The Determination of the Length of Life of Transfused Blood Corpuscles in Man

1. It is possible in mixtures of corpuscles of different groups to separate the corpuscles practically quantitatively by treating with a serum that agglutinates the corpuscles of one kind, leaving the others unagglutinated. 2. After a recipient has been transfused with blood of a group other than his own, specimens of his blood treated with a serum that will agglutinate his own corpuscles but not the transfused corpuscles show unagglutinated corpuscles in large numbers. 3. These unagglutinated corpuscles which appear in the recipien's blood after such a transfusion are the transfused corpuscles and their count is a quantitative indicator of the amount of transfused blood still in the recipient's circulation. 4. The life of the transfused corpuscle is long; it has been found to extend for 30 days and more. The beneficial results of transfusion are without doubt not due primarily to a stimulating effect on the bone marrow, but, it is reasonable to assume, to the functioning of the transfused blood corpuscles.