Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich
(born in 1849) - physiologist, son of a priest of the Ryazan province. He graduated from the course of science at the Medical-Surgical Academy. in 1879, in 1884 he was appointed privat-docent of physiology and in the same year received a business trip for 2 years abroad with scientific purpose; in 1890 he was appointed extraordinary professor at Tomsk University. in the Department of Pharmacology, but in the same year was moved to Imp. military medical acad. extraordinary professor, and since 1897 ordinary professor of the academy.
Outstanding scientific works of prof. P. can be divided into 3 groups: 1) work related to the innervation of the heart; 2) work related to the Ekkov operation; 3) work regarding the secretory activity of the glands of the digestive tract. When evaluating it scientific activity one must take into account the totality of scientific results achieved by his laboratory, in which his students worked with the participation of himself. In the 1st group of works concerning the innervation of the heart, prof. P. experimentally showed that during its work the heart is regulated, in addition to the already known delaying and accelerating nerves, also by the strengthening nerve, and at the same time he gives facts that give the right to think about the existence of weakening nerves. In the 2nd group of works, P., having actually carried out the operation of connecting the portal vein with the inferior cava, previously conceived by Dr. Eck, and thus arranging a bypass of the liver with blood carried from the digestive tract, pointed out the importance of the liver as a purifier of harmful products carried with blood from the digestive canal, and together with prof. He also pointed out to Nensky the purpose of the liver in the processing of carbamide ammonia; Thanks to this operation, in all likelihood, it will be possible to clarify many more important questions, one way or another related to the activity of the liver. Finally, the 3rd group of works and the most extensive, clarifies the regulation of the separation of the glands of the gastrointestinal canal, which became possible only after the execution of a number of operations conceived and carried out by P. Of these, esophagotomy should be put in the foreground, i.e. cutting the esophagus in the neck and engraftment its ends apart at the corners of the wound, which made it possible to accurately determine the full meaning of appetite and observe the released pure gastric juice (from the gastric fistula) due to mental influence (appetite). No less important is his operation of forming a double stomach with preserved innervation; the latter made it possible to monitor the secretion of gastric juice and find out the entire mechanism of this separation during normal digestion in the other stomach. Then he developed a method for forming a permanent fistula of the pancreatic duct: namely, by sewing it with a piece of mucous membrane, he obtained a fistula that remained indefinitely. Using both these operations and others, he found out that the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal canal has, like the skin, a specific excitability - it seems to understand that it is given bread, meat, water, etc. and in response to This food is sent by one or another juice and of one or another composition. With one food, more gastric juice is secreted and with a greater or lesser content of acid or enzyme, with another there is increased activity of the pancreas, with a third liver, with a fourth we can observe a brake on one gland, and at the same time increased activity of another, etc. d. Pointing out this specific excitability of the mucous membrane, he also pointed out the nerve pathways along which the brain sends impulses for this activity - he pointed out the importance of the vagus and sympathetic nerves for the sections of the stomach and pancreas. From the works we will mention: from the 1st group - “Strengthening nerve of the heart” (“Weekly Clinical Newspaper”, 1888); 2nd group: “Ekkovsky fistula of the inferior vena cava and portal veins and its consequences for the body” (Archive of Biological Sciences of the Imperial Institute of Experimental Medicine (1892 vol., I); from the 3rd “Lecture on the work of the main digestive glands” (1897; all related works of P. himself and his students are listed here). He also authored the study: “Centrifugal nerves of the heart” (St. Petersburg, 1883).
(Brockhaus)
Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich
Rus. scientist-physiologist, creator of materialistic science. doctrines of higher nervous activity of animals and humans, Acad. (since 1907, corresponding member since 1901). P. developed new physiological principles. research that provides knowledge of the activity of the organism as a single whole, located in unity and constant interaction with its environment. Studying the highest manifestation of life - the higher nervous activity of animals and humans, P. laid the foundations of materialistic psychology.
