Tempted to Have His Head Cut Off

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6901, 6 May 1929, Page 4

Tempted to Have His Head Cut Off

EORGB BERNARD SHAW has acknowledged that he is greatly tempted to have his

head cut off. A German friend recently asked the opinion of the Irish dramatist and wit of the recently announced invention of the Russian Professor Brjuclienenko, who kept a severed head of a dog alive for more than three hours by means of a pumping arrangement. Sharv replied: “I find the Brjuclienenko experiment frightfully interesting, but cannot imagine anything sillier than the suggestion to try it on a criminal sentenced to death. To prolong the life of such a person is undesirable.

"The experiment should be tried on a scientist whose life is endangered by an incurable organic disease, say cancer of the stomach, whereby humanity is threatened with the loss of services of his brain. What is easier than to save such genius from the death bed by cutting off the head, thereby freeing the brain from disease. •

‘T am greatly tempted to have my head cut off so that I-may continue to dictate plays and books independently of any illness, without having to dress and undress, or eat, or do anything at all except to produce masterpieces of dramatic art and literature. I would, of course, expect one of two vivisectionists to submit themselves to the experiment to prove to my satisfaction that it is practicable and not dangerous, but I assume that would not mean any serious difficulty.”