¸£Àû¼§

27 October 2020

In the podcast NBN Book of the Day, you meet Boel Berner who talks about her book Strange Blood: The Rise and Fall of Lamb Blood Transfusion in Nineteenth-Century Medicine and Beyond.

The "NBN Book of the Day" features the most timely and interesting author interviews from the New Books Network. In one of the episodes, you hear Boel Berner talk about her book Strange Blood. Boel Berner is a sociologist, historian and professor emeritus at Linköping University.

About the book

In the mid-1870s, the experimental therapy of lamb blood transfusion spread like an epidemic across Europe and the USA. Doctors tried it as a cure for tuberculosis, pellagra and anemia; proposed it as a means to reanimate seemingly dead soldiers on the battlefield. It was a contested therapy because it meant crossing boundaries and challenging taboos. Was the transfusion of lamb blood into desperately sick humans really defensible?

Boel Berner, Strange Blood: The Rise and Fall of Lamb Blood Transfusion in 19th Century Medicine and Beyond (Transcript Verlag, 2020) takes the reader on a journey into hospital wards and lunatic asylums, physiological laboratories and 19th century wars. It presents a fascinating story of medical knowledge, ambitions and concerns – a story that provides lessons for current debates on the morality of medical experimentation and care.

Contact

Latest news from LiU

Jendrik Seipp.

Research on next-generation AI planning receives SEK 15 million

LiU researcher Jendrik Seipp has been awarded SEK 15 million to develop an AI planning system that uses multi-core processors for parallel computation. This could lead to more efficient logistics and large-scale energy optimisation, among much else.

Woman by a tree looking into the camera.

The paper industry can become more energy-efficient with a new measurement method

The pulp and paper industry consumes large amounts of energy. But despite stricter EU requirements for efficiency improvements, there has been no way to compare energy consumption between different companies. Now there may be a solution.

Reseracher in lab.

New master’s programmes in world-leading materials science

¸£Àû¼§ is one of the world’s leading universities in materials science. The autumn of 2026 will see the launch of two new master’s programmes in this field. The students can look forward to an excellent labour market.