A. A. Bogdanov (1927) attempted to develop a theory of aging based on 

 the fact that the differentiation of the organism has a negative side, leading to a 

 contradiction in its systems. "The strength of the organism lies in the exact 

 coordination of its parts, in the strict correspondence of the individual mutually 

 connected functions. This correspondence is maintained during the continuing 

 growth of the tectological differences, but not to an unlimited degree: a moment 

 comes when it can no longer be maintained completely and begins to regress. 

 Parts of the whole become ... so different that they diverge both as regards 

 the very tempo of life and as regards the strength of their relative resistance to 

 the environment. And this inevitably leads to a disorganization, whether slower 

 or faster, that is determined by the sum of the conditions." 



Bogdanov derived this theory of the "deterioration" of the organism with 

 aging from the idealistic principles, developed by him, of so-called tectology (a 

 variety of empiriomonism). In it there is no scientific basis for what he postu- 

 lated as an abstract contradiction between the development of the parts and 

 units of the integral animal organism. Of somewhat greater interest are his 

 attempts to prolong life by systematic blood transfusions. The interpretation 

 of the blood-transfusion problem from a broader viewpoint as a means of 

 heightening tissue tone was successfully developed by A. A. Bogomolct's school 

 (the appearance of the so-called "colloidoclasia") and is still being studied 

 today. The explanation of the tonicizing ("rejuvenating") action of transfused 

 blood is given by Bogdanov in a very peculiar manner: 



"To change the blood means to change the internal environment of the 

 organism, the basic conditions of the vital activity of its cells . . .", for "foreign 

 blood presents different relationships, different deficiencies and surpluses; it 

 may even contain elements that are entirely absent from the blood in question. 

 To the extent that the lack of coincidence of the deficiencies and excesses when 

 the bloods are mixed must necessarily equalize them to a certain degree, to the 

 extent that the vital environment becomes more harmonious, to the extent 

 that new elements are introduced, it becomes enriched. Consequently, we 

 find that when the choice is successful, this process is favorable to the life of cells 

 and tissues. It may lead to an improvement of their functions, and this then in 

 its turn has a favorable effect upon the blood, which receives material from them, 

 as well as on its composition and properties, and even on the velocity and regu- 

 larity of its circulation, and this indicates a further improvement of the internal 

 environment," 



According to Bogdanov, the transfusion of blood in higher animals is 

 somewhat suggestive of conjugation in protozoa. Both the one and the other 

 leads to a heightening of the biological potential of organisms. Despite his 

 primitive notion of the character of the biological action of blood transfusion, 

 the efforts for expansion of blood transfusion programs in the USSR and 

 Bogdanov's establishment of a blood transfusion institute in Moscow (1926) 

 have doubtless been of great importance for medicine and biology. 



A Bogdanov died while performing one of his blood-transfusion experiments 

 on himself. 



22 



