Nobel Prize - Corneille Heymans

In The Hesperus Prophecy, Declan takes a rare break to read an article about the year’s Noble Prize winners. He isn’t impressed, particularly by Heymans and his decidedly barbaric technique.

Corneille Heymans was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology. He discovered how the carotid artery regulates breathing by using a technique euphemistically referred to as the “isolated head technique.” This involved severing off dogs’ heads, then attaching their blood circulation to a second dog. In this manner, Heymans determined how the nervous system and blood flow affected respiration.

While Declan is a man of science, he also grew up on a farm where dogs guarded the equipment and kept the livestock safe from wolves and coyotes. Dogs were some of his best friends, and certainly didn’t deserve to be torn apart and pieced back together like Frankenstein’s monster.