De nova infusionis methodo. Dissertatio inauguralis medico-chirurgica....

Eduard von Graefe’s medical thesis described the method devised by his brother, Carl Ferdinand von Graefe (1787-1840), for transfusing blood or other liquids into the blood vessels. The work includes an illustration of the elder Graefe’s transfusion apparatus, which consisted of a silver syringe, a cannula and a trocar. Graefe’s transfusion method involved “opening the vena mediana when uncovered by means of a trocar; after the stiletto is drawn back, the blood or any other liquid is injected by the canule. Should it be necessary to repeat the operation, a lead probe is passed into the opening of the vein, to prevent its obliteration” (Ullersperger, p. 426).