HISTORY PAGES
Holmes and Dr . Watson manage to find out that , in pursuit of youth , the professor agreed to an injection of serum from the glands of a certain primate . Interestingly , the story of the barking mad professor is one of the few stories featuring Sherlock Holmes without any murder or crime .
Finally , the experiments of Doctor Voronoff inspired even the cinema . In 1926 , Irish director Rex Ingram directed “ The Magician ” — in the horror genre , certainly . The film tells the story of the magician ’ s attempts to get a girl ’ s blood for experiments to create a new life . The film was based on a story by Somerset Maugham , written a little earlier , but , of course , the hysteria associated with the name of the doctor who allegedly conquers death inspired the director to shoot the film . By the way , some scenes from the film are set in the Monte-Carlo Casino . At first critics called the film mediocre , but in 2011 , after being released commercially it deservedly became a classic .
But almost 70 years later , the surgeon ’ s negative reputation began to soften . In November 1991 , one of the oldest peer-reviewed medical journals in the world , ‘ The Lancet ’, suggested that Voronoff ’ s work be reopened . By 1994 , there were calls for a qualified apology from the orthodox medical establishment for dismissing Voronoff ’ s work . By 2005 , Voronoff ’ s work was noted for setting the basis for a modern anti-aging strategy of replacing hormones , which decline with age , to regain the physical vitality associated with youth .
QUACK , VILLAIN OR GENIUS ..?
Nowadays , the figure of him as an odious experimenter is perceived ambiguously . Some call him a visionary ahead of his time . Despite the fact that in the 1920s his ideas were considered strange and even sinister , the discovery of the enormous influence of the gonads on human behavior formed the basis of many modern therapies . Samuel Abramovich is considered both the forefather of Viagra and the ideologist of the emergence of hormone replacement therapy that is so widespread now . Official medicine no longer calls into question the fact that hormone production decreases with age , and it is possible to stop age-related changes leading to a decrease in the quality of life often with the help solely of pharmacology .
In 1999 Roger Short , professor at the University of Melbourne , surmised that it was because of the Voronoff experiments with the glands of monkeys that humanity encountered the AIDS virus ( later this version was rejected ).
Though the life of Serge Voronoff was not eternal , it was immensely interesting and rather long . Samuel Abramovich died 70 years ago , in September , 1951 , at the age of 85 . He was buried in the Russian cemetery of Nice .
FAMOUS NOVEL “ HEART OF A DOG ”
In Russia such bold experiments on the human body did not pass unobserved by Mikhail Bulgakov , a doctor by training , and in 1925 he wrote “ Heart of a Dog ”, one of the most famous works of the Master .
Professor Preobrazhensky , driven by scientific curiosity , transplants the pituitary gland of Klim Chugunkin , stabbed to death in a drunken fight , to a stray dog named Sharik . At first the operation seems successful : Sharik takes on human form and begins to speak ... Unfortunately , soon the “ cutest dog ” gradually turns into the scoundrel Polygraph Polygraphych , who terrorizes the servants , and writes denunciations of the professor . Preobrazhensky , whose life has become a real nightmare , had to turn Sharikov back into a dog . The experiment to transform a flea-bitten dog into an ideal person has failed ...
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THE DESCENT AND FALL FROM GRACE
The glory of Samuel Abramovich himself soon began to fade too . His patients died , the effect of rejuvenation quickly faded away and colleagues ostracized him . Serge Voronoff lost interest in transplantology and began studying the causes of aging and the occurrence of malignant tumours .
French surgeon of Russian extraction Serge Abramovich Voronoff ( 1866 – 1951 ) and his assistant operating on an old dog , according to his method of rejuvenation by grafting , in a laboratory at the Collège de France . Frontpage of French newspaper ‘ Le Petit Journal ’, October 22 , 1922 Самуил Абрамович Воронофф с ассистентом во время операции в лаборатории Коллеж де Франс . Первая страница французской газеты Le Petit Journal за 22 октября 1922 года .
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