686 CARREL— FURTHER STUDIES ON 



[November 6, 



limbs, or segments of limbs, taken from an amputated limb, or from 

 the body of a man killed by accident. 



All these experiments show that the remote results of the trans- 

 plantation of fresh vessels can be perfect, that transplanted kidneys 

 functionate, that an animal having undergone a double nephrectomy 

 and the transplantation of both kidneys from another animal can 

 live normally for a few weeks, and that an animal which has under- 

 gone a double nephrectomy and the graft of one of his own kidneys 

 can recover completely and live in perfect health. Finally, it has 

 been demonstrated that a leg extirpated from a dog and substituted 

 for the corresponding leg of another dog heals normally. 



Since the experimental transplantation of arteries are perma- 

 nently successful, it is permissible to use this method in human sur- 

 gery ; for instance, in treating aneurisms as it has been already tried 

 by Delbet in Paris. The era of these operations being opened, the 

 attempt of preserving blood vessels outside of the body in a condi- 

 tion of latent life was made with the view of rendering these opera- 

 tions more practicable. 



The length of the period which elapses between the extirpation 

 of a tissue, and the reestablishment of its circulation after trans- 

 plantation, is an important factor of success or failure. The result 

 of the graft depends entirely on the condition of the tissues at the 

 time of the reestablishment of the circulation. They must still be 

 alive; although apparently dead. If the tissues are really dead, the 

 graft is completely tmsuccessful. There are two kinds of death, 

 general death or death of the whole organism, and elemental death 

 or death of the tissues and organs. It is impossible to give a defi- 

 nition of general death. Everybody understands what it means. 

 Nevertheless, we are as ignorant about it as about life. General 

 death can occur suddenly, while elemental death is a slow process. 

 A man, for instance, is stabbed through the heart and killed. His 

 personality has disappeared. He is dead. However, all the organs 

 and tissues, which compose the body, are still living. The life of 

 every tissue and organ of the body could go on if a proper circula- 

 tion was given back to them. If it were possible to transplant imme- 

 diately after death the tissues and organs, which compose this body, 

 into other human organisms, no elemental death would occur, and 



