The Washington times., 1935-12-13
CARREL' VIEW
ON LONGEVITY
REVERSED

NEW YORK, Dec. 13 U.N.So.
The mystery of death some day
may be solved, but death never
will be conquered.
Science lacks proof that the soul
Is immortal but no one has a
right to assert mans mind does
not survive his body's death.
Artificial postponement of
death is extremely probable"
These scientific posers, voiced
by Dr.. Alexis Carrel, noted med
ical scientist and Nobel prize win
ner, were being studied by doc
tors and philosophers alike today.
The famous biologist delivered
q lecture at the New York Acad-
my of Medicine last night on
"The Mystery of Death"
ReverseS His Views
Completely reversing a state
ment he made four years ago
when he voiced the belief that the
"process of aging remains irrever'
sible" and rejuvenation seems i'm
possible, DR.. Carrel declared last
night:
1T is extremely probable that a
greater longevity could be induced
in man, as in mice, by appropriate
changes in diet and mode OF
living.
Death also could be retarded
by a rejuvenation operation.
1T is not impossible that, in the
course of the next two or three
centuries, rejuvenating procedures
will be brought within the reach
Of medicine.
"Some individuals could be put
into storage for long periods OF
time, brought back to normal
existence for other periods, and
permitted in this manner to live
for several centuries. We should
remember the utopiaS of today as
the realities of tomorrow"
Views On Immortality
Touching on immortality, DR..
Carrel said:
Hundreds of millions Of people
believe in the Immortality OF the
soul. Such faith belongs to the
domain of religion and philosophy
not to that of experimental sci
ence. There is no scientific proof
at the present time of the survival
after death of the mind or of
part of the mind, but no one has
a right to say that such survival
Is impossible"
One of the most intriguing por
tions of the physicians address
came when he spoke of resurrec'
ton. If resurrected after too lone
q time, he declared, man might
come back to life without a soul
He spoke of a woman resurrecteo
after she had been legally dead
nine minutes. She was paralyzed
he explained, and looked and
acted like an animal.
Responsible to a great extent
for his new attitude toward
longevity, DR.. Carrel indicated
is the mechanical heart" in
vented by Col. Charles A. Lind
bergh. This is used by DR.. Carrel
at the Rockefeller Institution fol
Medical Research to study vari
ous organs, such as the thyroid
gland and spleen, as they con
tinue to live artificially outside
the body.
Describes Experiments
Describing experiments with
$4,000 mice at the Rockefeller
Institute, DR.. Carrel said some of
the animals lived more than SO
months, equivalent to about III
years in human beings, as re
suit of new diets and changed
living conditions.
"The results" he d lie d
Showed that longevity does not
depend only on heredity, and that
it can be modified at will.
THE average duration of hu
man life already has been in
creased markedly" DR.. Carrel as
serted. 1T is quite probable that
the maximum duration of life
also can be more or less consid
erably extended. Unforeseen dis
coveries may suddenly open new
possibilities in the field Of re
juvenation"