P. was born in Ryazan into the family of a priest. After graduating from the Ryazan Theological School, he entered the Ryazan Theological Seminary in 1864. The years of study at the seminary coincided with the rapid development of natural science in Russia. P.’s worldview was greatly influenced by the ideas of the great Russian thinkers, revolutionary democrats A. I. Herzen, V. G. Belinsky, N. G. Chernyshevsky, N. A. Dobrolyubov, and the works of the educational publicist D. I. Pisarev and others. . and especially the work of the “father of Russian physiology” I.M. Sechenov - “Reflexes of the Brain” (1863). Fascinated by the natural sciences, P. entered St. Petersburg in 1870. univ. While studying in the natural sciences department of physics and mathematics. fact, II. worked in the laboratory under the guidance of the famous physiologist I. F. Tsion, where he carried out several scientific studies; for the work “On the nerves that control the work in the pancreas” (jointly with M. M. Afanasyev), the university council awarded him a gold medal in 1875. Upon graduation from university (1875) II. entered the third year of medical-surgical. Academy and at the same time worked (1876-78) in the laboratory of prof. physiology by K. N. Ustimovich. While taking the course at the academy, he carried out a number of experimental works, for which he was awarded a gold medal (1880). In 1879 he graduated from Medical-Surgical. Academy (reorganized in 1881 into the Military Medical Academy) and was left with it for improvement. Back in 1879, P., at the invitation of S.P. Botkin, began working in physiology. laboratories at his clinic (later he headed this laboratory); P. worked there for approx. 10 years, actually managing all pharmacological. and physiological research.
In 1883 P. defended his dissertation. for the degree of Doctor of Medicine and next year received the title of private associate professor of Military Medical. academies; since 1890 he was prof. there in the department of pharmacology, and from 1895 - in the department of physiology, where he worked until 1925. Since 1891, he was also in charge of physiology. department of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, organized with his active participation. Working for 45 years within the walls of this institute, P. carried out major research on the physiology of digestion and developed the doctrine of conditioned reflexes. In 1913, for research into higher nervous activity, on P.’s initiative, a special building was built at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, in which for the first time soundproof chambers were equipped for the study of conditioned reflexes (the so-called tower of silence).
P.'s creativity reached its greatest flourishing after the Great October Revolution. socialist revolution. Communist the party and the Soviet government always provided P. with constant support, surrounding him with attention and care. In 1921, signed by V.I. Lenin, a special decree of the Council of People's Commissars was issued on creating conditions that would ensure P.'s scientific work. Later, Biological Sciences was organized for P. according to his plans. station in the village Koltushi (now the village of Pavlovo) near Leningrad, which became, in P.’s words, “the capital of conditioned reflexes.”
P.'s works have received recognition from scientists all over the world. During his lifetime, he was awarded honorary titles from numerous domestic and foreign scientific institutions, academies, high fur boots and various societies. In 1935, at the 15th International Congress of Physiologists (Leningrad - Moscow), he was crowned with the honorary title of “elder of physiologists of the world.”
I.P. Pavlov died at the age of 87 in Leningrad. He was buried at the Volkov cemetery.
During the first period of scientific activity (1874-88), P. was mainly engaged in the study of the physiology of the cardiovascular system. His diss refers to this time. “Centrifugal nerves of the heart” (1883), in which the existence of special nerve fibers that strengthen and weaken the activity of the heart was shown for the first time in the heart of a warm-blooded animal. Based on his research, P. suggested that the amplifying nerve he discovered exerts its effect on the heart by changing the metabolism in the heart muscle. Developing these ideas, P. later created the doctrine of trophic. functions nervous system(“On trophic innervation”, 1922).
A number of P.’s works dating back to this period are devoted to the study of the nervous mechanisms of blood pressure regulation. In exceptionally thorough and accurate experiments, he established that any change in blood pressure reflexively causes such changes in the cardiovascular system, which lead to the return of blood pressure to the original level. P. believed that such reflex self-regulation of the cardiovascular system is possible only due to the presence of receptors with specific properties in the walls of blood vessels. sensitivity to fluctuations in blood pressure and other irritants (physical or chemical). With further research, P. and his colleagues proved that the principle of reflex self-regulation is a universal principle of functioning not only of the cardiovascular, but also of all other systems of the body.
Already in his work on the physiology of blood circulation, P.'s high skill and innovative approach to conducting experiments were evident. Having set himself the task of studying the effect of ingesting liquid and dry food on a dog’s blood pressure, P. boldly departs from traditional acute experiments on anesthetized animals and is looking for new research techniques. He accustoms the dog to experience and, through long training, ensures that without anesthesia it is possible to dissect a thin arterial branch on the dog’s paw and re-record blood pressure over many hours after various influences. Methodical the approach to solving the problem in this (one of the first) work is very important, since in it one can see, as it were, the emergence of a remarkable method of chronic experience, developed by P. during the period of his research on the physiology of digestion. Another major experimental achievement was P.’s creation of a new method for studying the activity of the heart using the so-called. cardiopulmonary drug (1886); Only a few years later, in a very similar form, a similar cardiopulmonary drug was described in English. physiologist E. Starling, after whom this drug was incorrectly named.
