Blood Transfusions and the Mad Scientist

We discussed how the trust placed in Van Helsing is rather unusual given the fact that he is foreign, Catholic, and educated about vampires. He fits the description of a Victorian villain but Stoker’s English characters never seem to doubt him. I think another feature that could be added to that list is his knowledge and use of blood transfusions.

The first transfusions were between animals in the 1650s, usually between dogs, and resulted in the death of the donor dog. Richard Lower, who led many of these experiments, described the painful procedure in detail (Lower). He performed the first successful xenotransfusions in the 1660s. Obviously, there was still a lot unknown about blood at this time. Scientists were curious about what was actually transferred in a blood transfusion. Many thought there would be psychological as well as physical effects. To test this, a mentally ill patient was used as the subject. It was thought that his illness could be cured through transfusion. The blood of a mellow and gentle sheep would be used to “cool” the patient’s temperament (Yale). However, the results were mixed. Public mockery, dissent, and further failures eventually led to the banning of transfusions in England and France for the next 150 years. The practice was still uncommon and mistrusted in the 1800s. Blood types weren’t even discovered until the early 1900s, so transfusions before then were risky for the patient.

Given this historical context, Van Helsing is a little too quick to jump to blood transfusions as a way to save Lucy. I think the success of the four operations is wishful thinking on Stoker’s part. Lucy’s body could have easily rejected the foreign material. Van Helsing’s language also resembles the language of the 17^th century scientists. By the 1890s, they knew about some micromolecules, but Van Helsing still characterizes the blood using abstract terms. He calls Arthur’s blood “bright” (Stoker 132). He emphasizes the need for “brave man’s blood” (Stoker 160). At one point Van Helsing even decides not to follow scientific practice, saying of Arthur, “‘He is so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not defibrinate it’” (Stoker 133). The transfusion exists in some space between science and magic. Medically, it is helping Lucy–she needs the blood to survive. But it is also strengthening her mentally. The men are giving her their life, their strength, their bravery, their purity.

The descriptions of early pioneers in blood transfusions remind me a little too much of Dr. Moreau, who also made his start in transfusions (Wells 53). Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but in this context Van Helsing seems a lot like Dr. Moreau. Of course, he’s not transfusing blood just for fun, but he is pushing the limits of what are acceptable medical practices. Why would he have his own transfusion equipment in a time when transfusions were unusual? Is he even a practicing medical doctor? (Dr. Seward is a little disturbing in this sense as well. He expresses interest in vivisection and laments its poor reputation). Given the anxieties of the period, Van Helsing’s foreignness, religion, and unique knowledge set him up to be a villain. Maybe in another scenario he would be the mad scientist.

Yale, Elizabeth. “First Blood Transfusion: A History.” (2015). http://daily.jstor.org/first-blood-transfusion/

Lower, Richard. “The Method Observed in Transfusing the Bloud Out of One Animal into Another” Philosophical Transactions (1665-1678) 1 (1665):353–358. Web.