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On May 21, 1908, Charles Guthrie succeeded in grafting one dog's head onto the side of
another's neck, creating the world's first man-made two headed dog. The transplanted head was sewn on at the base
of the neck, upside down, so that the two dogs are chin to chin, giving an impression of intimacy,
despite what must have been at the very least a strained coexistence.
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The Colossus of Nero was an enormous statue the Emperor Nero had erected in his image in the vestibule of the Domus Aurea.
The Emperor Hadrian created a masonry base for the colossus and purportedly moved the statue to create space for the Temple of Venus and Roma
near the Colosseum. The remains of the masonry pedestal were removed in 1936.
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A head transplant is a surgical operation involving the replacement of an organism's head with a replacement head.
It should not be confused with another hypothetical surgical operation, the brain transplant. Head transplantation
invariably involves decapitating the patient.
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Legend says the statue washed up on a shore, after a Venetian ship sank returning from the sack of Constantinople.
Some say that it represents Heraclius while others think it represents the Emperor Theodosius.
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The surviving remnants are arranged in the Palazzo dei Conservatori Courtyard as follows:
the right arm, the head, the right kneecap, the right hand, the left shin, the right foot,
the left kneecap, and the left foot.
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Since the technology required to reattach a severed spinal cord has not
yet been developed, the subject of a head transplant would be a quadriplegic. As of this time, there
is no uniform consensus on the ethics of such a procedure.
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The statue evidently depicts an emperor, identifiable from his imperial diadem and his
commanding gesture that invokes the act of delivering a speech, with his right arm raised,
now holding a cross, but probably originally wielding a labarum.
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The operation involved cauterizing arteries and veins while the head was being
severed to prevent hypovolemia. Because the nerves were left intact, connecting the brain to a blood
supply kept it chemically alive. The animal survived for some time after the operation, even attempting
to bite some of the staff.
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