Red gold: the epic story of blood. Pt. 1, Magic to medicine.

First in a 4-part series about blood (only parts 1, 3 and 4 in MFAC). This programme traces the understanding of blood from the 17th century to the early 1900s. Among the topics covered are the first blood transfusions between animals and man by Jean Baptiste Denis in 1667, Vesalius at Padua university and his 'Fabrica' of 1543, William Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood in 1628, the blood transfusion between animals of the Experimental Philosophy Club in 1650s Oxford and subsequent outlawing of tranfusions, the religious view of blood including the Jewish method of preparing kosher meat, the idea of the different 'humours' of the body relating to temperments, the long-running practice of bloodletting, the theory behind cupping, the blood transfusions between husband and wife performed by obstetrician James Blundell in the 19th century and the discovery of different blood groups by Karl Landsteiner at the turn of the century.