Blood Transfusion and the Body in Early Modern France

Abstract

This article examines medical discourse surrounding the first animal-to-human blood transfusion performed in 1667 by the French physician Jean-Baptiste Denis. During this period, new physiologies interacted with Galenic medicine in various social milieus that shaped discourse over the body. Although the practice of transfusion was based in contemporary theories of circulation, the therapeutic rationale for transfusion largely appealed to Galenic humouralism. This case reveals how social and intellectual contexts engendered an eclectic corporality, which integrated contemporary natural philosophy within a framework of medical Galenism. Medical discourse from this episode suggests a pluralistic conception of the body – a body that was broadly humoural but included accretions from new physiologies.