Biography

He was born in Amsterdam, New York on November 21, 1832. His father, John Blood, was a prosperous landowner. Blood was known as an intelligent man but an unfocused one. He described himself:

I was born here in Amsterdam. My father was a land holder of 700 acres [2.8 km²] here, adjoining the city on both sides of the river, and lived, as I now live, in a large brick house on the south bank of the Mohawk visible as you enter Amsterdam from the east. I was his only child, and went a good deal my own way. I ran to machinery, by fancy; patented among other devices a swathing reaper which is very successful. I was of loose and wandering ways. And was a successful gambler through the Tweed regime -- made 'bar'ls' of money, and threw it away. I was a fancy gymnast also, and have had some heavy fights, notable one of forty minutes with Ed. Mullett, whom I left senseless. This was mere fancy. I never lifted an angry hand against man, woman or child -- all fun -- for me. ....I do farming in a way, but am much idle. I have been a sort of pet of the city, and think I should be missed. In a large vote taken by one of the daily papers here a month or so ago as to who were the 12 leading citizens, I was 6th in the 12, and sole in my class. So you see, if Sparta has many a worthier son, I am still boss in the department I prefer.

Blood wrote prolifically but the larger portion of his writing consisted of letters, either to local newspapers or to friends such as James Hutchison Stirling

James Hutchison Stirling

James Hutchison Stirling , philosopher, born in Glasgow, and educated there and at Edinburgh, where he studied medicine, which he practised until the death of his father in 1851, after which he devoted himself to philosophy....

, Alfred Tennyson and William James

William James

William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...

 (the above quote was from a letter to James). H. M. Kallen wrote of Blood:

He was born in 1832 and lived for eighty-six years. During that time he wrote much, but unsystematically. His favorite form of publication was letters to newspapers, mainly local newspapers with a small circulation. These letters dealt with an astonishing diversity of subjects, from local petty politics or the tricks of spiritualist mediums to principles of industry and finance and profundities of metaphysics.

During his lifetime he was best known for his poetry, which included The Bride of the Iconoclast, Justice,and The Colonnades. Optimism: The Lesson of Ages (1860) is a Christian mystical vision of the pursuit of happiness from Blood's distinctly American perspective. According to Christopher Nelson, Blood was a direct influence on William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience as well on James's concept of Sciousness

Sciousness

Sciousness, a term coined by William James in The Principles of Psychology, refers to consciousness separate from consciousness of self. James wrote:...

, prime reality consciousness without a sense of self.

After experiencing the anesthetic nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...

during a dental operation, Blood concluded that the gas had opened his mind to new ideas and continued experimenting with it. In 1874, he published a 37-page pamphlet, The Anesthetic Revelation and the Gist of Philosophy.

He married twice; to Mary Sayles, and following her death, to Harriet Lefferts. He had a daughter from each marriage.

Blood died on January 15, 1919. His final work, Pluriverse, was published posthumously.