Answer: A particularly common form of psychosis occurred in the final stage of infection with syphilis. Syphilis is an uncommon bacteria in that is is extremely sensitive to temperature- so sensitive that a high fever greatly reduced or even eliminated infection with the bacteria. In fact, once quinine became available to treat malaria, which caused repeated high fevers, intentional infection with malaria was used to cure syphilis, which would then be treated with quinine. But in the 1700s, they (Europeans, at least) didn't have quinine yet.
So how did a blood transfusion treat syphilis? Well, in the 1700s, blood transfusions were not done with human blood- they were done with animal blood, usually lamb or calf blood. Since biblically calf or lamb blood was pure and contributed to the sweet nature of the animals, it was thought that if given to someone who was experiencing paranoia and hallucinations, the psychotic symptoms would decrease. This was not the case.
The amounts were usually small enough that the person didn't die. But it did cause frequent transfusion reactions. These reactions frequently caused high fevers, which treated the syphilis and helped decrease the symptoms caused by it.
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