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Blood-lettingwascommonandfrequentlyitresultedintheexhaustionof
thebody,orevendeath.Therecordnumberofblood-lettingprocedureswas
performedonLouisXVII,whounderwentit47timeswithinasingleyear.
Thesetragicpracticeswereusedmostlybecauseofignorance.Itwasbelieved
thatthehumanbodycontainsapproximately25litresofblood.Bytheend
of19thcenturythePolishclinician,JózefDietl,provedtheharmfuleffectsof
blood-letting.Thisbreakthroughledtoinitiatetheresearchesontheblood.
WilliamHarvey(1578-1657),whowasworkingin16thand17thcentury,
physicianofKingsJamesIandCharlesI,wasthefirstwhodescribedthe
structureandfunctioningofthebloodcirculationsysteminExercitatioAn-
atomicadeMotuCordisetSanguinisinAnimalibus(OntheMotionofthe
HeartandBloodinAnimals)in1628.Itisconsideredtobethebeginningof
modernhumanphysiology.InthisworkHarveydescribedtypicalfunctioning
oftheheartandthestructureoftheclosedcirculatorysystem.Hestatedthat
thebloodisconstantlyinmotion,circulatingthroughaclosedsystemoflarger
andsmallertubes,andthatthismovementiscausedbythecontractionsof
theheart.Healsodescribedsystemicandpulmonarycirculationemphasizing
thatthetubesofthissystemarecompletelyfilledwithbloodanditsvolume
doesnotchange.Harveyalsosuspectedthatthebloodintheveinsandinthe
arterieshasadifferentcomposition,howeverhedidnotmanagetoconfirmit
throughtheresearch.Henoticedthatthevenousbloodandthearterialblood
cannotmixintheheart,becausetheyareseparatedbytheinterventricular
septum.Despitethat,hethoughtithadtomixinanotherpartofthesystem.
Hediscoveredthattheheartfunctionstartsfromsystoleofauricles,thenven-
tricles,followedbydiastole.Thisfunctionmakesthebloodpushoutofthe
heartintothearteries.Healsonotedthatduringembryogenesistheheartis
oneofthefirstdevelopingorgans.Heemphasizedthatinfoetusesthereisan
orificeintheinterventricularseptumanditisnotpresentinthenewbornsand
adults[Domżał,2009;WitekandKołątaj2012].Theseextraordinarydiscov-
eriesmadebyWilliamHarveyalsocontributedtostartingattemptsofblood
transfusion,initiallyontheanimals.
Thefirsthumanbloodtransfusionwasperformedin1667,whenJean
BaptisteDenis(1640-1704),thecourtphysicianofLouisXIVtransfusedthe
bloodofasheeptoaman.Theprocedurewasasuccess-thepatientsurvived
andrecovered.Unfortunately,thisresultwascoincidental,becausethenext
attemptofthiskindendedwithdeath.EventuallyDeniswasforcedtocease
hisexperiments.Howeveritdidnotstopcontemporaryphysiciansfromcon-
tinuingattemptsofcuringwithblood,especiallyincasesofitslossasaresult
ofhaemorrhage.Atthebeginningofthe19thcenturyanEnglishobstetrician
andphysiologist,JamesBlundell,transfusedhumanbloodto10womenafter
