A "DEAD” DOG LIVES ON

Evening Star, Issue 21743, 11 June 1934, Page 5

A "DEAD” DOG LIVES ON

Twelve days after it Was pronounced dead, a nameless mongrel dog lay iu a box at tbe University of California science laboratory, breathing and functioning in the reactions of life, .through the medical skill of Robert E. Cornish, who had been waging a single-handed battle to unlock the secret of death, says the ‘ San Francisco 1 Chronicle.’ The dog’s ears twitch. Its heart beats. It eats and swallows food, and its circulation approaches normal. Only the brain appears inactive. Cornish is unable to say, he declares, whether or not this necessary instrument will ever wholly function again. f “ The dog may develop a puppy brain —or the brain may be entirely dead,” he says. “ But the dog at least ,is living and if it never returns to •'full consciousness the purpose of this portion of the experiment will have been accomplished. “ A dog in this condition is like a now-born baby,” says Cornish. “He displays signs of restlessness at night. Occasionally he kicks oil' the covers. Despite the fact that the animal is unconscious, it displays indications of thirst. When I pour water into its mouth it becomes restful and quiet.” The nameless dog that lies in a semicoma in the laboratory is the third to which Cornish has succeeded in restoring physical functions The others lived for a few hours. This one—twelve days. The most critical period is the first two days. “ The heart pumps so fast during that period it wears out,” says Cornish. “ This animal’s heart reached the terrific action of 220 beats a minutes. At this rate the heart would have worn out from shock.” Cornish slowed it down with a salt solution, followed by a “shot” of gum arabic. The gum arabic was used by Dr Bayliss, an eminent British surgeon during the World War and saved the lives of many men suffering from shell shock, a condition diagnosed, as a tendency toward circulation cessation. The dog under observation was “ killed ” with ether and “ nitro-gas.” Restored to life after being given all the death tests, it was first fed on liquid food. Recently it has been eating bits of liver. It shows only dim consciousness of what is going on around it. Cornish is conducting the tests on his own. The University of California has lent him its experimental laboratory for the dramatic battle against death, which is attracting wide interest.