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First Transplant Surgeon, The: The Flawed Genius Of Nobel Prize Winner, Alexis Carrel

First Transplant Surgeon, The: The Flawed Genius Of Nobel Prize Winner, Alexis Carrel

Hamilton David

(2016)

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Book Details

Abstract

This is a new account, of how, in the early 1900s, the French-born surgeon Alexis Carrel (1873-1944) set the groundwork for the later success in human organ transplantation, and gained America's first Nobel Prize in 1912. His other contributions were the first operations on the heart, and the first cell culture methods. He was prominent in military surgery in WW1, and in the 1930s, gained further fame when collaborating with the aviator Charles Lindbergh on an organ perfusion pump.But controversy followed his every move, including concerns over scientific misconduct, notably his claim to have obtained 'immortal' heart cells, now shown to be fraudulent. In 1934, he authored a best-selling book Man, the Unknown based on his strongly-held conservative, spiritual, political and eugenic views, adding a belief in faith healing and parapsychology. He settled in Paris in WW2 under the German occupation, believing that the conditions would allow him to refashion the degenerate Western civilization. His extremist views re-emerged in the 1990s when they proved interesting to right-wing politicians, and in a bizarre twist, jihadist Islamists now laud his criticisms of the West.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Contents xvii
The Author v
Prologue vii
Acknowledgements xv
Chapter One Lyon Days 1
School Days 3
Lyon Student 4
Lyon Medicine 6
Surgical Training 8
Personal Life 9
Publications 12
The Meetings 13
Research Opportunities 14
Promotion Opportunities 15
The Paper 17
Methods 18
Carrel’s Method 21
Events of 1902 22
Lourdes Visit 23
The Cure 25
Summer 1902 28
Promotion Denied 29
Aftermath 30
His Motives 31
Chapter Two New Life in North America 33
Chicago Hospitals 35
A New Position 37
Enter Guthrie 38
Early Experiments 40
New Studies 43
Results 45
Vessels and Organs 45
The Patch 49
The Publications 49
First Publicity 52
American Surgeons’ Interest 55
Hopkins Interest 59
Further Contact 61
The Baltimore Meeting 62
What If ? 66
More Publicity 67
Chapter Three Early Years at the Institute 71
Philanthropists 72
Rockefeller Money 73
Gates’ Plan 74
A Director Appointed 78
Staff Recruitment 78
Outside Concerns 80
More Funds 80
The New Home 81
Carrel Starts 83
Carrel’s First Year 84
Courting Publicity 86
Personal Details 88
Summer Break 89
Surgical Work 89
Career Options 90
Publications 91
Institute Projects 92
Kidney Grafts 92
Post-Operative Phase 94
The Homograft Puzzle 95
Other Projects 96
The Hospital 97
Transplants in Cats 98
The Cat Story Breaks 99
Public Concern 100
New York Antivivisectionists 102
Chapter Four Carrel Established 105
Word Spreads 108
Legislation Stalls 109
Lectures and Leg Grafts 109
Further Publicity 112
Institute Action 114
Public Involved 115
Caution Required 117
Institute Visitors 118
Guthrie in St. Louis 120
Guthrie Takes Offence 122
Homograft Failure Recognised 124
Further Antivivisectionist Pressure 125
New Directions 128
Chapter Five The Birth of Tissue Culture 129
Carrel’s Interest 131
Back to the Institute 132
New Vistas 134
Professional Tensions 136
Technique Improves 138
French Reaction 139
Rebuttal in America 141
The Paris Meeting 142
New Evidence 143
Successful Growth 144
Cell Senescence 146
Back to Paris 148
Chapter Six The Nobel Prize 151
The Winner 152
Difficulties Emerge 155
The Nobel Lecture 156
Publicity Concerns 157
Noguchi’s Work 158
Lowering the Profile 159
Marriage 161
Chapter Seven Heart and Blood Vessel Surgery 165
‘Visceral’ Organism 165
Corneal Grafting 166
Developments in Transplantation 167
Tissue Typing 168
Blood Vessel Surgery 1909–1914 169
Aortic Surgery 170
Thoracic Aorta 171
The Heart 172
Better Anaesthesia 172
Into the Chest 174
Meltzer’s Studies 176
Attempts by Others 178
Heart Surgery Resumed 178
Murphy’s Insight 182
The New York Meeting 183
Outbreak of War 187
Chapter Eight War in France 189
Back to Lyon 191
Local Action 192
War Moves North 195
New Infections 196
Policy Shift 197
Aftercare 198
Carrel’s Move 200
Staffing 202
Selecting Injuries 204
Crile’s Research Meeting 205
Cushing Arrives 206
Enter Dakin 208
Perfusion System 212
Publicity for the Méthode 216
Carrel’s Response 218
Industrial Interest 221
The Treatment of Infected Wounds 222
The Debate Continues 222
Conferences 223
Controversy Continues 224
Wright’s Decline 226
Dissent by Others 227
Enter America 228
Chapter Nine The Demonstration Hospital 231
Wartime Work 232
Murphy’s Bold Concept 233
Using Lymphocyte Rebound 234
The War Demonstration Hospital 235
Civilian Patients 238
Critics Appear 239
Enter Bevan 241
