The Iconography of Animal-to-Human Blood Transfusions
Keywords:
Blood transfusion, xenotransfusion, scientific illustrations, history of medicine, blood symbolism of blood, blood and genderAbstract
The first blood transfusions to humans were performed in the 17th century. Surprisingly, these transfusions were performed with animal blood. This article addresses illustrations of animal-to-human blood transfusions from the 17th as well as the 19th century and discusses the complex conceptions of blood that they reveal. The author argues that in both periods the illustrations are multilayered and combine physiological conceptions of blood with distinctive symbolic overtones. The 17th-century illustrations have strong religious connotations, whereas the 19th-century depictions reveal a gendered and erotized idea of the female body. In addition, it is argued that a couple of the 17th-century illustrations draw upon apparently contradictory physiological conceptions of blood by making references to both the then new idea of blood circulation and to the humoral theory of Antiquity.
References
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