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Blood groups were not identified until 1901, and in the century since then medical science has not looked back. In the years that immediately followed, hospitals relied on donors to give blood "on the hoof" -- tubes connected donor and recipient, and the blood flowed directly from the former to the latter.
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Fortunately, today's donors and recipients do not face such inconveniences. Technological innovation, medical understanding, and organizational acumen have improved storage, testing, and distribution immeasurably. The blood bag, for example, was designed such that blood goes straight from the donor's bloodstream into the bag, and then from the bag to the recipient's bloodstream, without coming into contact with air and its potential contaminants. (The blood bag was also designed, more than a half-century ago, to survive a 2,000-foot fall.)
At the blood center -- "blood bank" a slight misnomer, since "withdrawals" do not require previous "deposits" -- blood is thoroughly tested, and then distributed. Since the development of an accurate test for the HIV virus, the blood supply has never been safer.
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A doctor describes the rigorous testing of donated blood.
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 Prior to the 20th century, blood banks did not exist. The only blood storage facility was the human body.
 Blood centers can store blood for up to 42 days. Frozen blood can be stored for years.
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