Medicine in the 19th Century: Blood Transfusions

Blood Transfusion, early 1900s

By the 19th century, medicine had already come a long way. But from what Bram Stoker described in Dracula, it is easy to assume that they did not have all the correct facts. The practice of blood transfusions might have been a new and exciting thing for doctors, but maybe not for their patients. Not only was transfusions something that no one knew that much about, but it was something that was potentially making patients worse, not better. From what we know about blood types, physicians didn't know about different blood types till the end of the 19th century, thanks to Karl Landsteiner's discoveries.

James Blundell, 1820

Blood transfusions gained popularity from James Blundell (1790-1878), an obstetrician based in London. After graduating from college, he focused on lecturing for Guys Hospital in London on midwifery and physiology. After his uncle passed away, he soon took over all lectures (2). Around 1818,  Blundell published an article related to blood transfusions, and soon after he tested his ideas on a human subject (3). In the same year, Dr. Blundell performed a successful transfusion to help treat postpartum hemorrhage. And by 1840, the first complete blood transfusion to treat hemophilia is completed by Samuel Armstrong Lane with help from Blundell (1).

Blundell Impeller

 From here, Blundell created a device to help with blood transfusions. Called the Blundell Impeller, it was a device "which consisted of a funnel and pump for the collection of donor blood for indirect transfusion into the veins of a patient" (4). With this device, Blundell completed 10 more transfusions, but only 5 of them were successful in any way. Looking at this now, it can easily be said that this was not only an unsafe method because of not knowing about different blood types, but also because of the blood being left in open air before being put back into a body.

Towards the end of the 19th century, people had yet to realize that there were multiple blood types. But Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943) discovered this to be true in 1900. After doing research into immunology, Landsteiner found that  the cause for agglutination (blood clots) was actually an immunological reaction (6). Originally called A,B,C types, Landsteiner changed it to A,B,O. And in 1902 Landsteiner's colleges discovered the AB blood type as well (7). From there, the science of blood and all that comes with it took off into various different routes, constantly changing for the better. 

Work Cited

(1) “Highlights of Transfusion Medicine History.” Site Title, www.aabb.org/tm/Pages/highlights.aspx.

(2) “James Blundell (Physician).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Sept. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Blundell_(physician).

(3) Rowlinson, Matthew. “Matthew Rowlinson, ‘On the First Medical Blood Transfusion Between Human Subjects, 1818″.” BRANCH, Aug. 2012, www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=matthew-rowlinson-on-the-first-medical-blood-transfusion-between-human-subjects-1818.
 (4)Adrienne, Carole. “A Brief History of Blood Transfusion in the 19th Century.” A Brief History of Blood Transfusion in the 19th Century ~, 11 Mar. 2015, civilwarrx.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-brief-history-of-blood-transfusion-in.html.

(6) Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Karl Landsteiner.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 June 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Karl-Landsteiner.
(7) “A Brief History of Blood Transfusion Through The Years.” Stanford Blood Center, 8 June 2017, stanfordbloodcenter.org/a-brief-history-of-blood-transfusion-through-the-years/.