Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with November 23.

Events

1667 — In one of the earliest human transfusion experiments, Richard Lower and Edmund King transfused lamb’s blood into Cambridge Divinity student, Arthur Coga. The episode was witnessed and noted by diarist Samuel Pepys, and captures the period’s blend of bold physiology, public spectacle, and very wobbly ethics.

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Births

1840 – Luigi Luciani (1840-1919), Italian neuroscientist; defined Luciani periods [Mobitz type I (Wenckebach)]

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Deaths

1940 – Ernest Amory Codman (1869-1940), American surgeon; described Codman triangle – radiological sign (1926), Codman test (1934), Codman classification of distal radius fractures (1900)

1959 – Charles Clifford Macklin (1883-1959), Canadian pulmonologist; described Macklin Effect (1939)

1991 – David Abramson Rytand (1909-1991), American physician and cardiologist; described Rytand murmur (1946), and Rytand’s Law (1951)

2012 – Selma Ann Myhre (1937-2012) was an American pediatrician; described Myhre syndrome (1981)

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Further reading

• Lower R, King E. An account of the experiment of transfusion, practised upon a man in London. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 9 December 1667; 2 (30): 557–559
• Arthur Coga’s Blood Transfusion (1667). Public Domain Review