Blood and Justice (PDF)

The 17th Century Parisian doctor who made blood transfusion
history...

In 1667 a Parisian doctor by the name of Jean-Baptiste Denis
performed an operation that had never previously been attempted -
he transfused blood into another human being. This was the first
attempt at a procedure that over subsequent centuries was to save
the lives of thousands of people. But at the time Denis was nearly
convicted of murder.

The victim of Denis's experiment was a middle-aged man suffering
from mad rages. Denis believed that by transfusing the blood of a
calf into the man the man would assume the placid nature of the
calf. The experiment appeared to work. The highly toxic blood made
the man in question very ill and therefore very placid. It is now
believed that the man was in fact suffering from syphilis, which
induced his violent behaviour. The symptoms of the syphilis would
also have been relieved by the high fever that the toxic blood
would have induced.

Encouraged by this apparent success, though unaware of the reasons
for it, many other people attempted similar experiments.

Eventually the man died and Denis was arrested for his murder.
Further investigations revealed however that the man had not in
fact died from the blood transfusion (although he certainly would
have done so very shortly) but from cyanide placed in his food by
his wife.

Giving an insight into the first attempts at a procedure that has
gone on to be developed for the benefit of humanity, and into the
symbolism of blood throughout the history of medicine, Blood and
Justice raises ethical issues that are as relevant today as they
were at the time.