Fantastic experiment Philadelphia doctor Truman Doughty ended in triumph. His wife Brenda died many years ago, but her head is still "alive and well". According to Doughty, Brenda is able to speak with the help of a special device.
And now remember A. Belyaev's novel "Professor Dowell's Head". Scientist Dowell created a solution with which the human head can lead a relatively full life. He is convinced that his discovery will benefit people, but can it really be?
In 1902, the famous Russian physiologist A.A. Kulyabko, after reviving the child's heart (taken out of the corpse, it acted outside the body for several hours), tried to revive the head.
At first it was the head of a fish. Through the blood vessels, a special liquid was brought to the head - a blood substitute. The result was incredible: the head moved its eyes and fins, opened and closed its mouth - all this eloquently testified that it was alive!
In 1928, physiologists S.S. Bryukhonenko and S.I. Chechulin demonstrated the live head of a warm-blooded animal - a dog. Connected to a heart-lung machine, she was quite active.
When a tampon moistened with acid was placed on the tongue of a dog's head, she made an attempt to throw out the irritant; if a piece of sausage was placed in her mouth, the head licked. When directing a jet of air into the eyes, they blinked.
In 1959, Professor V.P. Demikhov repeatedly conducted successful experiments with dog heads. At the same time, he was convinced that it is quite possible to support life in the human head.
Well, now about the most incredible thing: have similar experiments been carried out with the human head? This question is not easy and is associated with moral and deep social problems that surgeons will inevitably face when transplanting the head of one person to the body of another. Therefore, this kind of information is always under the cloak of secrecy.
And yet, in the mid-70s of the XX century, a sensational message flashed in the press. Two German neurosurgeons, Wallner Kreiter and Henry Curidge, managed to keep an amputated human head alive for twenty days. A 40-year-old man who had just been injured in a car accident was brought to the clinic. His head was almost torn off from the body, there was no question of saving a person.
In this situation, neurosurgeons decided to try to keep life at least in the brain of the victim. A life support system was connected to the head, and for almost three weeks after that it kept the brain of a person whose body had long been dead in an active state. Moreover, the doctors made contact with the head. True, she could not speak, she did not have a throat, however, by the movement of her lips, scientists "read" a lot of words, from which it clearly followed that she understood what was happening to her.
Finally, Philadelphia physician Truman Doughty did the seemingly impossible. His wife Brenda was diagnosed with cancer. The terrible news prompted Truman to develop a life support device. The disease progressed rapidly, and the doctor lost hope of saving the dying. And then he made an attempt to save his head.
The entire operation took about six hours. Doughty knew full well that he could go to jail on a murder charge. The doctor risked, but, as it turned out, risked not in vain. The fantastic experiment ended in triumph. By the way, Brenda did not doubt for a minute that the operation was necessary and agreed to it. For several years, Truman hid that his wife's head was alive and well. Only recently the world learned about an incredible event. According to Doughty, Brenda is able to speak with the help of a special device.
It is difficult to believe in all this, but one thing is clear: the scientific ideas of Alexander Belyaev have become a reality.
Modern medicine works real miracles. So, recently a team of Australian doctors from St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, together with scientists from the Australian Research Institute, learned how to restore life and maintain it in dead hearts after they had long been turned off - for subsequent transplantation to patients. Prior to that, all over the world, exclusively living organs were used for this, which were still beating - they were taken from patients diagnosed with brain death. Australian scientists revived hearts thanks to a special solution from donated blood and connection to a special apparatus that allows the heart to be maintained in a normal state outside of a living organism.
Such an experiment was perceived by everyone as a miracle (which is quite right), and the development will really revolutionize the field of organ transplantation. But, in fact, in the history of medicine there have already been experiments on revival, and also quite successful.
It all started with a fish
In 1902, the famous Russian physiologist Alexei Kulyabko managed to revive the heart of a child. Taken out of a corpse, it acted outside the body for several hours - at that time it was an even more unthinkable scientific breakthrough. The scientist did not stop there and decided to revive not only the heart, but also the head - however, not a person, but a fish. Through the blood vessels, a special liquid entered it, something like a blood substitute. The result was stunning: the head really came to life, began to move its eyes and fins, open its mouth. The scientist did not go further than the fish's head, returning to further experiments to revive the heart.
