Experiments on the Principle of Life

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Title continues: "and Particularly on the Principle of the Motions of the Heart, and On the Seat of this Principle: Including The Report made to the First Class of the Institute, u pon the Experiments relative to the Motions of the Heart." This monograph by the early 19th-century French physiologist Le Gallois (1770-1814) suggests the idea of "extracorporeal circulation," which, taken to its logical conclusion, foresees the invention of the heart-lung machine or life-support system. In his introduction, the author defends vivisection, or the use of life animals, in experimentation (pp. 19-21). His descriptions of decapitating rabbits are not for the squeamish. Show more