Along with work in the field of physiology of the cardiovascular system, P. during the first period of his activity was engaged in the study of certain issues of the physiology of digestion. But systematically He began to conduct research in this area only in 1891 in the laboratory of the Institute of Experimental Medicine. The guiding idea in these works, as well as in studies on blood circulation, was the idea of nervism, adopted by P. from Botkin and Sechenov, by which he understood a “physiological direction” that seeks to extend the influence of the nervous system to the greatest possible number of body activities" ( Pavlov I.P., Complete collection, vol. 1, 2nd ed., 1951, p. 197). However, the study of the regulatory function of the nervous system (in the process of digestion) in a healthy normal animal could not be carried out methodically. , which the physiology of that time had.
P. devoted a number of years to the creation of new methods, new techniques of “physiological thinking.” He developed special operations on the organs of the digestive tract and introduced the chronic method into practice. experiment, which made it possible to study the activity of the digestive apparatus in a healthy animal. In 1879, P., for the first time in the history of physiology, imposed a chronic pancreatic duct fistula. Later they were offered chronic surgery. bile duct fistulas. Under the leadership of P. in 1895, D. L. Glinsky developed a technique for applying a simple and convenient fistula of the ducts of the salivary glands, which subsequently had exceptional significance in the creation of the doctrine of higher nervous activity. One of the most remarkable achievements of physiology. The experiment was a method created by P. in 1894 for monitoring the activity of the gastric glands by separating part of it from the stomach in the form of an isolated (solitary) ventricle, which completely preserves the nervous connections with the central nervous system (small ventricle according to Pavlov). In 1889, P., together with E. O. Shumova-Simanovskaya, developed the operation of esophagotomy in combination with gastrostomy on dogs. An experiment with imaginary feeding was carried out on esophagotomized animals with a gastric fistula - the most outstanding experiment in physiology of the 19th century. Subsequently, this operation was used by P. to obtain pure gastric juice for medicinal use.
Mastering all these methods, P. actually re-created the physiology of digestion; for the first time, with extreme clarity, he showed the leading role of the nervous system in regulating the activity of the entire digestive process. P. studied the dynamics of the secretory process of the gastric, pancreas and salivary glands and the functioning of the liver when consuming various nutrients and proved their ability to adapt to the nature of the secretion agents used.
In 1897 P. published. the famous work - "Lectures on the work of the main digestive glands", which became a reference guide for physiologists around the world. For this work in 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Like Botkin, he sought to combine the interests of physiology and medicine. This was expressed, in particular, in his justification and development of the principle of experimental therapy. P. was engaged in the search for scientifically based methods of treating experimentally created pathologies. states. In direct connection with his work on experimental therapy are his pharmacological studies. problems. P. considered pharmacology as a theoretical one. honey. discipline, development paths are closely related to experimental therapy.
The study of the connections of the organism with its environment, carried out with the help of the nervous system, the study of the patterns that determine the normal behavior of the organism in its natural relationships with environment, determined P.’s transition to studying the functions of the cerebral hemispheres. The immediate reason for this was his observations of the so-called. psychic secretion of saliva in animals, occurring at the sight or smell of food, under the influence of various stimuli associated with food intake, etc. Considering the essence of this phenomenon, P. was able, based on Sechenov’s statements about the reflex nature of all manifestations of brain activity, to understand that the phenomenon is mental. secretion allows the physiologist to objectively study the so-called. mental activity.
“After persistently pondering the subject, after a difficult mental struggle, I finally decided,” wrote Pavlov, “even before the so-called mental excitement, to remain in the role of a pure physiologist, that is, an objective external observer and experimenter, dealing exclusively with external phenomena and their relationships" (Complete collection of works, vol. 3, book 1, 2nd ed., 1951, p. 14). P. called the unconditioned reflex a constant connection between an external agent and the body’s response to it, while the temporary connection formed during an individual’s life is a conditioned reflex.
With the introduction of the method of conditioned reflexes, there was no longer any need to speculate about the internal state of the animal when exposed to various stimuli. All the activities of the body, previously studied only using subjective methods, became available for objective study; the opportunity opened up to learn experimentally the connection between the organism and the external environment. The conditioned reflex itself has become, in P.’s words, a “central phenomenon” for physiology, using the Crimea it has become possible to study both normal and pathological more fully and accurately. activity of the cerebral hemispheres. P. first reported on conditioned reflexes in 1903 in the report “Experimental psychology and psychopathology in animals” at the 14th International Medical Sciences. congress in Madrid.
For many years, P., together with numerous collaborators and students, developed the doctrine of higher nervous activity. Step by step, the subtlest mechanisms of cortical activity were revealed, the relationship between the cerebral cortex and the underlying parts of the nervous system was clarified, and the patterns of the processes of excitation and inhibition in the cortex were studied. It was found that these processes are in close and inextricable connection with each other, capable of widely radiating, concentrating and mutually influencing each other. According to P., all the analyzing and synthesizing activity of the cerebral cortex is based on the complex interaction of these two processes. These ideas created the physiological. the basis for studying the activity of the senses, which before P. was built largely on the subjective method of research.