Inspired by Kulyabko's experience, Ivan Pavlov's student Sergei Chechulin, together with his colleague, physiologist Sergei Bryukhonenko, revived the dog's head in 1928. Various tests showed that the animal retained all the reactions of a living creature, including taste buds.
In 1959, successful experiments with dog heads were repeatedly carried out by Russian professor Vladimir Demikhov, the luminary of transplantology. Prior to that, he revived and transplanted people not only hearts, but also other vital organs: lungs, liver, heart-lung complexes. Demikhov also created the world's first artificial heart. What the scientist was doing was balancing on the verge of fantasy, and he decided to finally conquer the whole world by creating a two-headed dog in 1954.
That is, one head of the animal was its own, the second - taken from a dead relative and successfully revived, thanks to the "nutrition" of the new owner. After Demikhov gave the world two dozen two-headed dogs, he declared that it is quite possible to support life in the human head. True, the matter still did not reach the people then.
From monkeys to humans
Succeeded in the revival of heads and American scientists. So, in 1973, Professor Robert White began to look for ways to preserve the brains of outstanding personalities. As part of this project, he conducted a series of experiments, among which were operations in which two monkeys were swapped heads while maintaining the functions of their brains. A series of similar transplants, which continued until recently, showed that the transplanted heads react to light, sound, and smell. The rest of the body, although it continues to live, is paralyzed: none of the brain signals reach the organs, since the transmission of nerve impulses in the transplanted body is interrupted. However, such animals lived for quite a long time.
And in the early 2000s, White announced that he was going to transplant a human head. According to him, this will help completely paralyzed people and other patients with severe diseases, whose brain remains healthy. However, this caused fierce resistance from the scientific community, which considers such experiments unethical. So White did not officially conduct experiments on humans, although many suspected that the scientist had not simply abandoned his idea. But, of course, twhat kind of information is not disclosed.
But in the mid-70s, two German neurosurgeons, Wallner Kreiger and Henry Curidge, managed to keep an amputated human head alive for 20 days. The body of a 40-year-old man who had just been injured in a car accident was delivered to the clinic. His head was almost torn off from the body and kept only on a few veins, so there was no question of saving a person. Then neurosurgeons decided to try to keep life at least in the brain of the victim. The head was connected to a life support system, and lived for almost three weeks after the death of the body (cardiac arrest). The brain functioned normally and the person understood what was happening to him. Since there was no throat, the head did not make sounds, but it moved its lips so that it was possible to understand what it was talking about.
And last year, the world was shocked by a scientific article by the Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero from the University of Turin. He told how it is possible to successfully transplant a human head and thereby help people who have received body injuries incompatible with life. The main problem that made this operation problematic was the nerve connections of the spinal cord. According to Canavero, there are already technologies and drugs that can make a head transplant a success.
In the meantime, a neurosurgeon is exploring the possibility of transplanting the brain and spinal cord or parts of them. He believes that the most effective "connection" can be achieved only by greatly simplifying the procedure for organ transplantation. When applying many small incisions during transplantation, instead of one continuous one, the body will start the regeneration process faster, which will greatly facilitate the integration of a foreign organ.
Love Truman
But the palm in this area belongs to the Philadelphia doctor Truman Doughty, who in 1989 revived the head of his wife who died of cancer - he created a special life support system for this and connected his wife's head to it. The scientist spent about six hours on a unique operation. But the effort was worth it: the head lives to this day.
Of course, for his experiment, Doughty could go to prison on charges of murder, but he still took the risk. It is noteworthy that the wife completely trusted her husband and without hesitation (when her body was also alive), gave her consent to the operation. A woman can communicate with her husband through the use of a special device. Of course, when the world found out about the experiment, a hail of accusations fell on Doughty's head, but he adequately answered his opponents: “I just prolong the life of my wife. Let them say whatever they want, but one day they will understand that I have taken the first step on the path, that will fundamentally change our world."
