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Robert E. Cornish... "modern-day Frankenstein"...
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Robert E. Cornish... "modern-day Frankenstein"...

Item # 731538 ·

THE NEW YORK TIMES, Oct. 16, 1934

  • Robert E. Cornish - "real-life Frankenstein"
  • Reviving executed convicts is blocked

The back page has a one column heading: "Refuse Permission To 'Revive' dead Men" with subhead. (see images) 
Complete with all 48 pages, light toning, a little spine wear, generally nice.

Background: Dr. Robert E. Cornish’s infamous 1930s reanimation experiments represented a surreal collision of early resuscitation science, public morbid fascination, and profound legal panic. After successfully restarting the hearts and breathing of clinically killed fox terriers using a makeshift teeterboard and injections of adrenaline and anticoagulants, Cornish attempted to apply his methods to executed human convicts, most notably San Quentin death-row inmate Thomas McMonigle, who volunteered his body. The true historical significance of the case lies not just in its grotesque boundary-pushing of early bioethics and mechanical resuscitation, but in the existential challenge it posed to the American legal system: California officials ultimately blocked the experiments not purely out of medical skepticism, but out of fear that if Cornish succeeded, a resurrected murderer might have to be freed under the Constitutional protection against double jeopardy.

Category: The 20th Century
Price
$48
100% Authentic: Original printing, never a reproduction.