continental writers. Nevertheless, an important modification was
introduced into the technique of the operation in 1857 by Higginson,
who applied the principle of a rubber syringe with ball-valves for
transferring the blood from the receptacle into which it was drawn,
to the vein of the recipient. This apparatus is illustrated here,
as it is of some interest in the history of medicine. Higginson’s
syringe is now used for a different purpose, but it was successfully
applied by its inventor in a series of seven cases which he duly
reported. One patient whom he transfused was suffering from extreme
weakness, which was attributed to the too protracted suckling of
twins. He gave her about twelve ounces of blood from a healthy female
servant, and a state of quietude followed her previous restlessness.
A few minutes later the patient was seized with a rather severe
rigor. It did not last long, but led to a state of reaction and
excitement, in which she sang a hymn in a loud voice. The final
result was good, and Higginson reports that in five of the seven
cases some benefit was to be attributed to the transfusions. Later
the same principle was used in America by Aveling and by Fryer about
the year 1874, and subsequently it was in that country that nearly
all the important advances in the science of blood transfusion were
made.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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