Deep penetration into the dynamics of cortical processes allowed P. to show that the basis of the phenomena of sleep and hypnosis is the process of internal inhibition, which widely radiated throughout the cerebral cortex and descended to the subcortical formations. Many years of studying the characteristics of the conditioned reflex activity of various animals allowed P. to classify the types of the nervous system. An important section of the research of P. and his students was the study of pathological. deviations in the activity of the higher nervous system, occurring both as a result of various operational effects on the cerebral hemispheres, and as a result of functional changes, the so-called. breakdowns, conflicts leading to the development of “experimental neuroses”. Based on the study of experimentally reproducible neurotic. states II. outlined new ways of their treatment, gave physiological. rationale for therapeutic effects of bromine and caffeine.
IN recent years During his life, P.'s attention was drawn to the study of higher nervous activity in humans. Studying the qualitative differences in the higher nervous activity of humans in comparison with animals, he put forward the doctrine of two signal systems of reality: the first - common to humans and animals, and the second - characteristic only of humans. The second signaling system, being inextricably linked with the first, ensures the formation of words in a person - “pronounced, audible and visible”. The word is a signal of signals for a person and allows for distraction and the formation of concepts. With the help of the second signaling system, higher human abstract thinking is carried out. The totality of the studies carried out allowed P. to come to the conclusion that the cerebral cortex in higher animals and humans is “the manager and distributor of all the activities of the body,” “keeps under its jurisdiction all phenomena occurring in the body,” and thus provides the most subtle and perfect balancing of a living organism in the external environment.
In the works “Twenty years of experience in the objective study of higher nervous activity (behavior) of animals. Conditioned reflexes” (1923) and “Lectures on the work of the cerebral hemispheres” (1927), P. summed up the results of many years of research and gave a complete systematic. presentation of the doctrine of higher nervous activity.
P.'s teaching fully confirms the fundamentals. dialectical positions materialism that matter is the source of sensations, that consciousness, thinking is a product of matter that has reached a high level of perfection in its development, namely a product of the brain. P. was the first to clearly show that all life processes of animals and humans are inextricably linked and interdependent, in movement and development, that they are subject to strict objective laws. P. constantly emphasized the need to know these laws in order to learn how to manage them.
P.’s tireless and passionate activity and his irreconcilable struggle against idealism and metaphysics are associated with an unshakable faith in the powers of science and practice. P.'s teaching on higher nervous activity is highly theoretical. and practical meaning. It expands the natural scientific basis of dialectic. materialism, confirms the correctness of the provisions of Lenin's theory of reflection and serves as a sharp weapon in ideological. the fight against any and all manifestations of idealism.
P. was a great son of his people. Love for the fatherland, pride for his homeland permeated all his thoughts and actions. “No matter what I do,” he wrote, “I constantly think that I am serving as much as my strength allows me, first of all, my fatherland, our Russian science. And this is both the strongest motivation and deep satisfaction” (Complete collection, vol. 1, 2nd ed., 1951, p. 12). Noting the concern of the Soviet government about encouraging scientific research, P. at the government reception of the delegation of the 15th International Congress of Physiologists in Moscow in 1935 said “... we, the heads of scientific institutions, are directly in anxiety and worry about whether we will able to justify all the funds that the government provides us." P. also spoke about a high sense of responsibility to the Motherland in his famous letter to young people, written by him shortly before his death (see Complete collection of works, 2nd ed., vol. 1, 1951, pp. 22-23).
Numerous students and followers of P. successfully develop his teaching. At the joint session of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Medicine. Sciences of the USSR (1950), dedicated to the problem of physiological. P.'s teachings, further ways of developing this teaching were outlined.
P.'s name was given to a number of scientific institutions and educational institutions (Institute of Physiology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1st Leningrad Medical Institute, Ryazan Medical Institute, etc.). The Academy of Sciences of the USSR established: in 1934 - the Pavlov Prize, awarded for the best scientific work in the field of physiology, and in 1949 - a gold medal named after him, for a set of works on the development of P.
Works: Complete works, vol. 1-6, 2nd ed., M., 1951-52; Selected works, ed. E. A. Asratyan, M., 1951.
