"The first blood transfusion was carried out, today in 1666."
So several almanacs record. But was it? Was it really?
William Harvey "described" the circulation and properties of blood today in 1628, but what he was describing had been known for centuries.
The Greek Erasistratus was convinced that he knew it, but was unable to provide proof.
Then there was Ala-al-din abu Al-Hassan Ali ibn Abi-Hazm al-Qarshi al-Dimashq, who is usually known as ibn al-Nafis because the amount of oxygen that needs to circulate through the blood in order to say his full name is more than most of us can manage without a transfusion.
His encyclopaedia. "al-Shamil fi al-Tibb", written in Cairo in the middle years of the 13th century, includes a description of pulmonary circulation that was so thorough it became standard in treatment of all connected medical conditions, from heart attack to sword-wound, in every Bimaristan in the Arab-Moslem world thenceforward, and travelled through the Jewish world into Europe, where it was regarded as heretical, and therefore proscribed, rather than prescribed. It took until Harvey for that "o" to become an "e", but the claim that Harvey "discovered" it goes alongside Columbus' discovery of the Americas and yours of these facts as "etymological". To "dis-cover" something is to take its lid off; in this case the lid had been hermetically sealed by Papal Bull, but what was in there was definitely already in there.
And, to add one more sad note to what was ultimately a piece of racism (denial inferiorises; being the discoverer superiorises), most of the transfusions carried out by Harvey did more harm than good, because he may have "discovered" the circulation of the blood, but alas he had not yet discovered (though both ibn Senna and Maimonides had written about it at great length, five hundred years earlier) that other fundamental necessity of medicine: hygiene.
The first (recorded) successful blood transfusion was carried out by Richard Lower in England in 1665, but this doesn't really count either, as his patients were dogs, not people
Much more on all these Arab and Jewish scientists and scholars in my novel "The Persian Fire", due for publication very soon
And just for the info, click here for confirmation of my insistence on al-Nafis; the link is to the National Institutes of Health website, but I shall save you the trouble of reading the whole article, as the important bit comes up just by googling it:
Amber pages
Claude Monet, French Impressionist painter, born today in 1840 - the illustration is one of many paintings he made in Etretat, on the Normandy coast just north of Le Havre; for why that was my inevitable choice, see October 6. Monet was one of the painters "discovered" by Paul Durand-Ruel, for which see February 5
Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian statesman, born today in 1889
Aaron Copland, composer, born today in 1900
1851: "Moby Dick" published, one of the truly giant works of world literature - a Behemoth, a Leviathan. To learn where Melville sourced the tale, see Nov 20. As to "how was it received?" To read why "It Repels The Reader", click here)
Amber pages
Claude Monet, French Impressionist painter, born today in 1840 - the illustration is one of many paintings he made in Etretat, on the Normandy coast just north of Le Havre; for why that was my inevitable choice, see October 6. Monet was one of the painters "discovered" by Paul Durand-Ruel, for which see February 5
Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian statesman, born today in 1889
Aaron Copland, composer, born today in 1900
1851: "Moby Dick" published, one of the truly giant works of world literature - a Behemoth, a Leviathan. To learn where Melville sourced the tale, see Nov 20. As to "how was it received?" To read why "It Repels The Reader", click here)
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