BLOOD TRANSFUSION

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 151, 29 June 1938, Page 15

BLOOD TRANSFUSION

Witnessed by £epys One of the earliest attempts at Wood transfusion was witnessed by Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist, in 1667. On this, occasion the blood of a calf was transfused into a poor Bachelor of; Divinity, Of whom Pepys remarks "that he was cracked a little in his head!" No results of any value were obtained, and it is indeed now known that to transfuse an animal's blood into a 'man is very dangerous and it is never done. The operation was forbidden in Paris even in the seventeenth century, on the ground that the man •who received a calf's or sheep's blood might begin, to grow horns.

These and other interesting facts about the early history of blood transfusion were related by Mr. C. Meachen, the honorary secretary of the National Blood Transfusion Council of New Zealand, when addressing the Karori branch of the League of Mothers recently.

The trouble, stated Mr. Meachen, had always been the clotting of the blood. It was therefore necessary to find some substance which, when mixed with blood, would prevent it from clotting but would be: harmless to the patient. It was only "in 1914 that citrate of sodium was discovered to possess these properties, and this discovery came just in time for ,use during the Great War.

"The war was the greatest experiment in blood letting that has ever] been made," said Mr. Meachen, "and the lives of a great number of ourj soldiers we re saved solely by the transfusion into their veins of some of the blood of their more fortunate companions." Knowledge of blood transfusion gained during the war has been turned to very good account during times of peace, for there were very many occasions in civil life when transfusion was of the greatest value. NO HEROICS. After dealing with various diseases, In the cure or alleviation of which blood transfusion is a help, Mr. Meachen said that a blood donor was not performing an act of heroism as he incurred no risk whatever. He was instead performing a generous act of personal service at the cost of slight inconvenience to himself.

"There is a widespread belief even at the present time that something of a man's character will be conveyed by his blood," said Mr. Meachen. "The belief is an old one, for Samuel Pepys suggested that it would be amusing to try the experiment of transferring the blood of a Quaker into the veins of an Archbishop. But actually there is no danger of any transference of character by this means. No prospective donor need hesitate therefore to offer his service on account of any imperfection in his charactcr of which ho may be conscious. A drunkard will not be reformed even by receiving the blood of a total abstainer."

The lecture concluded with details of the organisation required for a blood transfusiqp service, .and of the precautions taken to obtain healthy donors and to divide them into suitable groups.