Blood Type Reading

A short read on the legends and strange tales around this reading, with this site's own view.

There was a time when blood was thought to carry its owner's temperament. In 1667 the French physician Jean-Baptiste Denys transfused the blood of lambs and calves into humans. The idea, it is said, was that the blood of a gentle, docile animal might calm an agitated patient. The lamb's standing as a pure creature symbolizing the blood of Christ is also reported to have been one reason for the choice.

The first patient seemed to recover for a while, but a trial later followed another patient's death, and in Paris transfusion into humans without the approval of the Faculty of Medicine was effectively banned. Animal-to-human transfusion ended there, and human blood groups were not discovered until 1900, more than two centuries later.

There is no scientific basis for linking blood type to personality. Judging people or treating them unfairly because of their blood type can lead to discrimination and prejudice, so please take care.

In this site's view, the idea that blood carries character has returned again and again in new forms. This is speculation, but because we cannot see into another person's heart, we are tempted to look for their true nature in the red that flows through their body. The physician who pinned his hopes on lamb's blood and those of us who try to know someone by their blood type may share the same prayer: to see what cannot be seen.