AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

The study presented in this thesis arose as a side-issue of a main investigation on the preservation of whole blood assigned to the Department of Biochemistry, by the National Research Council, shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939. During the recent Spanish Civil War, the extensive use of stored blood in the treatment of wounded soldiers and civilians had demonstrated the practicability and the usefulness of stored blood in modern warfare. As a result, a widespread interest developed in many countries in the improvement of methods of preservation. The idea of the Blood Bank was introduced in the United States by Dr. B. Fantus in 1937, and within a short time the bank had become an established facility in many of the larger hospitals of North America. When the second World War finally broke out there arose a sudden need, particularly in bombed areas, for large stores of blood. Much blood was collected in anticipation of the "blitzkrieg", but it could be kept only for a week or so and then had to be discarded. Since little research had been done up to the time on the improvement of storage methods, many groups including the one at McGill University, undertook an investigation of this subject. Rapid progress was made, and in the course of two or three years the average time of preservation has been extended to six weeks [...]