With the development of science, mankind has been able to find solutions to many problems, for example, by identifying drugs for diseases that were previously considered fatal. Often in the process of developing vaccines, animals that were experimented were used. Despite the protests of animal rights advocates, these experiments were justified, as they were carried out for the good. But history knows a lot of research that does not lend itself to a reasonable explanation, and makes you horrified by human cruelty. In this article, we recall the darkest experiments with animals, including the creation of a two-headed dog, a hybrid of man and a monkey, and much more.
10
Karl Weinhold Zombie Cat
The idea of the possibility of resurrection has excited humanity from the very beginning of its existence. For centuries, we can hear stories of “divine” or “scientific” resurrection. In a way, the whole essence of many religious movements promises "rebellion from the dead."
By the way, on our site thebiggest.ru there is a very interesting article about examples of the resurrection described in the Bible.
Surely all of you have heard of the Frankenstein monster created from inanimate matter. The story is told in a novel in 1818, according to which many performances were played and a huge number of films were made. It seems that Mary Shelley, who wrote the novel, was from where to draw inspiration. The prototype of Frankenstein could be Dr. Karl Weinhold, who conducted a series of experiments on dead animals in 1817, trying to bring them back to life. At that time, the scientific community still firmly believed in this possibility, therefore the whole of Europe followed the experiments. In his atrocities, and in another way did not name Weinhold’s work, he went to extreme measures. The scientist cut off the head of a kitten three weeks old, and then tied the wires to its nerve endings. An electric current was launched along the wires. The study was described by the doctor himself: "all muscle contractions, as well as the heart pulse stopped, and when I opened the chest, there were no movements." Weinhold also inserted zinc and silver into the spinal cord of the kitten, saying that it provoked convulsions, although after the jump, the kitten remained motionless forever.
9
Live dog head
Similar aspirations with Weinhold had Sergey Bryukhonenko, a Soviet physiologist. True, he rejected the idea of using electricity, turning his attention to providing life through cardiopulmonary bypass. For this, the scientist created a special apparatus, which was equipped with several valves and two pumps for pumping blood. Blood was saturated with oxygen using the lungs removed from the dog. The study was conducted in the second half of the 20s of the XX century. In the course of the experiment, a dog with a cardiac arrest lived another couple of hours due to mechanical pumping of blood.
In the next experiment, the doctor used only a dog's head. From the "miraculous apparatus" of the scientist, several tubes were drawn to the dog's head, which imitated the work of the heart. The other part of the rubber tubes connected to the lungs. According to doctors (this experiment was even demonstrated to the scientific community in a 1940s documentary). The dog’s head came to life, reacted to others, and also ate the offered goodies.
The following study is simply amazing: the animal has completely drained the blood, leaving it for a short time without signs of life. After that, the blood was returned using the created apparatus, and the dog not only came to his senses, but also continued to live. Scientists from the USA will return to this experiment at the end of the 20th century, also saving the dog’s life after several hours without blood.
By the way, read about the most intelligent breeds in one of our articles.
8
Human and Monkey Hybrid
The following case of animal experiments also concerns our scientist. Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was an outstanding biologist. And this did not stop him from conducting a number of rather controversial studies. He often conducted experiments on artificial insemination of various animal species, which not only helped to develop new species and subspecies of domestic animals, but also made it possible to control endangered species of wildlife.
In the 20s of the XX century, the scientist got the idea to cross a person and a monkey. He first voiced it at a French institute, enlisting the support of scientists from this country. Having received funds from the Soviet government, as well as the opportunity to work in French Guinea, the scientist went to Africa to work with primates. There he introduced the three chimpanzee females to human seed, and took them and a few more primates back to France. Unfortunately (although rather fortunately), not one of the monkeys became pregnant, but the scientist did not give up, sending the remaining primates to Sukhumi for further research. Back in Africa, it occurred to him to introduce primacy sperm into human women. The commission in the USSR decided that at least five female volunteers would be needed for the experiment. Who knows what the study would have ended, but unfortunately the doctor, the only primate who had reached puberty, died before the experiments. Learning about the experiments, the inhabitants of Europe began to put forward various versions of the goals of the scientist. One of the craziest is the assumption that the doctor wanted to create warlike primates to conquer the world. Perhaps it was because of her that Ivanov was repressed, and was exiled to Kazakhstan, where he died several years later.
7
Human ear mouse
Yes, yes, you heard right, scientists managed to grow a mouse with a human ear on its back. Often you can find the name mouse Vakanti, because this surgeon belongs to the authorship of the experiment conducted in the 90s of the XX century together with Jeffrey Borenstein. This study has become one of the symbols of the last years of the last century. The picture with the image of a “mouse” captivated the vastness of the Internet.
Scientists have achieved this result by simply introducing the rodent cartilage cells of a cow or sheep. In 1997, photographs with a mouse “circled” a lot of electronic mailboxes, causing a real storm of indignation among opponents of genetic engineering. The paradox is that genetics has absolutely nothing to do with this experiment.
At first, such ears were grown on small mice as experiments, but the ears were small. Now, rats are used as a place for growing, on which normal-sized ears are grown. Such ears can be ideal for transplants to people who have lost a large number of skin integuments. It is obvious that in the future people will grow many organs on animals.
6
Dog with two heads
It's hard to believe, but history has known several cases of two-headed dogs. The first experiment was conducted back in 1908 by US scientist Charles Guthrie. He transplanted the head of one dog to the body of a second animal. Interestingly, the severed head was sewn upside down. The idea of the experiment was to connect arteries for joint circulation. The dog lived 26 minutes.
