The Past, Present, and Future of Blood Donation and Transfusion
Blood Donation: “The action or process of giving blood for transfusion; an instance of this; a quantity of blood given for this purpose” (1903-) (OED).
Blood Transfusion: “The process of transferring the blood of a person or animal into the veins of another; the injection of blood or other fluid into the veins” (1643-) (OED).
The Early Days
“I think the invention of injecting blood is all very fine, but I should not like to try it myself, for fear that I might turn into a sheep”.
“If I were to experience a metamorphosis, I should prefer to become a female lion so that no one could devour me”. (Christina, Queen of Sweden, 1626-1689)
Records suggest that blood transfusions using humans first took place in the seventeenth century. These early transfusions were known as ‘xenotransfusions’, where blood was taken from an animal and transfused into a human. Rather than using blood to save the lives of people with illness or injury, xenotransfusions were often performed on patients whose state of mind was deemed dangerous to themselves and others. It was thought that by donating the blood of a placid, calm animal such as a sheep into the body of an erratic human, it would fundamentally alter their temperament for the better. A person’s blood was thought to contain their individuality, identity, and ultimately, their soul. Popular diarist Samuel Pepys recorded an incident where a ‘deranged’ scholar was transfused with the blood of a sheep to cure him of his ‘insanity’. Do you believe that your identity can be found in your blood?
However, xenotransfusion was not a safe procedure. Though practitioners did not know it at the time, animal and human blood are incompatible, and patients who underwent a xenotransfusion died because of the procedure. It was thanks to the controversial work of French physician Jean Baptiste Denis in June 1667 that blood transfusion was banned for almost 150 years. His unsuccessful transfusion of lamb’s blood into a ‘dangerous and wild’ man led to many medical establishments issuing restrictions on blood transfusion across Europe.
But that’s not the end of the story…
Hope
In 1818, English obstetrician James Blundell performed the first successful human-to-human blood transfusions on patients suffering from a postpartum haemorrhage. Since then, Blundell and numerous other physicians have successfully performed the procedure under a unique range of circumstances including during childbirth, at warfronts, and during surgical procedures. For many decades, blood transfusions involved directly connecting the veins of the donor and recipient via a series of complicated apparatus. This process was called ‘direct transfusion’. In more recent years, medical institutions have adopted a different process called ‘indirect transfusion’. To learn more about these terms, click the buttons below.
For a long time, blood transfusions remained within the realm of obstetrics (pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period). Many early transfusions were given to women who suffered postpartum bleeding after delivering a child. As a result, early references to blood donation and transfusion in popular culture drew on the image of the pale and weak woman in need of medical assistance in the form of donated blood. The donor was often depicted as the gallant husband, whose blood represents life, longevity, and generosity. While this representation of the damsel in distress has long since waned, the importance of blood donations in the field of obstetrics continues to be recognised by midwives and physicians. Click the tab below to read about the difference a blood donation can make in childbirth.
The Procedure
TRIGGER WARNING: You are about view images of objects used in nineteenth- and twentieth-century blood donation, including visuals of needles and sounds associated with the procedure. If you do not wish to view this page, please skip ahead.
The Ferguson Blood Transfusion (1850s)
Described as ‘elegant little syringes’, Daniel Ferguson’s surgical instruments entered the medical sphere in the early 1840s. His portable transfusion kit, which is like the one used by James Blundell in 1818, worked by inserting one needle into the vein of the donor and one into the recipient. The blood from the donor initially ran into a funnel, which was assisted by pulling the attached syringe. When enough blood was drawn, the donor cannula was closed, and the recipient’s cannula was opened. Blood was pushed into the recipient via a syringe.
What was it like to donate blood in the 1850s?
If you donated or received blood via a Ferguson transfusion kit, you were positioned alongside the person donating/receiving blood. In many instances, the two people sat face-to-face or alongside each other. This handy diagram shows the Ferguson kit in action: the two arms (donor and recipient) were hooked up to syringes, and the process of transfusing the blood took as long as was thought necessary to recover the recipient’s health. How would you feel to sit facing your donor or the recipient of your blood?
What would a transfusion in the 1850s have sounded like? Though we can’t re-create the context in which a Ferguson transfusion kit was used, we can replicate some of the sounds the kit might have made when it was in use. How would these sounds make you feel?
Did you know?
Thackray Museum of Medicine hold thousands of objects in their stores, far too many to put on display! Take a look at this ‘Scannell Apparatus for Whole Blood Transfusion’, manufactured in 1945. Housed in a mahogany case, this set contains a pair of blue-coloured glass syringes, several types of needles, tubing, and a connecting valve. Instructions outlined that the blood transfusion was to be given by three physicians. Two physicians were to carry out the procedure, and the third was to check the patient’s blood pressure. How would you feel undergoing this kind of treatment using the Scannell Apparatus?
The Direct Flow Transfusion (1960s)
This device is thought to have been made in 1966 by the Leeds-based medical supply firm, Charles F. Thackray Ltd. Company (1902-1990), from which the Thackray Museum of Medicine originated. The double-ended blood transfusion apparatus enables both donor and recipient to be connected to the same device. Today, most UK-based blood for transfusion is distributed through the NHS Blood and Transplant. As a result, donors and recipients rarely meet each other. However, portable transfusion kits remain useful in emergencies such as at warfronts, where blood products are not immediately available.
Macopharma-Brand Quadruple Blood Bag (2024)
Pictured is a modern day ‘quadruple’ blood bag, which separates and collects whole blood, plasma, platelets, and cryoprecipitate, a frozen blood product that contains blood clotting proteins. These bags can be found in the majority of donor centres in the UK.
If you could choose, what would your blood bag look like? Find out more about customised blood bags in ‘Connections: Part 1’.
Today, blood is collected from donors in the UK via a ‘donor centre’. Donors sit in specialised ‘bucket’ chairs and their blood is collected into a blood bag, which is constantly moved by a small machine called an ‘agitator’ (pictured left). Donated blood is then stored and delivered to various hospitals across the country. Donors can receive messages informing them of where their blood has been taken and used, but no further information about the recipient is given. In this respect, blood donation today is as anonymous as ever. Donors and recipients are separated by both space and time. It is only under exceptional circumstances that donors come into contact with recipients. Read about Julie’s experience here.
Unlike earlier transfusion kits, modern-day blood donation bags do not make a sound! Instead, the use of machines to ‘agitate’ and preserve the blood create sounds. Listen to an example below of a blood donation machine warning health professionals that a donor’s blood bag is almost full. How do these sounds compare to earlier experiences of blood donation? Would you prefer to hear a Victorian transfusion pump or modern-day machinery?