James Blundell

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James Blundell in 1820 (engraving by John Cochran ).

James Blundell (born December 27, 1790 in London , † January 15, 1878 ibid) was a physiologist and obstetrician. He carried out the first successful blood transfusion in human medicine. In 1838 he was appointed a full member of the Royal College of Physicians .

Professional career

James Blundell studied medicine in London and Edinburgh. After graduating with a doctorate in Edinburgh in 1813, he taught obstetrics for midwives at Guy's Hospital in London from 1814 to 1834, and during this time he also received a professorship for obstetrics (English midwifery ). At Guy's Hospital he carried out the first successful human-to-human blood transfusion in 1825 after a woman who had been bled in childbirth . In addition, Blundell was also a leading physiologist of his time, who attracted attention in particular through his contributions to surgery of the abdominal cavity and to the understanding of the development of puerperal fever .

In 1834 his lectures were published as Principles and practice of obstetricy . It also contains his article on endotracheal intubation and artificial ventilation of asphyctic newborns: ".... In performing artificial respiration on new-born children, I have frequently observed, .... These facts admitted, there can, I presume, be no doubt, that when the fetus is still-born, the artificial respiration should be diligently tried. The only mode of performing this operation effectually is by means of ... the tracheal pipe, which I think every accoucheur should carry along with him to a labor. The tracheal pipe is a little tube of silver, designed to pass into the trachea,…. This done, you may take the child into your hands, and from your own lungs you may inflate the lungs of the fetus, emptying them afterwards by means of double pressure of the hand, ... "(quoted from)

In 1834 he left the Guys Hospital after a dispute with its chamberlain and then ran his own practice . In 1847 he retired.

Blood transfusion

After Bundel had carried out numerous animal experiments with the aim of exploring the technology and benefits of a blood transfusion, he gave a lecture on this in 1818 at the Medical-Surgical Society in London. Shortly afterwards he carried out the first documented blood transfusion at Guys Hospital in London on a severely ill patient (the contemporary description indicates a terminally advanced gastric carcinoma - "... scirrhous condition of the pylorus and the upper part of the duodenum ..." (quoted from) ). About half a liter of blood ( 12-14 ounces) was transferred into the cephalic vein . The blood came from people who happened to be present. The patient survived for another 56 hours after clinical improvement.

In October 1825 one of his students gave a lecture on a blood transfusion he had successfully carried out to a woman who had recently given birth and who subsequently recovered permanently. The extent to which the transfusion actually saved lives was a lively discussion in specialist circles at the time.

Blood tolerance tests were only introduced in the 20th century (1907) by Reuben Ottenberg after Karl Landsteiner discovered the AB0 system in 1901 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JH Young: JAMES BLUNDELL (1790-1878), physiologist EXPERIMENTAL AND obstetrician. In: Medical history. Volume 8, April 1964, pp. 159-169. PMID 14139095 , PMC 1033367 (free full text).
  2. ↑ a b c P. M. Dunn: Dr James Blundell (1790–1878) and neonatal resuscitation. In: Archives of Disease in Childhood . 64, 1989, pp. 494-495, (online)
  3. ↑ Bettina A. Bryan: Blundell, James. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 190.
  4. ↑ P. Scheel: The transfusion of the blood and injection of the Arzneyen into the veins. Brummer, Copenhagen 1828, p. 180 ff., (Online)
  5. ↑ P. Scheel: The transfusion of the blood and injection of the Arzneyen into the veins. Brummer, Copenhagen 1828, p. 208 f.
  6. ↑ ER Giblett: Philip Levine. National Academy of Sciences, 1994, (pdf) ; last viewed on 7th col. 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Blundell, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English gynecologist, professor of physiology and obstetrics
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1790
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1878
Place of death London