So the fantastic ideas of Belyaev, embodied in the novel "Professor Dowell's Head", are becoming a reality. But the book was published back in 1925. According to supporters of such experiments, transplantation of a whole head or brain should be the next step in the field of organ transplantation. First of all, it will help completely paralyzed people. In addition, as scientists say, why transplant individual parts of the body if you can replace it entirely? As experiments show, when transplanting a whole head, there are no problems with the organs of vision, hearing and smell, since the nerves connecting them to the brain do not suffer. Of course, while such experiments may seem unethical, such doubts arose at all stages of the development of transplantation, including heart transplantation. Now such operations are perceived by society as completely normal.
Fantastic experiment Philadelphia doctor Truman Doughty ended in triumph. His wife Brenda died many years ago, but her head is still "alive and well". According to Doughty, Brenda is able to speak with the help of a special device.
And now remember A. Belyaev's novel "Professor Dowell's Head". Scientist Dowell created a solution with which the human head can lead a relatively full life. He is convinced that his discovery will benefit people, but can it really be?
In 1902, the famous Russian physiologist A.A. Kulyabko, after reviving the child's heart (taken out of the corpse, it acted outside the body for several hours), tried to revive the head.
At first it was the head of a fish. Through the blood vessels, a special liquid was brought to the head - a blood substitute. The result was incredible: the head moved its eyes and fins, opened and closed its mouth - all this eloquently testified that it was alive!
In 1928, physiologists S.S. Bryukhonenko and S.I. Chechulin demonstrated the live head of a warm-blooded animal - a dog. Connected to a heart-lung machine, she was quite active. When a swab moistened with acid was placed on the tongue of a dog's head, he made an attempt to throw out the irritant; if a piece of sausage was placed in his mouth, the head would lick. When directing a jet of air into the eyes, they blinked.
In 1959, Professor V.P. Demikhov repeatedly conducted successful experiments with dog heads. At the same time, he was convinced that it is quite possible to support life in the human head.
Well, now about the most incredible thing: have similar experiments been carried out with the human head? This question is not easy and is associated with moral and deep social problems that surgeons will inevitably face when transplanting the head of one person to the body of another. Therefore, this kind of information is always under the cloak of secrecy.
And yet, in the mid-70s of the XX century, a sensational message flashed in the press. Two German neurosurgeons, Wallner Kreiter and Henry Curidge, managed to keep an amputated human head alive for twenty days. A 40-year-old man who had just been injured in a car accident was brought to the clinic. His head was almost torn off from the body, there was no question of saving a person.
In this situation, neurosurgeons decided to try to keep life at least in the brain of the victim. A life support system was connected to the head, and for almost three weeks after that it kept the brain of a person whose body had long been dead in an active state. Moreover, the doctors made contact with the head. True, she could not speak, she did not have a throat, however, by the movement of her lips, scientists "read" a lot of words, from which it clearly followed that she understood what was happening to her.
Finally, Philadelphia physician Truman Doughty did the seemingly impossible. His wife Brenda was diagnosed with cancer. The terrible news prompted Truman to develop a life support device. The disease progressed rapidly, and the doctor lost hope of saving the dying. And then he made an attempt to save his head.
The entire operation took about six hours. Doughty knew full well that he could go to jail on a murder charge. The doctor risked, but, as it turned out, risked not in vain. The fantastic experiment ended in triumph. By the way, Brenda did not doubt for a minute that the operation was necessary and agreed to it. For several years, Truman hid that his wife's head was alive and well. Only recently the world learned about an incredible event. According to Doughty, Brenda is able to speak with the help of a special device.
It is difficult to believe in all this, but one thing is clear: the scientific ideas of Alexander Belyaev have become a reality.
Today, humanity is faced with the fact that its needs cannot be fully satisfied at the expense of land, because it occupies only a fifth of the planet's surface. This is what makes earthlings penetrate into the depths of the seas, where inexhaustible riches are stored.
The first steps in mastering the “world without the sun” have already been made.
Artificial plantations of algae, pastures of fish, crustaceans and mollusks are being created.