Lit.: Ukhtomsky A. A., The Great Physiologist [Obituary], “Nature”, 1936, No. 3; Bykov K. M., I. P. Pavlov - the elder of physiologists of the world, L., 1948; his, Life and work of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Report... M.-L., 1949; Asratyan E. A., I. P. Pavlov. Life and scientific creativity, M.-L., 1949; Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. , Intro. article by E. Sh. Airapetyants and K. M. Bykov, M.-L., 1949 (Academic Sciences of the USSR. Materials for the biobibliography of scientists of the USSR. Series of biological sciences. Physiology, issue 3); Babsky E. B., I. P. Pavlov. 1849-1936; M., 1949; Biryukov D. A., Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Life and activity, M., 1949; Anokhin P.K., Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Life, activity and scientific school, M.-L., 1949; Koshtoyants Kh. S., A story about the work of I. P. Pavlov in the field of physiology of digestion, 4th ed., M.-L., 1950; Bibliography of the works of I. P. Pavlov and literature about him, ed. E. Sh. Airapetyantsa, M.-L., 1954.
P A Vlov, Ivan Petrovich
Genus. 1849, d. 1936. Innovative physiologist, creator of the materialist doctrine of higher nervous activity. Author of the conditioned reflex method. He was the first to establish and prove the connection between mental activity and physiological processes in the cerebral cortex. He made an invaluable contribution to the development of physiology, medicine, psychology and pedagogy. Author of fundamental classical works on the physiology of blood circulation and digestion. He introduced a chronic experiment into research practice, thereby making it possible to study the activity of a practically healthy organism. Nobel Prize winner (1904). Since 1907, full member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917), academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1925).
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Soviet physiologist, creator of the materialistic doctrine of higher nervous activity and modern ideas about the digestive process; founder of the largest Soviet physiological school;... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Ivan Pavlov is a famous Russian scientist whose works are highly appreciated and recognized by the scientific world community. The scientist made important discoveries in the field of physiology and psychology. Pavlov is the creator of the science of higher nervous activity in humans.
Ivan Petrovich was born in 1849, on September 26, in Ryazan. This was the first child of ten born into the Pavlov family. Mother Varvara Ivanovna ( maiden name Uspenskaya) was brought up in a family of clergy. Before marriage, she was a strong, cheerful girl. Childbirth, one after another, had a negative impact on the woman’s health. She was not educated, but nature endowed her with intelligence, practicality and hard work.
The young mother raised her children correctly, instilling qualities through which they would successfully realize themselves in the future. Pyotr Dmitrievich, Ivan's father, was a truthful and independent priest of peasant origin, who presided over services in a poor parish. He often came into conflict with management, loved life, was not sick, and willingly looked after his garden.
The nobility and pastoral zeal of Pyotr Dmitrievich eventually made him the rector of the church in Ryazan. For Ivan, his father was an example of perseverance in achieving goals and striving for excellence. He respected his father and listened to his opinion. Following the instructions of his parents, in 1860 the boy entered a theological school and took the initial seminary course.
In early childhood, Ivan rarely got sick, grew up as a cheerful and strong boy, played with children and helped his parents with housework. Father and mother instilled in their children the habit of working, maintaining order in the house, and being neat. They worked hard themselves, and they demanded the same from their children. Ivan and his younger brothers and sisters carried water, chopped wood, lit the stove and performed other household chores.
The boy was taught to read and write from the age of eight, but he went to school at 11. The reason for this was a severe bruise received when falling down the stairs. The boy lost his appetite and sleep, he began to lose weight and turn pale. Home treatment did not help. Things began to improve when the child, exhausted by illness, was taken to the Trinity Monastery. The abbot of the monastery, who was visiting the Pavlovs’ house, became his guardian.
Health and vitality were restored thanks to gymnastic exercises, good food and clean air. The abbot was educated, well-read and led an ascetic life. Ivan learned the book given by his guardian and knew it by heart. It was a volume of fables, which later became his reference book.
Seminary
The decision to enter the theological seminary in 1864 was made by Ivan under the influence of his spiritual mentor and parents. Here he studies natural sciences and other interesting items. Actively participates in discussions. Throughout his life, he remains an avid debater, furiously fighting with the enemy, refuting any of his opponent’s arguments. At the seminary, Ivan becomes the best student and is additionally engaged in tutoring.
Young Ivan Pavlov in seminary Gets acquainted with the works of great Russian thinkers, imbued with their desire to fight for freedom and better life. Over time, his preferences concentrate on natural science. Acquaintance with I.M. Sechenov’s monograph “Reflexes of the Brain” played a big role in this. The realization comes that the career of a clergyman is not interesting to him. Begins to study the subjects necessary for admission to the university.
Physiology
In 1870 Pavlov moved to St. Petersburg. He enters the university, studies well, at first without a scholarship, since he had to transfer from one faculty to another. Later, the successful student is awarded an imperial scholarship. Physiology is his main hobby, and from the third year onwards it has been his main priority. Under the influence of the scientist and experimenter I.F. Tsion, the young man finally makes his choice and devotes himself to science.