More successful experience was conducted by the Soviet scientist Vladimir Demikhov. He created more than twenty two-headed dogs, among which the longest life of the “mutant” was a little less than a month. It is noteworthy that, together with the head, the transplantologist sewed the forelimbs along with some organs. Demikhov always used adult individuals for the “foundation” and puppies as a transplanted material. The average life expectancy of Demikhov's two-headed dogs was 5 days. In some cases, the dogs managed to "scold" by biting each other. It is worth noting that crazy experiments to create dogs with two heads are still ongoing.
5
Monkey head transplant
Have you forgotten Dr. Demikhov from the previous paragraph? So the American scientist Robert White did not forget, inspired by the experiment of the Soviet transplantologist for the world's first head transplant. To conduct the experiment, he needed two monkeys to whom he chopped off his head (a promising beginning, is not it). He sewn the head of another to the body of one of them, while in order to avoid a decrease in blood circulation, all arteries and veins on the body of a decapitated monkey were cauterized. The scientist only partially managed to realize his plan, since the nerves were untouched, the primate was able to "revive" by connecting the circulatory systems. However, she was immobilized due to the impossibility of connecting the brain and spinal cord. Nevertheless, while awake for some time, the monkey even tried to bite one of their researchers.
Despite the death of the primate, Robert White praised his experience with head transplants, saying that at the beginning of the 21st century, medicine would reach the necessary heights that would allow a brain transplant. At the same time, White believed that the first experiments on brain transplantation would necessarily begin in the form of a transplant of a head or part of a body. The scientist was right, because only 3 years ago a successful transplant of an animal’s head was carried out.
4
Elephant on LSD
Yes, in the era of raves and acid houses, many people would not refuse to participate in this experiment. We are talking about the introduction of an elephant named Taxco a huge dose of lysergic acid. The experiment was carried out in the early 60s of the XX century by a group of scientists whose purpose was to cause the elephant to be in a state of extreme aggression by chemical means. It is not known what scientists thought and whether they thought at all. With the help of a medical bullet (used to administer a tranquilizer), Tasco received 297 mg. LSD. For comparison, to experience the "arrival", a person needs a dose less than 3 thousand times. The elephant just went crazy, making terrible sounds. The animal suffered for an hour, after which it fell dead. The result of such a study could be predicted even by a child, but not by "wise men" who killed an elephant in a particularly sophisticated way.
3
Robert Cornish
By studying the biography of Robert Cornish, you can see that truly crazy scientists are not only in the movies. In the process of his activity Cornish undertook many projects, but the most memorable works of the scientist were attempts to resurrect dead animals. To do this, he used the so-called "stop-swing", which ensured the restoration of blood circulation in the body of the experimental animal. In the early 1930s, the scientist tried to resurrect people who died for various reasons (cardiac arrest, electric shock, drowning), but in all cases failed. Then Robert decided to hone his skills on animals, namely dogs. He took several puppies, calling them the same name (Lazarus), changing only the numbers. Only the “patients” under numbers 4 and 5 managed to survive.
All dogs were killed using ether. After waiting a quarter of an hour after stopping breathing, the doctor began the resurrection. Using his "swing", he did not allow the circulation to stop, while injecting adrenaline into the dogs. Experiments with surviving dogs were carried out at intervals of exactly one year. It is noteworthy that even though the puppies survived, they were blinded by the effects of injections.
The doctor was so inspired by local luck that he decided to resurrect a person. He unsuccessfully applied to many prison and medical institutions, everywhere being refused. At one point, a criminal sentenced to death was contacted by Cornish, agreeing to resuscitation. Unfortunately for the scientist, the authorities forbade the resurrection, because if it was successful, they would have had to release the criminal to freedom (oh, this judicial system).
2
Canadian war pigs
Unlike most of the cases presented here, this experiment was not carried out in the distant past, but is carried out today. Although, it’s rather worth talking about a whole series of experiments. Every year, the Canadian military tests chemical weapons on thousands of pigs. Animals are exposed to mustard gas, resulting in terrible cramps and, as a rule, death of experimental subjects. The number of killed pigs is simply horrific, about 2900 individuals are used for weapons research every year. These experiments look especially strange against the background of non-decreasing talk about the need to abandon the use of animals as experimental. At the moment, 22 countries that are part of NATO have abandoned animal experiments.
1
"Electric elephant"
The story of the Asian elephant Topsy is as interesting as it is tragic. She became the first animal executed by electricity. Topsy was in one of the New York circuses, and was distinguished by her exuberant character. During her “career”, she killed three people, including her trainer. The elephant killed only those who abused her, for example, the trainer tried to “feed” Topsy with a lit cigarette.
The circus management did not find anything better than to kill an elephant, initially choosing the hanging method of execution. However, someone Thomas Edison (the same one) suggested using alternating current. The reason is that just at that time the so-called “current war” was raging with might and main, and Edison, as an adherent of direct current, decided to get rid of his main rival Nikola Tesla. At that time, electricity was executed for 13 years using electricity using alternating current. Topsy wore copper sandals, to which electrodes were fed. For fidelity, the zoo staff fed the animal carrots with potassium cyanide. After transmitting a voltage of 6600 V, Topsi collapsed like a cut. The shots of execution circled all over America, everyone could see it, paying money for it. Today, Edison’s brutality is simply astounding, so there is no regrets about the “current war” lost as a result, although this happened only 100 years later. On YouTube, you can easily find these terrible shots of execution, but we intentionally did not include them in the article.
Finally…
And what experiments should we write in the article, in your opinion? Please share your thoughts in the comments.