I. John Hunter expressed his belief that the blood has "the power of action within itself",[1] and that when it coagulates, it does so in consequence of an "impression" which it receives. Such an impression may be communicated by separation from the living vessels, or from "cessation of natural action"[2] in them. In certain circumstances also the living vessels themselves may be the means of exciting coagulation.[3] In others, the admixture of extraneous substances may either retard or hasten this operation.[4] The experiments made to determine the last point, Mr. Hunter informs us, "were rather imagined than fully carried out; and the subject rather broached and touched upon, than prosecut…
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