FREEZING TO DEATH

Evening Star, Issue 22142, 24 September 1935, Page 7

FREEZING TO DEATH

FOR HIS FELLOMEK' A human being is to replace monkeys in the “ freezing death with revivification ” experiment of Dr Ralph S. Willard, research chemist, who startled scientists recently by reviving a Rhesus monkey which had remained frozen to death for three days in his laboratory, says a message from Los Angeles to tbe ‘ Chicago Tribune.’ The man who lias offered his life for tbe experiment is Stephen Sirakhovitcli, aged 34, the sou of V. G. Simkhovitch, professor of economic history at Columbia University, and of Mrs Mary K. Simkhovitch, head of Greenwich House in New York. Simkhovitch and Dr Willard in the presence of a buttery of attorneys exchanged contracts and signed agreements which will permit Dr Willard to subject the strapping young" playwright to his experiment’s crucial test. Simkhovitch explained that lie was motivated in making the attempt to defeat death by a desire to ’‘ do something worth while for humanity for a change ” and to determine positively “ if there is a life after death.” “ T wish to know something about the soul and its relation to the human body,” the subject explained. “I wish

to know what happens when a person dies, and .1 want to be able to come back and tell of these happenings. Life itself is unimportant where such vital matters as these are concerned. Someone must make these experiments—why not 1?” . The purpose of the experiment is to determine which form of bacilli can be combated by freezing at a point 30deg below zero. Dr Willard previously has determined that tuberculosisj at least, can bo combated through this freezing treatment. It is the patient’s hope that not only the tubercular bacilli but other germ life can be annihilated by freezing. The subject undergoing the experiment must bo “ dead ” for at least eight hours before some germs are killed. The bizarre contracts provide basically that Simkhovitch must go into the experiment, submit to freezing to deadband take his chances on being brougui back to life/without any responsibility on Dr Willard’s shoulders. “ When the experiment is performed there will be at least six medical doctors present,” ( said the chemist. “ 1 shall insist on this. And the subject will have undergone exhaustive physical examinations by medical men before the experiment begins.” In the event that legal complications prevent the human experimentation in the United States, Dr Willard said he would perform it in Mexico or any other land where there will be no interference. Attorneys pointed out that,

while no provisions have been made fo> control of such tests by any governing body, complications may arise which will prevent its completion in th* United States. If no official interference is made, the “ freezing death ” will begin a* soon as a freezing cabinet designed for a human being can be constructed. More than ISO applications were received from men who wished to submit to the tests, Dr Willard said. Jekal, the Rhesus monkey which Dr Willard reports he froze stiff and then revived, escaped from his cage ami fled through a Hollywood office building. Alarmed office workers telephoned tho police. Dr Willard arrived at the same time as two officers, captured his energetic 201 b charge, and stowed him back in hi» laboratory. The monkey, which Dr Willard said he kept in a refrigerator for three days, will be given blood tests t« determine whether he still suffers from tuberculosis after the experiment.