In 1873, Pavlov began research work on frog lungs. In collaboration with one of the students, under the guidance of I.F. Tsiona, he writes a scientific paper on how the nerves of the larynx affect blood circulation. Soon, together with student M. M. Afanasyev, he studies the pancreas. The research work is awarded a gold medal.
Student Pavlov graduates from the educational institution a year later, in 1875, as he remains for a repeat course. On research work It takes a lot of time and effort, so he fails his final exams. Upon graduation, Ivan is only 26 years old, he is full of ambitions, and wonderful prospects await him.
Since 1876, Pavlov has been assisting Professor K.N. Ustimovich at the Medical-Surgical Academy and at the same time studying the physiology of blood circulation. The works of this period are highly appreciated by S. P. Botkin. A professor invites a young researcher to work in his laboratory. Here Pavlov studies the physiological characteristics of blood and digestion
Ivan Petrovich worked in the laboratory of S.P. Botkin for 12 years. The biography of the scientist of this period was replenished with events and discoveries that brought world fame. It's time for change.
To achieve this is simple, a person in pre-revolutionary Russia it wasn't easy. After unsuccessful attempts, fate gives a chance. In the spring of 1890, the Universities of Warsaw and Tomsk elected him professor. And in 1891, the scientist was invited to the University of Experimental Medicine to organize and create a department of physiology.
Until the end of his life, Pavlov permanently led this structure. At the university he conducts research on the physiology of the digestive glands, for which in 1904 he received a prize, which became the first Russian prize in the field of medicine.
The coming to power of the Bolsheviks turned out to be a blessing for the scientist. I appreciated his work. Favorable conditions conducive to fruitful work were created for the academician and all employees. Under Soviet rule, the laboratory was modernized into the Physiological Institute. On the occasion of the scientist’s 80th birthday, an institute-town was opened near Leningrad; his works were published in the best publishing houses.
Clinics were opened at the institutes, modern equipment was purchased, and the staff increased. Pavlov received funds from the budget and additional amounts for expenses, and felt gratitude for such an attitude towards science and himself.
A special feature of Pavlov’s technique was that he saw a connection between physiology and mental processes. Works on the mechanisms of digestion became the starting point for the development of a new direction in science. Pavlov has been conducting research in the field of physiology for more than 35 years. He created the method of conditioned reflexes.
Ivan Pavlov - author of the project "Pavlov's Dog" The experiment, called “Pavlov’s dog,” consisted of studying the animal’s reflexes to external influences. During it, after a signal with a metronome, food was given to the dog. After the sessions, the dog began to salivate without food. This is how the scientist derives the concept of a reflex formed on the basis of experience.
In 1923, the first description of twenty years of experience with animals was published. In science, Pavlov made the most serious contribution to the knowledge of brain functions. The results of research supported by the Soviet government were stunning.
Personal life
The talented young man met his first love, the future teacher Serafima Karchevskaya, in the late seventies. Young people are united by common interests and ideals. In 1881 they got married. The family of Ivan and Seraphima had two daughters and four sons.
The first years of family life turned out to be difficult: there was no home of our own, and there was not enough money for the necessities. The tragic events associated with the death of the first-born and another young child undermined the wife’s health. This unsettled and led to despair. Encouraging and consoling, Seraphima brought her husband out of severe melancholy.
Subsequently, the couple’s personal life improved and did not interfere with the young scientist’s career. This was facilitated by the constant support of his wife. Ivan Petrovich was respected in scientific circles, and his warmth and enthusiasm attracted friends to him.
Death
From photographs taken during the scientist’s life, a cheerful, attractive, bushy-bearded man looks at us. Ivan Petrovich had enviable health. The exception was colds, sometimes with complications such as pneumonia.
Pneumonia caused the death of the 87-year-old scientist. Pavlov died on February 27, 1936, his grave is located at the Volkovsky cemetery.
Bibliography
- Centrifugal nerves of the heart. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
- Twenty years of experience in the objective study of higher nervous activity (behavior) of animals.
- Lectures on the work of the cerebral hemispheres.
- Physiology and pathology of higher nervous activity.
- Latest reports on the physiology and pathology of higher nervous activity.
- Complete collection of works.
- Articles on the physiology of blood circulation.
- Articles on the physiology of the nervous system.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, whose brief biography we will consider, is a Russian physiologist, psychologist, Nobel Prize laureate. He studied the processes of regulating digestion, created the science of. We will talk about all this, as well as many other things associated with his name, in this article.
