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"Very well-researched and delivered in an engaging, breezy, wink-wink tone similar to that of Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg's Why Do Men Have Nipples?, this will likely be enjoyed equally by science buffs and casual aficionados of the curious. One of the finest science/history bathroom books of all time." -Kirkus Reviews |
#3: Demikhov’s Two-Headed Dogs
In 1954 Vladimir Demikhov shocked the world by unveiling a surgically created monstrosity: A two-headed dog. He created the creature in a lab on the outskirts of Moscow by grafting the head, shoulders, and front legs of a puppy onto the neck of a mature German shepherd. Demikhov paraded the dog before reporters from around the world. Journalists gasped as both heads simultaneously lapped at bowls of milk, and then cringed as the milk from the puppy's head dribbled out the unconnected stump of its esophageal tube. The Soviet Union proudly boasted that the dog was proof of their nation's medical preeminence.
Over the course of the next fifteen years, Demikhov created a total of twenty of his two-headed dogs. None of them lived very long, as they inevitably succumbed to problems of tissue rejection. The record was a month.
Demikhov explained that the dogs were part of a continuing series of experiments in surgical techniques, with his ultimate goal being to learn how to perform a human heart and lung transplant. Another surgeon beat him to this goal — Dr. Christian Baarnard in 1967 — but Demikhov is widely credited with paving the way for it.
[On YouTube: See a Russian-language film about Demikhov.]
Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Alex, you are right... I'd either be intrigued or horrified- this one horrifies me!
Posted by Jackie on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 02:55 PM
With the antiregection drugs of today, I wonder if he would be more successful today.
Posted by Mark on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 08:47 AM
I want to see 50 kitten heads attached over a large dog.
Posted by USE KITTENS on Sat Sep 29, 2007 at 03:41 AM
WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE
Posted by mahnahmahnah on Tue Oct 16, 2007 at 12:59 AM
weld
Posted by DEBRA A SMITH PLAINFIELD, IL 60544 on Wed Oct 17, 2007 at 04:57 AM
I wonder how long he would have lived with an extra head attached to his body... What humans do in the name of science is horrible!
Posted by Victoria Ciarlo on Thu Oct 25, 2007 at 03:00 PM
"... The Soviet Union proudly boasted that the dog was proof of their nation's medical preeminence."
... Um ... Sure, Comrade, whatever you say.
Posted by Big Gary on Thu Nov 29, 2007 at 04:04 PM
14 years before they knew how to keep the heads alive before stitching then to the new body:
http://www.archive.org/details/Experime1940
I never managed to watch the how film. It disturbs me. So you are forewarned too.
Posted by Da Comrad on Thu Dec 06, 2007 at 02:29 AM
WHY WHY WHY THIS IS SO EVIL!!!
Posted by rocky_balboa on Tue Feb 19, 2008 at 07:20 AM
Although I find this amazingly disgusting and wrong there is still a part of me that can
Posted by drug treatment on Sun Apr 27, 2008 at 06:52 PM
What a trip...
Reminds me of this time a buddy of mine got really wasted, he busted out the old miller welder and tried to weld the cats onto the dogs back.
Well, I guess that never happened. But it would have been creepy.
Posted by Miller on Sun Nov 16, 2008 at 06:20 PM
"... The Soviet Union proudly boasted that the dog was proof of their nation's medical preeminence."
WE'RE THE MOST F'D UP PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, HURAH!!
Posted by Carlos on Fri Feb 06, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Lool...the new x files mentioned these experiments...
Posted by William on Sat Feb 07, 2009 at 06:18 PM
freaky, but not uncommon!
Posted by jones on Wed Feb 11, 2009 at 07:30 AM
two-headed dog, two-headed daaaawwwwg..
i've been working in the kremlin with a two-headed dog
Posted by zombywoof on Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 07:44 AM
the american scientist, roky erickson talked about his works in the kremlin with a two headed dog who apparently was working in a counterspionage group. one head was working for the cccp and the other for the cia. What everyone wondered was which head comited suicide first?? Oh, my dog! this world can be soooooo creepy
Posted by Dorkan on Thu Aug 27, 2009 at 04:07 AM
I think he is an idiot if he did this to those poor animals. A real doctor would of made the dogs live just as much as he would of lived with only one head. Everybody can make a dog with 2 heads that will actually live for a really short period of time.
Posted by International Oddities on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 05:16 AM
why didnt he feel it was ok to try it on two humans , let me guess is it because a dog cant talk..humm
Posted by IKA on Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 10:55 PM
human.
centipede.
Posted by Chris on Tue Jan 04, 2011 at 09:36 PM
Before people get all horrified about this (and I do not dispute the fact that it's horrific), I hereby refer you to an article in the December 15, 1967 issue of Time called "The Ultimate Operation." This article discusses how operations such as this one led to the first (successful) heart transplant. It also mentions that besides the Russians, Dr. Christiaan Barnhard himself also performed this experiment on a couple of unfortunate dogs!
Posted by Timesthree on Thu Feb 03, 2011 at 07:09 PM