Chapter 24 Masterpiece of the Rector

I have one of the brightest, most optimistic hunches about the future of human health.This idea seems to have always repelled some very sensible people.It was a mixed feeling, half indignation, half frustration.Like I said something bad about the future.In fact, my entire assertion, partly out of faith and partly out of anecdotal but unsatisfactory evidence from the biological sciences of the past century, is that humanity will one day figure out a way out of the present. A limited number of serious illnesses that end human life early or cause long-term functional disability and suffering.In short, we will one day be a disease-free species.

I can't imagine anything limiting the depth of our understanding of living things other than gaining definite insights into the nature of human consciousness (a subject that may elude us for a long time, perhaps never).This prospect may appear in a few hundred years, possibly later, but when it does, it will clearly lead to a detailed explanation of the mechanisms of human disease.One of my basic beliefs is that then we will know how to intervene directly to divert them or prevent them. Something similar has happened, as in the case of most major infectious diseases.Although biology is new, we are still at a primitive, primitive stage, compared, for example, to physics, yet we have done enough basic science to allow us to develop specific antibacterial antisera and A long list of safe and reliable virus vaccines.Less than 50 years after bacteria were recognized as pathogens, we have been able to classify them and understand enough about their complex metabolism to clear the way for the emergence of antibiotics.Since the end of the 1940s, the first technological revolution in the long history of medicine has appeared, and the infectious diseases that once ravaged the family have become a thing of the past and are almost forgotten by people.

In the field of epidemiology, events are moving fast, which may represent an extraordinary stroke of good fortune.For certain other serious diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, senile mental illness, diabetes, schizophrenia, emphysema, high blood pressure, arthritis, tropical parasitic diseases, etc., we may have a much better It is difficult to go further.But that's not certain.The pace of scientific research has accelerated dramatically over the past two decades.With such a talented new force joining the research work of biology, we can do amazing miracles at any time.Either way, sooner or later these diseases will be demystified, explained and controlled.

In my view, these prospects are exciting and inspiring.However, some sarcastic remarks, the silence and cold eyes that often give birth to criticism, are difficult to face.You'd still think I declared a final disaster. The trouble is, the question that naturally arises is, "So what?" A common belief is that we need these diseases, that they are a natural part of the human condition.It is against nature to toss them, to manipulate them, to make them cease to exist, as I propose. "What would that be?" Without disease, what else could we die of?Shall we go on living without disease or disaster, with nothing to occupy our minds but the passing of time?How do you end your life with dignity, die honestly, without disease?

This last question is quite difficult, almost impossible to answer.So this is the kind of question you should find a poem to answer.Here is one, and it is "The Rector's Masterpiece, or Wonderful One-Horse Carriage," by Oliver Wendell Holmes.On the face of it, this rather poor 19th-century limerick seems to be about how a well-built carriage falls apart.But at the heart of the poem, what has given it the power to hold on to our minds for a hundred years, is a myth about the death of man. Not only that, but it's a myth that fits the modern mind.There was a consensus that the living organism was a fragile, essentially ramshackle thing, constantly in danger, faulty here and there, too complex to hold together for long.Today, thanks to the knowledge of molecular biology, especially the knowledge of the form and function of subcellular structures and their macromolecular components, and the flawless approach to harvesting solar energy for the needs of various cells Arrangement, the most moving aspect of life is its strong power.As a result of this newly acquired notion, the realization that things could go awry turned out to be a sort of frightening surprise—a disorder in one part could bring down that whole marvelous system.From this point of view, disease seems unnatural, a terrible mistake.There must be a better way to end it.

Thus, dissecting Holmes' carriage in detail, his poem can be read as a metaphor for a living thing or a cell: This is the 19th century view of disease, and it is our trouble today.It assumes that somewhere is always the least secure, as preordained in previous lives.Without fundamental, localized flaws in the system, it simply ages.In fact, it's doomed to collapse before it's time, unless you figure out a way to find and strengthen the weakest part.Dr. Holmes was limited by the scientific development level of his time and could not see this possibility.But using his imagination, he did see that there might be a perfect path to durability.The rector, his central figure, Olympian creator, symbol of nature, cannot be mistaken.What he designed was a perfected creature.

Then there is the step-by-step work of creation, which looks like a miracle in general, and the style is like the Bible: The car is fine.The carriage came to life, in fact, it lived for a hundred years with no disease, no disaster, no blemish.Every part is perfect, supported by all other parts that are equally perfect.It was born in the hands of the rector in 1775, the year of the Lisbon earthquake; it collapsed in 1855, not less than a hundred years a day, and it was also the year of the earthquake. The collapse is the most exciting scene in the whole process.Until the last minute, the final turn of the glorious wheels, the carriage ran flawlessly.There is decay, of course, Holmes admits it in his mythology, but it is a respectable, respectable, legitimate decay:

Then, it's time to break down: What a way to end it! Then there's the collapse scene itself.There are no tears, no complaints, no ear to listen to the last words, no sorrow, only the way of all living beings, and the fulfillment of merit and virtue.listen: And finally the remnant scene: My favorite line in this poem is the one with the most meaning.It promises that aging is an orderly, dry process, culminating in the most natural event: "It's like being in a mill and being run over!" This line is highly metaphorical and suggests what happens when a healthy old animal, old man, or old mayfly dies.There is no evil from without, no central flaw that matters.The process of dying is built into the system so that it happens all at once, at the end of a well-timed, genetically determined quota of life.Centralization is over, the forces that normally gather cells together to make them one end.Cells lose their identity with each other, chemical signaling between cells ends, blood vessels are clogged with thrombi, walls rupture, bacteria are free to enter normally forbidden tissues, organelles within cells begin to detach; nothing remains united , This is billions of soap bubbles bursting at once.

What a way to end it!