Pavlov A BIOGRAPHY By B. P. BABKIN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
I. P. PAVLOV Foreword THE following pages, which contain an account
of the life and scientific achievements of the great Russian
physiologist, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, must be considered only as
material for a future, more comprehensive biography. The interval
since Pavlovs death has not been sufficiently long for the
collection of all the necessary data on his life and work, even by
biographers living in Russia. For me, a resident of Canada, it has
been much more difficult to obtain the information I desired. Then,
inevitably, the biographer is handicapped by a certain lack of
perspective in writing of a great man recently departed. He is, as
it were, still among us. We see and hear him as he was at our last
meeting we regard him from a per sonal angle, which makes it
difficult to maintain strict objectivity in the description of his
character and work. Nevertheless, I de cided to write a biography
of Pavlov for the following reasons. I am Pavlovs senior surviving
pupil. I knew him well for thirty five years from 1901 to the time
of his death in 1936. I served for ten years as his assistant in
the Department of Physiology at the Institute of Experimental
Medicine in St. Petersburg. Our associ ation in the laboratory
developed into a lasting friendship. These circumstances entitle me
to speak of Pavlov as a contemporary who was familiar with his
scientific activity throughout the greater part of his life. Since
the year 1949 is the centenary of I. P. Pavlovs birth, I felt that
for me it was a duty as well as a privilege to com municate to
those interested in his life and work all that I know about him.
There was anotherconsideration which influenced me in my decision
to write this biography. It seemed to me that an account of Pavlovs
life by one of his contemporaries who was closely associated with
him might be of some value to future students of the cultural
development of Russia. Pavlov belonged to the younger generation of
those remarkable men who made possible the astounding cultural
development of vii FOREWORD nineteenth-century Russia. Less than
one generation separated Pa vlov from such men asPirogov anatomist
and surgeon, Mendeleev and Butlerov chemists, Sechenov
physiologist, Botkin phy sician, Soloviev historian, Chicherin
political economist, Tur genev, Tolstoy, and Dostoevski novelists,
Tchaikovsky, Mus sorgsky, and Rimski-Korsakov composers, and many
others. Pavlov and his contemporaries continued this brilliant
tradition. The mental development of Pavlov and his attitude toward
life in general were formed during the sixties and seventies of the
past century. Profound political and social changes were taking
place in Russia during the reign of Alexander II 1855-81. The youth
of the period was full of idealism and of a sincere desire to serve
its country and humanity. Pavlov retained these high ideals all
through his life, steadfastly believing in truth, justice, and
liberalism and the all-important role of science. In 1917 this
astounding cul tural development of Russia was suddenly disrupted,
and new political and social ideas were forcibly imposed on the
country. This book consists of four parts. Part I comprises the
biography proper and my reminiscences of Pavlov. Parts II, III, and
IV deal with his scientific achievements in the physiology of the
cardio vascular, digestive, andcentral nervous systems. As far as
possible, the scientific material has been presented in a form
comprehensible to any intelligent lay reader. I hope, however, that
specialists in these fields will also find there certain things
which may interest them. I have been sparing in the use of
quotations from the scien tific literature, referring the reader
whenever possible to mono graphs rather than to individual
articles. In the preparation of the manuscript I have had the help
of a number of persons, to whom I should like here to express my
sin cere thanks...
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