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Dr. Alexis Carrel: Pioneer Surgeon and Biologist
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11426 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
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11 / 1986 |
4,245 Words |
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William E. Small
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"There is apparently no reason why the leg or the arm of an animal or of a human being could not be transplanted successfully on another animal of the same species or another human being.
"It has been shown, also, for the first time, that transplanted kidneys function ... that an animal which has undergone a double nephrectomy [surgical removal of a kidney] and the graft [reattachment] of one of his own kidneys can recover completely and live in perfect health for eight months, at least."
These words, published seventy-eight years ago in the then-infant Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by Dr. Alexis Carrel, have proven to be remarkably prophetic if we consider the miracles of modern surgery:
· In 1954, the successful transplant of a kidney in a human by Drs. John Merrill, Joseph Murray, Hartwell Harrison, and Warren Guild in Boston;
· The first successful human heart transplant by Dr. Christian Barnard in South Africa in 1962; and
· The first successful reattachment of a human limb by a team led by Dr. Ronald Malt in Boston in 1962.
In 1985, JAMA published 51 landmark articles in medicine to commemorate the journal's own centennial. Among these superb papers was Alexis Carrel's "Results of the Transplantation of Blood Vessels, Organs and Limbs." In that same collection was a companion piece to Carrel's 1908 article on the surgical connecting of blood vessels, called vascular anastomosis, and organ transplantation. Also in the collection was another article giving Carrel justifiable credit for modern blood-transfusion therapy, a result of Carrel's 1902 studies of direct connection of blood vessels between two persons, which eliminated clotting problems. Other papers in the collection might have acknowledged the great contributions of Dr. Carrel to tissue culture, wound repair, and basic surgical techniques.
Dr. Carrel was indeed one of the most extraordinary men of vision of this century. He was a pioneer in the art and science of surgery and biology. He also explored the human mind and mystical phenomena II and witnessed and documented faith healing. With a scientist's detachment and objectivity, he looked at and wrote about a variety of psychic phenomena, usually neither denying nor confirming their validity, and thereby frequently engendering the enmity of believers as well as opponents. He also wrote freely about civilization and social conditions:
There is no hope that politicians, even with the assistance of specialists in economics and sociology, will succeed in patching the present world order. . Cannot man develop better methods for the existence of individuals, nations, and races, and utilize the immense progress of science and technology according to the natural laws of his body and mind? Such a revolution would be possible if each man and woman were ready to take part in it.
He once contextualized his contemplation by observing that, "On the scale of magnitude, man exists midway between an atom and a star."
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