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Fig. 2.—Mr. Higginson’s Transfusion Instrument

A is a metallic cup, of 6-oz. capacity, to receive the supply of blood. B an outer casing, which will hold 5 oz. of hot water, introduced through an aperture at C. D is a passage leading into an elastic barrel, composed of vulcanized india-rubber, E, of which the capacity is 1 oz. F′ the exit for the blood into the injection-pipe G. At D and F there are ball-valves, capable of closing the upper openings when thrown up against them, but leaving the lower openings always free. The blood, or other fluid, poured into the cup A, has free power to run unobstructed through D, E, F; a small plug H is therefore provided to close the lower aperture F when necessary. The tube G is of vulcanized india-rubber, and terminates in a metal tube O for insertion into the vein. This diagram is one-half the actual size of the instrument.

Although some of the early experiments on blood transfusion had been done in England, and although its revival in the nineteenth century was initiated in England, yet it is to be noticed that most of the references to it up to 1874 are to be found in the works of Continental writers. Nevertheless, an important modification was introduced into the technique of the operation in 1857 by Higginson, who applied the principle of a rubber syringe with ball-valves for transferring the blood from the receptacle into which it was drawn, to the vein of the recipient. This apparatus is illustrated here, as it is of some interest in the history of medicine. Higginson’s syringe is now used for a different purpose, but it was successfully applied by its inventor in a series of seven cases which he duly reported. One patient whom he transfused was suffering from extreme weakness, which was attributed to the too protracted suckling of twins. He gave her about twelve ounces of blood from a healthy female servant, and a state of quietude followed her previous restlessness. A few minutes later the patient was seized with a rather severe rigor. It did not last long, but led to a state of reaction and excitement, in which she sang a hymn in a loud voice. The final result was good, and Higginson reports that in five of the seven cases some benefit was to be attributed to the transfusions. Later the same principle was used in America by Aveling and by Fryer about the year 1874, and subsequently it was in that country that nearly all the important advances in the science of blood transfusion were made.