And the discovery of huge reserves of manganese, iron and other minerals at the bottom of the ocean is rapidly bringing us closer to the time when plants and factories can be erected on the continental shelf, mines will start working, next to which there will be underwater settlements.
So, man has to explore the depths of the ocean.
But how to do that?
It is known that only the hero of A. Belyaev's science fiction novel "Amphibian Man" - Ichthyander, to whom a brilliant surgeon transplanted shark gills, managed to exist under water.
It must be said that the fiction of A. Belyaev was so attractive and seemed so plausible that some even at the end of the 40s of our (!) Century accepted it as a reality.
In his fascinating book “Stories about Surgeons”, the famous Soviet doctor F.A. Kopylov cites an interesting fact.
“One of the surgeons working on the outskirts of the Soviet Union said that he was approached by a village boy with a request to transplant fish gills into him.
Sharks are not found in those parts, and the guy chose the gills of a catfish.
To swim for hours under water, as depicted in the novel, this man was ready for anything. He thought of everything and foresaw everything.
The guy even offered to issue a special receipt so that the surgeon would not be stopped by the possibility of a fatal outcome of the operation.
To make such an operation, despite the high level of development of medicine, until recently was considered impossible, but recently the entire scientific world was shocked by a sensational message.
In Cape Town, in the clinic, which was once directed by C. Bernard, who was the first to successfully perform a heart transplant on a human, another stunning operation was performed.
Shark gills were transplanted to a Negro youth, whose name is still kept secret, who was stricken with pulmonary insufficiency (the result of neglected tuberculosis).
The patient refused a donor lung transplant, explaining this as follows.
First, he does not have enough money to pay the cost of this organ and operation. And he was offered to do a gill transplant for free, at the expense of the scientific fund.
Secondly, the young man himself was disappointed in his way of life on earth and wanted to start all over again, already in the ocean.
The operation went well.
Now the doctors are carefully watching whether the reaction of rejection of the transplanted organ will begin, trying to prevent this with the help of special preparations.
If all of the above is not an information duck, then the real Ichthyander will swim in the ocean very soon!
And now remember A: Belyaev's novel "Professor Dowell's Head".
Scientist Dowell created a solution with which the human head can lead a relatively full life.
He is convinced that his discovery will benefit people, but can it really be?
Wow, absolutely unrealistic! the educated reader will exclaim.
However, do not be so categorical.
In 1902, the famous Russian physiologist A.A. Kulyabko, after reviving the child's heart - taken out of a corpse, it acted outside the body for several hours - tried to revive the head. At first it was the head of a fish.
Through the blood vessels, a special liquid, a blood substitute, was brought into the incised head.
The result was incredible: the head moved its eyes and fins, opened and closed its mouth - all this eloquently testified that it was alive!
In 1928, physiologists S.S. Bryukhonenko and S.I. Chechulin showed the live head of a warm-blooded animal - a dog.
Connected to a heart-lung machine, she was quite active.
When a tampon moistened with acid was placed on the tongue of a dog's head, he made an attempt to throw out the irritant; if a piece of sausage was placed in his mouth, the head would lick.
When a jet of air was directed into the eyes, they blinked.
In 1959, successful experiments with dog heads were repeatedly conducted by Professor V.P. Demikhov.
At the same time, he was convinced that it is quite possible to support life in the human head.
Well, now about the most incredible thing: have similar experiments been carried out with the human head?
This question is not easy and is associated with moral and deep social problems that surgeons will inevitably face when transplanting the head of one person to the body of another.
Therefore, this kind of information is always under the cloak of secrecy.
And yet, in the mid-70s, a sensational message flashed through the press.
Two German neurosurgeons, Wallner Kreiter and Henry Curidge, managed to keep an amputated human head alive for twenty days.
A 40-year-old man who had just been injured in a car accident was brought to the clinic. His head was almost torn off from the body, there was no question of saving a person.
In this situation, neurosurgeons decided to try to keep life at least in the brain of the victim.
A life support system was connected to the head, and for almost three weeks after that it kept the brain of a person whose body had long been dead in an active state.
