The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-01-09
An Exchange Of Heads.
a Story Of the Future.


lCopyrigbt. 1908, by American Press Asso-
clation.l
II was fifty years ago. in 1908, that
the first experiments in transplanting
organs Of the lower animals were
made and made successfully. It was
then announced by one vivisectionlst
that he had transplanted dogs heads
with preservation Of cerebral and
buIbar function.
During the decade that followed this
discovery the technique involved in
transplantlng the head Of one dog tol
the body of another was very much
improved, and surgical scientists be
gan 70 covet an opportunity to try the
experiment upon men. But It was not
Until 1915 that DIR. Therapeutics Scalpel
succeeded In obtaining the requisite
| human subjects. The courts that had
sentenced two murderers to be electro
cuted consented that they should In
stead be decapitated by DR.. Scalpel
with view to an exchange Of heads
The prisoners gladly consented because
they would have chance to live again,
though under a swapped identity.
4 Patrick Flanagan and Gottlieb Shu-
man were the subjects, Dr. Scalpel
before making the experiment spent
| three months in educating an eminent
1 viyisectlonist and four young physi-
clans to assist him. Just before the.
heads we're severed the last rights Of
the church were administered to the
convicts, after which they were placed
! on operating tables side by side.
The period of occlusion shutting or
thu circulation was but twenty min
utes. This brought It within the limit
of time necessary to prevent coagula-
tion. During this period each head
was removed from the body, trans
planted, the arteries, muscles and
nerves saturated, the point Of cutting
OF the spinal chord being especially
carefully adjusted.
Suspended animation returned as
soon as the anaesthetic began to lose
It's effect, and within few hours DIR.
scalpel began to feel that the expert
ment had been successful. But 1t was
ten weeks before the patients were
discharged.
Up to this time 1t had been supposed
that the individuality of a person was
solely in the brain. The case Of Elan
agan and Shuman demonstrated that
though this is partially correct 1t Is
not entirely So Flanagan on the day
OF his discharge headed straight for a
saloon and shouted TO the barkeeper,
E"Ye spulpeen, gimme"-he hesitated
and instead OF calling for a glass Of
whisky fnIshed-"ein glass beer" Shu-
man, who followed him into the place,
succeeded in correctly giving an order
for whisky, but the barkeeper, being
! inattentive or thinking he said beer,
handed him glass of that beverage,
whereupon he berated the Teuton.
what dye name, ye heather? Fon
glass visky, said. und a sweitzer case
sandwich"
Here Elanagan-that is, Flanagan's
body with Shuman's head on it-took
hand. Turning to shuman's body
with his own Flanagan'S head, he
growled:
"And 1t is the likes of yes that's
pokin fun at the Irish race by mixin'
wild its iiligant talk yer beastly Dutch
spreken? Gott In himmel! Vas y
mean?"
shuman's Dutch body Qrish head
, retorted:
"Mein friend, kilt dat man init a
} hammer. If you say another wort, ye
murtherin' Irlshman, ORR mash yer
Dutch head wild dot beer glass;"
Y'lanagan's Irish body Dutch head
looked at his companions Hibernian
features contemptuously.
80 v killed him wild a hammer, did
ye? spoilt my mans skull wild a
sthick lncken a shillalah. Git out init
: yourselfw
Reaching over the bar. he seized a
stone pitcher, his enemy meanwhile
r raising a beer glass. Then the two
] drew apart, each posing his weapon
e and glancing at the other.
e Dr. Scalpel ON dlscharging his pa
r tients $50 TO speak had directed one
of his assistants to follow them tc
n watch their movements, notice their
' idiosyncrasies and report to him. AZ
. this juncture the shadower rushed
!. into the doctors vivisecting room and
excItedly Informed him that the mer
were quarreliDg In a mixture Of HI
bernlan and German and he feared
I they would do each other bodily harm
8 DR. Scaipel, feeling that some of the
reunited parts might not yet have
sufhciently healed to warrant a scrim
d mage, seized his hat and rushed on
It with the informer TO the saloon. H'
y found the Irish body dancing arount
e With the true motions OF an angereC
: Hibernian, its serious German fac'
" scowling, the lips occasionally mutter
l. ing In the German language. Th'
German body was standing stolidl!
In one place, its Irish face lighted will
q enmity, the lips pouring forth a tor
rent OF abuse In its native parlance.
"Hi, you twol Stop thisp'' cried thl
g doctor. "If you throw those weapon
III not be responsible for the conse
q quences. The severed parts haven't ye
" had time to strengthen"
J? He was too late. The stone pitche
4 and the beer mug exchanged positions
each striking head, The Hibernlal