Stiff Chapter 9 Summary

Although one of hype most disturbing chapter so far, chapter nine Just a Head  focused on the topic of the different ways that heads (human and animals) are used in the world of science. The chapter begins with the story of S.T. Sommering and his belief that the head could still use it's sense and feel for a short amount of time after decapitation (via the guillotine). He lobbied against its use, but lost of the community did not take his allegations seriously, especially since George's Martin, an assistant executioner, who re assured the medical community that after every execution, the heads made no movement. It wasn't until Jean Baptiste Vincent Lombarde spent many years research and experimenting (often foiled because the deliveries were always late) that there was any proof of life in the decapitated heads. Soon after, experimenters Hayem and Barrier took over, experimenting with animal heads that there was record of consciousness of the heads on the exterior for up to three or four seconds.this lead to investigation of head transplants, in which Charles Guthrie, a pioneer in the field of organ transplantation, successfully grafted the head of one dog to another dogs neck. After many scientists experimented with this idea, neurosurgeon Robert White began trying his hand at "isolated brain preparations". White had many famous experiments with this, including implanting a his transplants of one monkey's head to another's body. White looks forward to a future in these transplants so quadriplegics could extend their lifetime up to two decades, although he argues that the funding would be the problem. Because it would take so much time convincing a donors family to donate the whole body to this cause and an immense amount of money to follow through, it would only be available to the rich. Also, this raises the question of whether it would be a head or body transplant which complicates things legally.