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responding to a mulatto, the second to a quadroon, the third to an octoroon, and so on, might be given at once by transfusion. Bleeding is the simplest of operations, and I knew that transfusion had been performed on a large scale ; therefore I set about making minute inquiries.
These took a long time, and required much consideration. At length I determined upon trying the experiment on the well-known breed of rabbits called silver greys, of which pure breeds were obtainable, and to exchange much of their blood for that of the common lop-eared rabbit ; afterwards to breed from pairs of silver greys in each of which alien blood had been largely transfused. This was done in 1871 on a considerable scale., I soon succeeded in establishing a vigorous cross-circulation that lasted several minutes between rabbits of different breeds, as described in
the Proceedings o} the Royal Society, 1871 [25].
The experiments were thorough, and misfortunes very rare. It was astonishing to see how quickly the rabbits recovered after the effect of the anaesthetic had passed away. It often happened that their spirits and sexual aptitudes were in no way dashed by an operation which only a few minutes before had changed nearly one half of the blood that was in their bodies. Out of a stock of three silver grey bucks and four silver grey does, whose blood had been thus largely adulterated, and of three common bucks and four common does whose blood had been similarly altered, I bred eighty-eight rabbits in thirteen litters. without any evidence of alteration of breed. All this is described in detail in the Memoir.
I was indebted to expert friends for making these
