M. Bulgakov's fantastic story "Heart of a Dog" about a professor conducting an experiment on transplanting a human pituitary gland to a dog was not really completely fictional. The main character, Professor Preobrazhensky, had a real prototype, or rather, even several prototypes. In those days, Russian and foreign scientists really carried out experiments on human rejuvenation, and even on the interbreeding of humans with animals! There are at least four applicants for the role of the Preobrazhensky prototype.
Evgeny Evstigneev as Professor Preobrazhensky in V. Bortko's film Heart of a Dog, 1988
Researchers looking for prototypes for this literary hero usually start with portrait likeness and geographic coordinates. The fact is that the story describes the apartment of Professor Preobrazhensky, and this description in detail coincides with the atmosphere of the apartment of Bulgakov's uncle, gynecologist Nikolai Mikhailovich Pokrovsky. In addition, one cannot fail to notice the external similarity between the professor and Pokrovsky described in the story.
Bulgakov's uncle N. M. Pokrovsky and the house on Prechistenka where he lived
This version is also supported by the memoirs of the first wife of the writer Tatyana Lapp: “As I started reading“Heart of a Dog”, I immediately guessed that it was him. The same angry, always humming something, his nostrils flared, his mustache was just as lush. Then he was very offended by Mikhail for this. Nikolai Mikhailovich was distinguished by his uncompromising, hot-tempered character. However, the similarities are limited to these details. Pokrovsky did not conduct any scandalous experiments. Unlike the next candidate for the role of the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky.
Charles Brown-Séquard
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Professor Preobrazhensky is engaged not only in treating patients, but also in rejuvenating them - for example, in one episode he announces to a 51-year-old woman that he intends to transplant her ovaries of a monkey. It sounds anecdotal, but, nevertheless, very close to reality. At the age of 70, the outstanding French physician Charles Brown-Séquard began experiments in rejuvenation - he gave himself 6 injections of an extract from the testes of rabbits and dogs. According to him, he felt a surge of strength and vivacity and felt rejuvenated.
Evgeny Evstigneev as Professor Preobrazhensky in V. Bortko's film Heart of a Dog, 1988
To demonstrate the veracity of his feelings, Brown-Sekar ran up the stairs, which he used to climb with difficulty. His lecture, read at the Paris Scientific Society in 1889, caused a stir. Several scientists followed his example and repeated his experiment. But soon the scientist recognized the short duration of the anti-aging effect: he began to quickly grow decrepit and after 5 years he died - nature took its toll.
Samuil Abramovich Voronov
Samuil Abramovich Voronov
The experiments of Brown-Séquard were continued by the French surgeon of Russian origin Samuil Abramovich Voronov. He developed a technique for grafting monkey testicular tissue into human testicles. His experiments were so popular that soon a line of wealthy patients lined up for him, dreaming of rejuvenation and sexual activity. Thousands of people underwent treatment according to the Voronov system, and soon he even opened a monkey nursery for the convenience of conducting procedures. But soon Voronov lost confidence and was declared a charlatan.
Samuil Abramovich Voronov
And in the USSR, no less sensational experiments were carried out at the same time by Professor Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov, who discovered the method of artificial insemination to the world. He was engaged in the creation of interspecific hybrids and dreamed of crossing a man with a monkey. He put forward this idea in 1910 at the World Congress of Zoologists. His dream was not destined to come true, but similar ideas were heard in the scientific world at the beginning of the 20th century.
Professor Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov and the alleged result of his experiments
Polygraph Sharikov - the result of the experiment of Professor Preobrazhensky
It is difficult to say which of these outstanding doctors really was the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky, and whether he actually had prototypes - perhaps this is a collective image, which embodied the features of the best minds of that era.