"There are cases...in which [the blood's] amount of globules falls much below the physiological mean, and diminishing more and more, reaches a proportion so low that we can scarcely comprehend how, with so few globules in the blood, life can still be maintained. This diminution, in different degrees, of the globular element of the blood is the fundamental character of Anemia, a condition which is the opposite of plethora."

Gabriel Andral, 1843