The methods usually employed for obtaining blood from infants are in the majority of instances extremely unsatisfactory. The veins are too small to enter and it is a tedious, difficult and painful procedure to collect the necessary amount of blood by puncturing the fingers or toes.
In European clinics use is made of a suction apparatus. This, in our hands, has proved unsatisfactory in its application to very poorly nourished infants and it is unnecessarily elaborate. The modification herein described is a simple, inexpensive device by which the necessary amount of blood can be obtained easily, with a minimum of discomfort to the patient and in a comparatively short space of time. The apparatus has been in daily use at the St. Louis Children's Hospital and the time spent in collecting the blood averages about two minutes.
The apparatus, as shown in the accompanying illustration, consists of a glass cylinder