The Clinical Use of Anticoagulants

If blood did not possess the quality of coagulation, injuries would allow it to leak from the body as freely as water leaks through a sieve. This knowledge, which is possessed by every physician, has dominated medical thinking about coagulation of the blood. A vast proportion of the efforts of physicians interested in coagulation has been devoted to making blood clot better, because of observation of the consequences of blood which clots poorly. There are few physicians who have not wished for an efficient method by which they might stop bleeding. It is quite clear now that thoughts of the medical profession must be directed in the reverse direction as well; in some circumstances there are great benefits if the property of coagulation of blood is impaired. When the vascular system of the blood is intact, coagulability of the blood may be reduced substantially without harm, and indeed with benefit.