ABSTRACT
Perhaps the most widely known test of biological material is blood grouping. It is not generally thought that blood grouping represents a form of DNA analysis, but this is precisely what it is. We can justify this by remembering that blood groups are determined by inheritance of genes and, therefore, if we determine a blood group we can also learn something about the individual’s genetic make-up. The first of the blood groups to be described was what is now known as the ABO system. This system was discovered and described by Karl Landsteiner in 1900, for which he received a Nobel Prize in 1930. Before the work of Landsteiner blood transfusions had been carried out, but usually resulted in the death of the patient. The story of blood started with William Harvey in 1628, describing the circulation of the blood. This allowed the development of the idea that blood was the life giving humour and therefore under certain circumstances could be moved between individuals. It was later, in fact the late of part of the 17th century, that the first references to blood transfusions can be seen. The process was a bit grim; goose quills were used as the method of transfer. Samuel Pepys in his Diary describes a transfusion which was performed before the Royal Society in London. The whole process did not seem to be advantageous to either the donor or recipient. One of the sad events which came from these early attempts to transfuse one individual with blood from another was that people died. It was this high mortality rate that resulted in the Faculty of Medicine in Paris declaring that the process was criminal; shortly after this the Parliament of Great Britain and the magistrates of Rome also agreed that the process was unlawful. The development of blood transfusions lapsed until, as a last resort, transfusions were tried upon women in childbirth who had haemorrhaged – if the patient is going to die, anything you can do is not going to make the situation worse. At this time it was hit and miss as to whether the recipient was going to die, but once Karl Landsteiner had defined the problem of transfusing blood between incompatible individuals, recipients would survive and donors would be proud.