Origin and training in Ryazan
On September 26, 1849, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born in the city of Ryazan. Brief biography his story would be incomplete if we did not say a few words about his family. Father Dmitrievich was a parish priest. Varvara Ivanovna, Ivan Petrovich’s mother, ran the household. The photo below shows Pavlov's house in Ryazan, which is now a museum.
The future scientist began his studies at the Ryazan Theological School. After graduating in 1864, he entered the Ryazan Theological Seminary. Later, Ivan Petrovich recalled this period with warmth. He noted that he was lucky to study with wonderful teachers. In his last year at the seminary, Ivan Pavlov became acquainted with the book “Reflexes of the Brain” by I. M. Sechenov. It was she who determined his future fate.
Moving to St. Petersburg to continue studying
In 1870, the future scientist decided to enter the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. True, Ivan Pavlov studied here for only 17 days. He decided to transfer to the natural sciences department of another faculty, physics and mathematics. Ivan Petrovich studied with professors I. F. Tsion, F. V. Ovsyannikov. He was particularly interested in animal physiology. In addition, Ivan Petrovich devoted a lot of time to the study of nervous regulation, being a true follower of Sechenov.
After graduating from the university, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov decided to continue his studies. His short biography is marked by his admission to the third year of the Medical-Surgical Academy. In 1879 Pavlov completed this educational institution and began working at Botkin’s clinic. Here Ivan Petrovich headed the physiology laboratory.
Internship abroad, work at the Botkin Clinic and the Military Medical Academy
The period from 1884 to 1886 included his internship in Germany and France, after which the scientist returned to work at the Botkin clinic. In 1890, they decided to make Pavlov a professor of pharmacology and sent him to the Military Medical Academy. After 6 years, the scientist already heads the department of physiology here. He will leave her only in 1926.
Mock feeding experiment
Simultaneously with this work, Ivan Petrovich studies the physiology of blood circulation, digestion, and higher nervous activity. In 1890 he conducted his famous experiment with imaginary feeding. The scientist establishes that the nervous system plays a large role in the digestive processes. For example, the process of juice separation occurs in 2 phases. The first of them is neuro-reflex, followed by humoral-clinical.
Study of reflexes, well-deserved awards
After this, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov began to carefully investigate. His short biography is supplemented by new achievements. He achieved significant results in the study of reflexes. In 1903, at the age of 54, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov made his report at the International Medical Congress held in Madrid. The contribution to science of this scientist did not go unnoticed. For his achievements in the study of digestive processes the following year, 1904, he was awarded the Nobel Prize.
The scientist became a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1907. The Royal Society of London awarded him the Copley Medal in 1915.
Attitude to the revolution
Pavlov called October Revolution"Bolshevik experiment". At first, he was enthusiastic about the changes in his life and wanted to see the completion of what he started. He was considered in the West to be the only free citizen in Russia. The authorities reacted favorably to the brilliant scientist. V.I. Lenin even signed a special decree in 1921 on creating conditions for normal work and life for Pavlov and his family.
However, after a while disappointment set in. The mass expulsion abroad of prominent members of the intelligentsia, the arrests of friends and colleagues showed the inhumanity of this “experiment.” More than once Ivan Petrovich spoke from positions that were unflattering to the authorities. He shocked the party leadership with his speeches. Pavlov did not agree to “strengthen labor discipline” in the laboratory headed by him. He said that a scientific team cannot be equated to a factory, and mental work should not be belittled. The Council of People's Commissars began to receive appeals from Ivan Petrovich demanding the release of those arrested and known to him, as well as an end to terror, repression and persecution of the church in the country.
Difficulties that Pavlov had to face
Despite the fact that Pavlov did not accept much of what was happening in the country, he always worked with all his might for the good of his homeland. Nothing could break his powerful spirit and will. During the Civil War, the scientist worked at the Military Medical Academy, where he taught physiology. It is known that the laboratory was not heated, so during the experiments we had to sit in a fur coat and a hat. If there was no light, Pavlov operated with a torch (it was held by an assistant). Ivan Petrovich supported his colleagues even in the most hopeless years. The laboratory survived thanks to his efforts and did not cease its activities in the harsh 20s.
So, Pavlov perceived the revolution as a whole negatively. He was poor for years Civil War, therefore, he repeatedly asked the Soviet authorities to release him from the country. He was promised an improvement in his financial situation, but the authorities did very little in this direction. Eventually, the establishment of the Institute of Physiology in Koltushi was announced (in 1925). This institute was headed by Pavlov. He worked here until the end of his days.
The 15th World Congress of Physiologists was held in Leningrad in August 1935. Pavlov was elected president. All scientists unanimously bowed to Ivan Petrovich. This became a scientific triumph and recognition of the enormous significance of his work.
