LIFE AFTER DEATH.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1687, 1 March 1913, Page 11

LIFE AFTER DEATH.

A SURGEON'S TRIUMPHS. Dr. Alexis Carrel, of the Rockefeller Institute; New York, who .won. tho .Nobel l'rizo for 1912 for his researches into tho preservation of living organs apart from the body, has carried his experiments a tjtep further by maintaining all tho normal functions of. tho. heart, stomach, and ' other orgaiis, removed intact from a cat's bbdy, for thirteen hours after death (states the "Daily Mail"). A paper written by Dr. Carrel's direction, describing his most recent experiments, has been read by Professor Pozzr to the French Academy of Medicine. Dr. Carrel removed in a single mass tho kidneys, heart, oesophagus (part of tho alimentary canal), stomach, and intestines of an animal, and preserved them at the normal temperature of the body. "Into tho severed trachea (windpipe)," said Professor I'ozzi, "an indiarubber tube was inserted to enable artificial respiration to be maintained. Then tho organs of the thorax and abdomen, with their bloodvessels, were cut out in a single mass and placed in a vessel containing a certain solution at a temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Tho heart continued to beat slowly and regularly. After some minutes tho blood pressure rose and became sometimes almost normal.

'The organs were then placed in a box filled with tho solution, protected by a glass plate. The windpipe tube was fixed to an opening in tho side of the box. Another tube was fixed to the oesophagus. It then became possible to inject water or nourishment into the stomach. Placed in a stove at blood temperature, tho organs continued to livo in an apparently normal state. The pulsations of the heart were strong and regular, the circulation was normal."

In one instance where tho stomach was full of meat at tho moment of death the proccss of normal digestion was carricd on for s'bme lionrs afterwards. . Tho greater number of the organs on which Dr. Carrol experimented continued in active life ten, eleven, and even thirteen hours affer tho death of tho animal of which they had formed part. "A curious fact," added Professor Pozzi, "is that the blood of tho animal ftill circulating in the organs continued to take oxygen from tho air and convert it into carbon dioxide (tho ordinary process of breathing of living beings)."