A world-renowned scientist, a great physiologist, the creator of the science of higher nervous activity, the first Russian Nobel laureate. All this is about academician Ivan Pavlov. September 26 marks the 170th anniversary of his birth.
In Russia, his name has been known since school - from biology lessons about conditioned and unconditioned reflexes. That is why the first association with the scientist's name is “Pavlov's dog”. Modern medicine could not exist without the discoveries of the academician.
However, ambiguous myths circulate around his personality and activities. For example, the Internet is replete with information that Pavlov put experiments on street children. Or that after experimenting with animals, he gave up meat and became a vegetarian. And that during the experiments in the laboratory of the academician, hundreds of dogs were "worn out". How true are these rumors and is it worth believing in them.
FRIENDS OF HUMAN
Pavlov's dog is a collective image. It is associated with the experiments conducted by the scientist. With the help of animals, he studied the physiology of digestion. And it was for his discoveries in this area that he received the Nobel Prize in 1904. But back to the four-legged friends. Pavlov was engaged in vivisection - he performed complex operations on animals in order to study the functions of the body. Thanks to the experimental dogs, he was able to observe the process of secretion of gastric juice during feeding. To do this, he had to make the dogs in the body so-called fistulas - holes with tubes through which saliva, gastric juice, and bile flowed into special vessels.
In particular, he paid attention to how dogs react to various external stimuli when feeding - for example, sound or light. So Pavlov moved from studying digestion to reflex activity. The classic experience was that after hitting the bell, the dog was immediately given food. So the animal acquired a conditioned reflex - after a while, saliva began to be released at the sound of a bell.
Of course, not all experiments were successful. But some dogs have served science for years. These four-legged heroes patiently "worked" for the good of people. And despite all the suffering that the dogs happened to know, they tried to provide them with a good life.
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- With a fistula, a dog can live for a long time, because the device closes, it can be washed and it does not interfere with the animal. This is how the dog eats, it has normal digestion. And if you need to get saliva or gastric juice for the experiment, then the fistula is opened,”says Larisa Andreeva, head of the Pavlovskie Koltushi museum and exhibition complex. - There is evidence that some dogs lived for 15 years. And the point was not to take the dog, do something with it and kill it. Pavlov became famous for the fact that he was in favor of the dogs serving for a long time.
Moreover, the results of the experiments were considered in perspective - first on a young organism, then the dog grew old. They were crossed to also study the inheritance of temperament. By the way, dogs for experiments were not caught just on the streets.
- In Koltushi, a specially created nursery for breeding animals. Not only dogs, but also rabbits, mice, rats, there were goats and sheep, - adds Larisa Andreeva.
The biological station in Koltushi was created on the initiative of the academician in 1926. To this day, scientists work there - there is the Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
BTW
During the second largest flood in the history of Leningrad in 1924, Pavlov and his collaborators rescued dogs from the flooded Physiological Laboratory of the Academy of Sciences.
In 1935, a year before Pavlov's death, on the initiative of the academician himself, a monument to a dog was erected on Aptekarsky Island in St. Petersburg - in gratitude for the service for the good of mankind.
There is also such a poignant quote from Pavlov: “When I embark on the experience connected at the end with the death of an animal, I experience a heavy feeling of regret that I am interrupting a jubilant life, that I am the executioner of a living being. When I cut and destroy a living animal, I suppress in myself a caustic reproach that with a rude, ignorant hand I break an inexpressibly artistic mechanism. But I endure this in the interests of truth and benefit to people."
CHILDREN OF PAVLOV
Pavlov is also credited with more "bloodthirsty" experiments than with dogs. On the Web today you can find many articles that the academician also set up the same experiments on orphans. It was as if Pavlov tormented the poor street children, cut their stomachs and cheeks, and the kids also walked with fistulas, like dogs. However, this is a lie. There were experiments with children at that time. But, firstly, not with Pavlov. And secondly, they are not at all so cruel.
- This is one of the myths around Pavlov. Such experiments were carried out by the scientist Krasnogorsky (he was younger than Pavlov and worked for him). He wanted to carry out the same experiments on salivation, but on a person. But, of course, they didn’t do any fistulas to the children,”says Larisa Andreeva.
Children did not have holes in their cheeks, but devices were attached from the inside. And saliva was obtained using a special vessel from the mouth. Maybe not pleasant, but not all that bad.
“Krasnogorskiy most likely had children from orphanages or street children who willingly agreed to participate in experiments for a piece of candy,” says the head of the Pavlovskie Koltushi Museum. - He wanted to confirm or deny Pavlov's works from his own experience. These experiments were short-lived and did not lead to anything. But in our time they were "dug up" and "inflated" to the point of obscenity.
BUTTERFLIES AND PAINTING
The genius who devoted his whole life to science had many hobbies. He loved to ride a bike, played in small towns. He was also a passionate collector. Collected stamps from different countries. He was fond of entomology throughout his life - he began to collect beetles and butterflies as a child, at home in Ryazan. And he had a passion for the study of insects until old age. Today, several collections of several dozen butterflies are kept in Pavlov's memorial apartment on Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg.
In his mature years, the scientist developed a passion for painting. This is another hobby of the academician. Pavlov collected canvases of Russian artists, constantly visited painting exhibitions. And he was friends with many artists and was friends with many famous artists - Richard Bergholtz, Mikhail Nesterov, Nikolai Dubovsky. And especially with Ilya Repin. In 1924 he painted the famous portrait of Pavlov, which today is located in the Tretyakov Gallery.
But the information widespread today that the academician allegedly gave up meat and became vegetarians after experiments on animals is not true.
- Repin was a vegetarian in the last years of his life. And they may have discussed it with him. But Pavlov himself was not a vegetarian, - said Larisa Andreeva.
By the way, although there were plenty of animals in Pavlov's life, the academician also had a cat at home - the favorite of his wife, Serafima Vasilievna.
Ivan Pavlov had enviable health all his life. In clarity of mind and good spirits, he lived to be 86 years old. But he passed away from severe pneumonia.
POLINA ZHUKOVA