Teaching the Technique 244
Cases Arrive 245
Extending the Technique 247
Influenza 247
Setbacks 249
Dakin’s New Antiseptic 251
Reports 251
Return to France 252
New Projects 253
The Last Battles 254
The End of the Method 256
Chapter Ten Early 1920s Research 259
New Funds 260
Carrel’s Expanded Division 261
Carrel’s Laboratory 264
Carrel’s Choices 266
Loeb’s Lead 267
Carrel’s Forgotten Grafts 269
Murphy Diverted 271
Rous Changes Course 272
All Change 273
Surgical World 275
The ‘Old Strain’ Cell Line 277
Senescence 278
Some Concerns 279
Culture Projects 279
His Projects in Detail 280
Other Studies and the Trephones 283
Into Cancer 284
Chapter Eleven Life in the 1920s 287
The Island 288
New York Life 289
The Paranormal 291
Carrel Encountered 293
The ‘Philosophers’ 296
Attitudes and Interests 300
Carrel and France 302
Academic Activities 303
Committees and Associations 305
Eugenics 307
Publicity 309
Fiction 312
Withdrawal 313
Chapter Twelve Confidence Gone 315
Institute Policy 316
Carrel’s Choices 318
Doubts about the Cells 319
Decline in Output 323
Cancer Studies 326
The Project 328
Mouse Supplies 330
The Studies 330
The End 331
Other Work 332
Chapter Thirteen His Book — Man, the Unknown 335
Popularising Science 336
Writing the Book 337
Publisher’s Caution 338
The Text 339
The Interwar Declinists 340
Carrel’s Book 342
Degeneracy Explained 343
Mental Decay 344
Changes in Food and Drink 344
Disease Mechanisms 345
Social Decay 346
Environmental Degeneration 347
Moral Degeneration 348
Racial Factors 349
Dating the Decline 350
His Remedies 350
Physical Remedies 351
Spiritual Reform 352
More Remedies 354
Marriage and Women 356
‘Isolats’ 357
The ‘Unfit’ 358
Euthanasia 358
Military Strength 359
Islam 360
His Institute 360
Publication 363
Responses 367
Impact 368
Distant Sales 369
Earnings 371
Chapter Fourteen The Organ Pump 373
The Plan 374
Enter Lindbergh 375
Earlier Interest 376
The Visit 377
Pump Work 378
The Team 381
Lindbergh’s Design 383
First Results 385
Publicity 386
Carrel’s Lecture 389
Pressure on the Lindberghs 390
Chapter Fifteen Wider Involvement 393
Lectures 394
French Politics 397
Pontigny Meeting 399
Lindbergh’s Activities 401
Lindbergh’s Other Projects 402
Summer 1936 402
Copenhagen Meeting 405
Back to the Island 406
European Report 406
Back to New York 408
Reader’s Digest 408
Visitors and Contacts 410
Lindbergh Activities 411
Pump Projects 414
Lowering the Temperature 416
Lectures and Awards 418
Summer 1937 Visits 418
Phi Beta Kappa 420
Lindbergh’s Return Visit 420
Biography Suggested 421
Winter 1937 422
Into 1938 422
The Book 426
Pump Use Spreads 428
Legacy 430
Chapter Sixteen Retirement Nears 433
The Lecture 433
Gasser’s Agenda 436
Retirements Proposed 438
Summer 1938 440
Lindbergh’s Mission 441
Return to Germany 442
Lindbergh’s Influence 444
Carrel’s Plans 446
European Possibilities 448
The Lindberghs Return 449
Carrel and Europe 451
The Jews 453
Retirement Date Nears 454
Countdown 456
Lindbergh’s Flask 457
Winding Down 457
Dispersal 460
Other Retirees 461
Chapter Seventeen To France and Back 463
Lindbergh’s Moves 463
Carrel’s War Work 464
New Projects 465
Changes at the Institute 467
Carrel’s Return 468
French Defeat 469
Carrel and Vichy 470
Vichy Contacts 472
France Calls 472
‘America First Committee’ 473
Carrel’s Plan 475
The Journey 478
Chapter Eighteen Back to France 479
In Lisbon and Spain 480
Pétain Contact 482
New York Watching 485
Vichy Rule 486
Island Negotiations 488
Carrel’s ‘Fondation’ 489
The Fondation’s Plan 490
Accommodation Sought 491
Administration 492
The Structure 494
Pronatalism Drive 496
Biotypes Sought 497
Race and Immigration 497
Environment and Health 498
Eugenics Studied 499
The Bulletin 500
What If ? 501
German Contacts 501
Agency Interest 504
Americans in Paris 506
The Resistance 507
Carrel’s Attitude 508
Paris Writings 509
New York 512
Coudert and Vichy 513
Tide Turns 515
His Illness 516
Liberation Nears 516
The Liberation 517
Chapter Nineteen Aftermath 521
Obituaries 522
Collaboration Allegations 524
His Actions 524
What If ? 526
Carrel’s Estate 526
Immediate Reputation 528
The Fondation’s Fate 529
Geopolitical Landscape 530
The New France 532
France and Carrel 535
Carrel Biographies 535
Further Honours 537
Catholic Links 538
Other Writers 540
Further Surgical Fame 543
Tissue Culture 546
Reputational Setbacks 547
The Cells Persist 548
Guthrie Remembered 550
Public Setbacks 552
More Pressure 554
Beyond France 556
Islamic Interest 557
Muslim Brotherhood 558
Envoi 560
Bibliography and Sources 561
Carrel’s Lyon Days 563
Chicago Period 563
Early Years at Rockefeller 564
Vascular Surgery 565
Tissue Culture 565
Cardiac Surgery 566
Transplantation 566
World War I 567
The 1920s 568
Man, the Unknown 569
The Pump 570
Paris Events 571
Aftermath 571
Carrel’s Publications 572
Books 575
Abbreviations Used 575
Index 577