First of a series of papers in the Archives. See also No. 5630.3.

Blalock “demonstrated that surgical shock is not due to the elaboration of toxins nor to reflex neurologic mechanisms, but … to decrease in circulating the blood volume” (M.M. Ravitch). He wrote many papers on the subject, principally experimental studies; Ravitch considered this paper from 1930 the most important (see Johns Hopk. med. J., 1977, 140, 57-67, for bibliography).

First deliberate treatment of myasthenia gravis by thymectomy, with M. F. Mason, H. J. Morgan, and S. S. Riven.

The “Blalock-Taussig operation” for the relief of congenital defects of the pulmonary artery, Tetralogy of Fallot ("blue baby syndrome").

"The first surgical repair was carried out in 1944 at Johns Hopkins.^[70] The procedure was conducted by surgeon Alfred Blalock and cardiologist Helen B. Taussig, with Vivien Thomas also providing substantial contributions and listed as an assistant.^[3] This first surgery was depicted in the film Something the Lord Made.^[59] It was actually Helen Taussig who convinced Alfred Blalock that the shunt was going to work. 15-month-old Eileen Saxon was the first person to receive a Blalock-Thomas-Taussig shunt.^{[59]" (Wikipedia article on Tetralogy of Fallot).}

This massive (2026-page) work includes a biographical study of Blalock, his complete bibliography, and biographical sketches of co-authors of Blalock's publications.