Retro Raunch Revisit

H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y  T O
SEP 25, 1818: British obstetrician James Blundell performs the first successful human-to-human blood transfusion. The procedure of blood transfusion had first been done with animal blood with the first occurence of animal-to-animal in Feb 1665 by British physician Richard Lower using silver tubes between dogs, and then next performing an animal-to-human operation (using lamb's blood) in Nov 1667 to a clergyman named Arthur Coga in the presence of many witnesses. In Jun 1667 in France, Jean-Baptiste Denys (personal physician to King Louis XIV) transfused sheep's blood into a 15yr old boy. The early transfusions of animal blood were later abandoned due to mixed results, negative adverse reactions and legal prohibitions in the 1700's. Dr. Blundell had graduated from the University of Edinburgh Medical School in Jun 1813 and in Aug 1814, began lecturing in London on midwifery & physiology. Having also done extensive research into animals, Blundell's human-to-human patient was a wife needing treatment for postpartum hemorrhage. He extracted 4 ounces of blood from the arm of the woman's husband and used a syringe to transfuse it back into her. Blundell reported his procedure in an article in the medical journal The Lancet published in Jun 1829, and devised many new instruments with some still used today. He retired from practice in 1847 and died in Jan 1878. In 1900, Austrian-American biologist Karl Landsteiner's own studying/experiments with blood groups saw his findings released in 1901. The advent of blood typing in the wake of his research discoveries became a crucial development to immunology that made the process of transfusions much safer, more reliable, and paved the way for blood donation.