The medical science news from the early 1900s makes me stop to scratch my head. The stuff that was reported was… well, it belonged in those cheesy 5 cent novels of the time, that’s for sure. On the flip side, this article does touch on the idea of growing organs. That is pretty amazing for an idea that is over 100 years old.
Made-Over Mankind
And now comes Dr. V.E. Emmel, department of anatomy, Washington University school, who has surely got us going. The doctor has taken the blood cells of a pig, put them in a mixture of salt water and tissue juices and multiply — actually produce live, work-day blood.
You see the finality of these scientific discoveries, don’t you? You are a weak, broken down animal man. Along comes Dr. Carroll, who has produced new liver tissues from sheep’s liver. You get a new liver. Also Dr. Harrison, who produces reliable kidney tissue from a dog. You get new kidneys. Then Dr. Emmel, who produces new blood from a pig. Behold, you have new circulation. Working toe nails from a cat, stomach from an ostrich and skull from a hitching post may yet come, and there you are, a made-over!
Verily we have got to so live that the respectable dogs, pigs and sheep will be proud of us anyhow.
[Source: The Day Book (Chicago, Illinois newspaper). July 22, 1912.]
