ARTIFICIAL BLOOD.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13275, 2 September 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

ARTIFICIAL BLOOD.

An artificial fluid that may bo intr >- duccd into the veins instead of red blood in ti anstusiou operations has been invented by J)r James J. Hogan, of San Francisco. Says Arthur 17. Dahi, writing in tlie Illustrated World (Chicago) ''All doctors know that the most serious mischief done* by a hemorrhage is not in the great loss of led corpuscles, or in the loss of chemical constituents found in the blood, but in a diminution in the volume of the blood. A saving of life is rendered possible only by rai.-> ing the blood-pressure. This has been done either by transfusion of blood ( r the use of salt substitutes. The clangers incident to transfusion of whole blood have led medical men to depend more and more on salt- solutions of virions kinds. Bui though snlb solutions' work excellently, they do so only for a limited time. This is because a salt solution does not remain in the bloodvessels; the 'free' water it contains percolates through the veins and escapes, through the kidneys, or is absorbed by the issues. Accordingly, a really effective blood-substitute must' be a liijiyd that approximates blood qualities and contains no free water. Working along this line, Dr .Hogan experimented with a gelatin solution, and produced a new blood substitute that possessed the desired qualities. When introduced into the blood-vessels it will remain there as long as necessary, and as Nature manufactures new blood it slowly disappears. In the hundreds of cases •where tne Hogan solution has been used no injurious effect has resulted. The solution consists of purest gelatine combined with codiuni chloride and distilled water. The solution consists of purest gelatine combined with sodium chloride and distilled water. The resultant liquid solidifies and is placed in glass tubes until needed. In order to prepare the transfusion mixture for immediate use, the flask of gelatine is warmed until 't melts, when It is added to 1000 cubic centimetres of 0.9 per cent, sodium