1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: a show that infuses a little history into the blood 4 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:22,479 Speaker 1: stream of your day. I'm Gabe Lousier, and in this 5 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: episode we're talking about a notable diary entry that gave 6 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: the world its first description of a gruesome new medical procedure, 7 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:46,840 Speaker 1: the blood transfusion. The day was November sixteen sixty six. 8 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: English diarist and politician Samuel Peeps wrote the first known 9 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: description of a blood transfusion. He had overheard the story 10 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: of the medical experiment while having dinner at a London pub. 11 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,279 Speaker 1: Peeps was administrator for the Royal Navy and a member 12 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:10,040 Speaker 1: of Parliament, but he's best remembered today for his many 13 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: detailed diary entries, which offer a rare look at daily 14 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:19,759 Speaker 1: life in London during the turbulent mid seventeenth century. Peeps 15 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,400 Speaker 1: wrote extensively on notable city events such as the Great 16 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 1: Fire and the Great Plague, but he also wrote about 17 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: everyday life and sometimes about medical breakthroughs that he heard 18 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:34,759 Speaker 1: about second hand in a pub. As far as we know, 19 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: the blood transfusion Peeps wrote about was only the second 20 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,400 Speaker 1: such procedure in the world. The first was performed a 21 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: year earlier by a physician named Richard Lower. In both cases, 22 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: the blood transfusion was carried out between two dogs, and 23 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: in both cases the donor dog did not survive the procedure. 24 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: These successful transfusions or half successful, occurred just over forty 25 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: years after William Harvey proved that it's the pumping action 26 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: of the heart that circulates blood through the body. It's 27 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: worth noting that an Arab physician named Ibben al Nafists 28 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: had proposed a similar notion in the thirteenth century, but 29 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: most European researchers of the era didn't have access to 30 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: his writings. As a result, prior to Harvey, most Western 31 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: physicians adhered to the ancient Greek belief that the liver 32 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 1: was the organ that circulates blood. In fact, medical understanding 33 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: of the circulatory system was so poor that when Pope 34 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: Innocent the Eighth was on his deathbed in his doctor 35 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,960 Speaker 1: tried to orally administer fresh blood to keep the pope alive, 36 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 1: and no it didn't work. As soon as Harvey published 37 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: his findings in the early sixteen hundreds, the medical community 38 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: became fixated on the possibility of adding blood to a 39 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: person's body to replace blood that had been lost. Physicians 40 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: started designing instruments for such a procedure and began experimenting 41 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: on animals. Richard Lower performed the first successful dog to 42 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,920 Speaker 1: dog transfusion in sixteen sixty five, but his account of 43 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,959 Speaker 1: that experiment wasn't published until over a year later, about 44 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: a month after Samuel Peeps wrote his diary entry. On 45 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: the night of November, Peeps stopped by the Pope's Head 46 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: Pub after visiting his wife's sick brother. He met up 47 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: with some friends who had just come from a Royal 48 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: Society meeting where they had witnessed the world second successful 49 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: blood transfusion. The procedure, though scientific in nature, was grizzly. Nonetheless, 50 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: the dogs were tied down and the arteries and veins 51 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: and their necks were opened. Blood was transferred from one 52 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: dog to the other through goose their quills inserted into 53 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: the blood vessels. Peeps recounted his friend's observations, writing quote, 54 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: the experiment of transfusing the blood of one dog into 55 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: another was made before the Society by Mr King and 56 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,160 Speaker 1: Mr Thomas Cox, upon a little mastiff and a spaniel 57 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,720 Speaker 1: with very good success, the former bleeding to death, and 58 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: the latter receiving the blood of the other and emitting 59 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:30,840 Speaker 1: so much of his own as to make him capable 60 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,919 Speaker 1: of receiving that of the other. This did give occasion 61 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: to many pretty wishes, as of the blood of a 62 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: Quaker to be let into an archbishop, and such like. 63 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: But as Dr Crone says, this procedure may, if it takes, 64 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,719 Speaker 1: be of mighty use to man's health for the amending 65 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: of bad blood by borrowing from a better body. As 66 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: a quick note, the word pretty could also mean clever, interesting, 67 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: or skillful in the sixteen hundreds, so Peeps was likely 68 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: saying that the success of the procedure led people to 69 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: imagine other clever uses for it, such as in human medicine. Also, 70 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: if you're wondering the dog who received the transfusion, the 71 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: spaniel was brought before the Royal Society again one week 72 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 1: later and seemed to have recovered nicely. As for those 73 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: pretty wishes to transfuse blood into a human, that was 74 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: achieved less than a year later in the summer of 75 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:39,159 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty seven. There's some dispute whether the procedure was 76 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: performed by Englishman Richard Lower or French physician Jean Baptiste Denny, 77 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:48,720 Speaker 1: but whoever was responsible, we know the patient was a 78 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 1: fifteen year old boy who had been bled so much 79 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: by his own doctor that he now required an infusion 80 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: of new blood to stay alive. However, the boy was 81 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: given blood from a human donor. Instead, he received the 82 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: blood of a sheep. Amazingly, the boy survived, despite the 83 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: danger of inner species transfusion and the incompatibility of blood types. 84 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: It's believed he lived because only a relatively small amount 85 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: of sheep's blood had been used. Subsequent patients who received 86 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: sheep's blood transfusions weren't so lucky, leading to the practice 87 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: eventually being banned from there. Blood transfusions remained a dubious 88 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:37,480 Speaker 1: prospect for at least another couple hundred years. The first 89 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: successful human to human transfusion was performed in eighteen eighteen 90 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:48,359 Speaker 1: by British obstetrician James Blundel, but it wasn't until about 91 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: a century later in the early twentieth century, that blood 92 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: transfusions became reliably safe and beneficial, thanks to the discovery 93 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: of distinct blood types. It's tempting to laugh at the 94 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: ignorance of seventeenth century medicine, or at least it would 95 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: be if those experiments hadn't been so inhumane and dodgy. 96 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: But it's worth remembering that information takes time to gather, 97 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: and the new discoveries depend on previous attempts, even ones 98 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 1: that seemed distasteful or absurd in hindsight, unsettling as they were, 99 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: experiments like the one observed in Samuel Peeps's diary paved 100 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: the way for modern medicine and thankfully for modern medical 101 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: ethics as well. I'm Gabe Lousier and hopefully you now 102 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 103 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: You can learn even more about history by following us 104 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d i HC Show, 105 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 1: and if you have any comments or feedback to share, 106 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: you can send it my way at this Day at 107 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: i heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for 108 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see 109 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 1: you back here again tomorrow for another Day in History class. 110 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:17,680 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i 111 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 112 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.