DISSECTED-HEAD RESPONDS TO "RATS!"

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, 5 February 1909, Page 1

DISSECTED-HEAD RESPONDS TO "RATS!"

The eyes moved, and looked .from one, surgeon to-another? "To make^'sur&ihere. was consciousness InithS'?tesd74feiltithj rie lifted his hand threatenioglx;;j:aa if, to strike the dog. Instantly the head's eyes winked, and there .was ah. attempt to dodge. This proved that the brain was conscious, and understood the sensaatibns conveyed to it by the eyes. But was the head • receiving' sensatio?nS."from." the body thatidid- not belong to it?,; To determine this Dr Guthrie walked to the rear of < the r"Kunolith," as the vivisection table for' dogs is called, and struck the body a blow with a strap. The head .coidd ;npi 'see'what .was going on, and could only tell by his own sense of feeling. "' The'- legs strained at their, fastenings, and a quavering growl came? from the head. _ The operator patted' the 'head, and at once the tail'"wagged,?'proviifg communication along the nerves in both directions. The cars heard and the brain com-, prehended messages. Dr Guthrie whistled and the eyes peered about' to. locate the whistler. In respqpse to a hissing sound and the exciting" word "Rats!" the head manifested excitement. One of the doctor's assistants held a bottle of aromatic spirits of ammonia near the dog's nostyiß Th«r result was a spasm of sneezing which threatened every instant to rupture the complex system of stitches and other connections between the head and body., About this time tfie juncture between the head and neck began to itch. The body tried I hard to free a hind leg to-scratch its neck. Ia vain the doctors trieivto quiet it, and were about to administe^, few bwatha of chloroform when>-^^end came. . Skin grafting, when first perforaSft| caused a certain amount of imagin^)Respeculafion. If patches of akin could:. j£; transferred a tiny bit at a time frorn^ a lfving person and made to live upori.an~ other, would it not be possible to transplant larger portions of thebody: ■ Sob® suggested that bones,' perhaps « patt-of-an eye, or even a portion or whple-vi|alj organ, might be substituted:*■>£■ diseased* or wounded parts.^ "Imagination running rio'ti" thought' the -». cpflservgiye wisiheads of .the.day,_Jtft_aU these things have been done within the last few years, and makoJiwd-gra-ftang onljf. an additional stop..-." | »jfefe»r:* 3There may be graA^ofbje^^o eucu operations on humane grounds.Tmt eyeir such surgical successes, a^ ston-graftuig imply could not have bcca'Acaieved witnout preliminary vivisection work. One of the most wonderful results of such experiments' occurred a year or so ago. A •rilan wa<D/oteht to-arfhoewtal fronva. poihtJol axioms journey.. HeJiadjOeen chobWg'rneatrand by an accident• the ffir had .*SSB& /L left hand from the wrist. .It was feared that the man would me wm®^JpW4g&^ cd' When he -arrived"there •Dr-Tvr >JU.. coolly / b^e^ked the injured man. •.:"<> ;