INDICATIONS FOR BLOOD TRANSFUSION--_continued_: HÆMORRHAGIC DISEASES--BLOOD DISEASES--TOXÆMIAS 44 CHAPTER IV DANGERS OF BLOOD TRANSFUSION 67 CHAPTER V PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF BLOOD GROUPS 79 CHAPTER VI THE CHOICE OF BLOOD DONOR 97 CHAPTER VII THE METHODS OF BLOOD TRANSFUSION 108 BIBLIOGRAPHY 137 INDEX 159 BLOOD TRANSFUSION CHAPTER I HISTORICAL SKETCH From the earliest times the vital importance of blood to the human system has been fully appreciated. It has been supposed to carry in it some of the virtues, such as the youth and health, of its possessor, and it has therefore been commonly regarded as a sacrifice acceptable to the gods. References to blood in the Old Testament, in classical authors, and, it is stated, in the writings of the ancient Egyptians, refer rather to these mystical attributes than to any definite transference of it from the veins of one animal to those of another. One of the earliest references to actual transfusion of blood that has been noticed is to be found in a work by Libavius of Halle, published in 1615. The passage has been translated as follows: “Let there be present a robust healthy youth full of lively blood. Let there come one exhausted in strength, weak, enervated, scarcely breathing. Let the master of the art have little tubes that can be adapted one to the other; then let him open an artery of the healthy one, insert the tube and secure it. Next let him incise the artery of the patient and put into it the feminine tube. Now let him adapt the two tubes to each other and the arterial blood of the healthy one, warm and full of spirit, will leap into the sick one, and immediately will bring him to the fountain of life, and will drive away all languor.” It may be assumed, however, that this was only an idea, and had not yet been carried into practice. It was, indeed, unlikely that any attempt to perform blood transfusion would be made until the conception of the circulation of the blood had been promulgated, and this in 1615 had not yet taken place.