Moreover, the doctors made contact with the head.
True, she could not speak, she did not have a throat, however, by the movement of her lips, scientists “read” a lot of words, from which it clearly followed that she understood what was happening to her.
Finally, Philadelphia physician Truman Doughty did the seemingly impossible.
In 1989, his wife Brenda was diagnosed with cancer.
The terrible news prompted Truman to develop a life support device.
The disease progressed rapidly, and the doctor lost hope of saving the dying. And then he made an attempt to save his head.
The entire operation took about six hours.
Doughty knew full well that he could go to jail on a murder charge. The doctor risked, but, as it turned out, risked not in vain. The fantastic experiment ended in triumph.
By the way, Brenda did not doubt for a minute that the operation was necessary and agreed to it.
For several years, Truman hid that his wife's head was alive and well. Only recently the world learned about an incredible event.
According to Doughty, Brenda is able to speak with the help of a special device.
It's hard to believe in all this, but one thing is clear:
scientific ideas of Alexander Belyaev became a reality.
Text: Alexander POTAPOV
The incredible experiments of Dr. Truman Doughty ended in triumph. His wife Brenda died a few years ago, but her head remained "alive". According to Doughty, she is able to communicate with through a special device.
Now humanity is constantly faced with the problem of lack of living space on land, which occupies only a fifth of the globe. This circumstance makes people look for living spaces in the depths of the oceans.
The first step in the development of underwater resources has already been taken: today huge plantations of algae, fish, and crustaceans are being created. And the presence of huge deposits of minerals at the bottom of the oceans brings us closer to the fact that huge underwater plants will be built under water.
That is, humanity will have to explore the bowels of the ocean in the near future. But how to make it possible for a person without the presence of special devices. Only the fictional character of Belyaev's novel "The Amphibian Man" - Ichthyander, could exist under water without scuba gear. Belyaev's idea of transplanting shark gills into humans became so attractive that many who read his novel in the 1940s considered it a reality. Famous Soviet surgeon Kopylov F.A. in his book "Tales of Surgeons" gives an interesting fact.
“... One of the practicing surgeons said that a young man approached him, who begged to transplant him, in order to be able to breathe under water, the gill of a fish ...”, but until recently, to do this was considered beyond fantasy.
But more recently, at the Cape Town Clinic, a young man whose lungs were affected as a result of advanced tuberculosis received shark gills transplanted free of charge. The guy refused a lung transplant, because he did not have the funds for this operation, and he was offered a lung transplant for free. The transplant was successful. Now scientists are monitoring the patient for possible rejection of transplanted organs. If this is true, then soon he will be able to swim underwater like a real Ichthyander.
You should also remember the novel "Professor Dowell's Head", in which Dowell created a special solution, thanks to which a person's head can lead a full life without a body. Dowell believed that his invention would benefit people.
In 1902, the Russian scientist Kulyabko A.A. after trying to revive the heart of a dead child, tried to revive the head.
At first he experimented with the head of a fish. Through the circulatory system, a special blood-substituting fluid was connected to the head. As a result, the head could move its eyes and fins, which clearly indicated that the head was alive.
Soviet scientists achieved more in 1928, they were able to maintain life in a dog's head. Connected to a special circulatory machine, the dog's head was quite active.
In the 70s of the last century, German neurosurgeons managed to maintain life in a human head for 20 days, which lost its body due to the following circumstances. A man was admitted to the hospital after a car accident, his head was almost devoid of a torso, and there could be no talk of salvation at all.
But the doctors decided to try to keep life at least in the patient's head. A life support system was connected to his head, which kept the human brain active for almost a month. In addition, doctors could find a “common language” with the “head” - many words could be read by the movement of the lips, which clearly indicated that the patient’s head understood what was happening to it.
After all, Truman Doughty did the impossible. His wife's fatal illness prompted him to develop new technologies. And he decided to save her head. And according to Doughty, he succeeded, for several years his wife's head lives without a body. Moreover, she can communicate with the help of a special device.
It's hard to believe, but one thing is certain, that Belyaev's fantastic ideas are becoming a reality.
Tags: Scientists
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