On the Brink of the Grave: Early Stories of Blood Transfusion

This lecture will focus on the medical and cultural history of transfusion before the twentieth century, from the ill-fated experiments of the late seventeenth century to the re-introduction of the practice in nineteenth-century England. The early stories of transfusion include first-person accounts of medical/surgical experiments, medical case histories, and lectures delivered to medical students; as well as works of popular literature, such as satires and tales of sensation and horror.