The Importance of History: First Successful Blood Transfusion

Name: Professor’s Name: Course: Date: The Importance of History Introduction It is often said that history repeats itself and that the issues of today are often predated by similar events that happened in the past. From history, people can learn about who they were as well as find similarities between themselves and what their ancestors did before. It is from history that people get to learn about the major advancements as well as the developments that people in the past spearheaded. All that is available now is an improvement of the ideas that great thinkers and developers had in the past. In this article, three important events will be discussed. The first one is the first successful blood transfusion that happened in England. This was a major development in the field of medicine and helped to spearhead major developments. The second one involves the black plague or otherwise known as the Great Plague, which happened in London between 1665 and 1666. Historians agree that the Great Plague was the worst plague to be recorded in the history books with its effects compared to Black Death of 1348. Finally, this paper will explore the issue of slavery and law in Virginia. The specific year will be 1669, where an act that granted slave owners permission to kill slaves was enacted. All the above events set a precedence for a lot of things today and the years that followed. The world has built upon these things and continues to build upon them to advance the political, social, cultural, and economic aspects of life. First Successful Blood Transfusion People never give much thought to the importance of blood or its purpose in their bodies as long as they are okay. However, when one gets sick, this is the time people start obsessing over information regarding their health and try to learn as much as they can. In the past, little was known about the human body and how it functions. The medical field was still young, and physicians were learning the human body while learning the treatment methods as well. Blood transfusion was a foreign idea, and in the past, there was no proper equipment or environments to perform a blood transfusion. However, instead of giving up, the physicians of old, with their many limitations, made sure that it is normal for doctors today to conduct millions of blood transfusions in a year. First, blood transfusion, as defined by Learoyd (2) is “the transference of blood from the circulation of one individual to that of another for practical therapeutic purposes.” Research regarding blood transfusion started a long time ago. However, as indicated by Learoyd (2), it “only became a practical possibility during and shortly after the Second World War.” However, as indicated before, nothing that is done today would have been possible without the contribution of the individuals who lived in the past. Even without the right equipment, these individuals worked hard to prove their worth to the world. One name that has to be mentioned while discussing matters regarding blood transfusion is William Harvey. Ribatti (1) notes that Harvey is responsible for the discovery of the circulation of blood in people’s bodies. He explains that while “physicians of the time felt that the lungs were responsible for moving the bl...