The last years of his life included Ivan Petrovich’s trip to his homeland, Ryazan. Here he was also received very warmly. Ivan Petrovich was given a gala reception.
Death of Ivan Petrovich
Ivan Pavlov died in Leningrad on February 27, 1936. The cause of death was worsened pneumonia. He left behind many achievements that are worth talking about separately.
The main achievements of the scientist
The works of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov on the physiology of digestion, which earned the highest international recognition, served as an impetus for the development of a new direction in physiology. We are talking about the physiology of higher nervous activity. The scientist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov devoted about 35 years of his life to this direction. He is the creator of the method. The study of mental processes occurring in the body of animals, using this method, led to the creation of the doctrine of the mechanisms of the brain and higher nervous activity. In 1913, to carry out experiments related to conditioned reflexes, a building with two towers was built, which were called the “Towers of Silence.” Three special cells were first equipped here, and from 1917 five more came into operation.
One more discovery of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov should be noted. His merit is the development of the doctrine of what exists. He also owns the doctrine of (a set of reactions to certain stimuli) and other achievements.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, whose contribution to medicine can hardly be overestimated, began conducting research in a psychiatric hospital in 1918. On his initiative, in 1931 a clinical base was created within the department. Since November 1931, I. P. Pavlov conducted scientific meetings in psychiatric and nervous clinics - the so-called “clinical environments.”
These are the main achievements of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. This is a great scientist whose name is useful to remember.
Great Russian scientist, physiologist, creator of the materialistic doctrine of the higher nervous activity of animals and humans. Graduate of St. Petersburg University (1876) and the Medical-Surgical Academy (1879). Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1907), Russian Academy Sciences (1917), Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1925). Nobel Prize winner (1904).
Main scientific works
"Centrifugal Nerves of the Heart" (1883); “Lectures on the work of the main digestive glands” (1897); “Twenty years of experience in the objective study of higher nervous activity (behavior) of animals. Conditioned reflexes" (1923); “Lectures on the work of the cerebral hemispheres” (1927.
Contribution to the development of medicine
Since 1878, he headed the research laboratory at the S.P. Botkin clinic at the Military Medical Academy.
He headed the physiological department of the Institute of Experimental Medicine and the department of pharmacology of the Military Medical Academy (since 1890).
In 1904 he received the Nobel Prize for his work on digestion.
From 1907 he headed the physiological laboratory of the Academy of Sciences (which became Soviet period the largest physiological institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, now named after I.P. Pavlov).
He supervised the work of a biological station organized for his research by decision of the Council of People's Commissars (1921) in the village of Koltushi (now Pavlovo) near Leningrad.
The scientific significance of I.P. Pavlov’s works is so great that the history of physiology is divided into stages - pre-Pavlovsky And Pavlovsky.
Created fundamentally new research methods, introduced into practice the method of chronic experiment, which makes it possible to study the activity of a normal organism in its connection with the environment.
The most outstanding research of I.P. Pavlov relates to the field of physiology of blood circulation, physiology of digestion and higher nervous activity.
For the first time in the heart of a warm-blooded animal he showed the existence of special nerve fibers that enhance and weaken the activity of the heart. Subsequently, this served as the basis for his development of the doctrine of the trophic function of the nervous system.
Showed that the activity of the digestive tract is under the regulatory influence of the cerebral cortex.
The completion of physiological work on blood circulation and digestion was his doctrine of higher nervous activity.
Showed that the basis of the so-called. mental (mental) activity lies in the material, physiological processes occurring in the highest part of the central nervous system - the cerebral cortex.
He discovered and studied conditioned reflexes that underlie higher nervous activity. He revealed a number of the most complex processes occurring in the brain.
He explained the mechanism of sleep and hypnosis, characterized the types of the nervous system, explained the essence of a number of human mental illnesses and proposed methods of treating them.
Studying the higher nervous human activity, developed the doctrine of the second signaling system, which, unlike the first signaling system inherent in humans and animals, is characteristic only of humans (articulate speech and abstract thinking). Through signaling systems, the human brain reflects the entire diversity of the external world, analyzes and synthesizes incoming stimuli, which constitutes the physiological basis of human thinking.
For the first time in the history of physiology, he used sterile operations on animals on a large scale.
The teachings of I.P. Pavlov had a huge influence on the development of physiology, medicine, psychology, and pedagogy.
In 1935, the International Physiological Congress, chaired by I.P. Pavlov in Leningrad and Moscow, awarded him the title "elders physiologists of the world" (princeps physiologorum mundi).
In the 20-30s, I.P. Pavlov repeatedly spoke out (in letters to the country's leadership) against arbitrariness, violence, and suppression of freedom of thought.
In “Letter to Youth” (1935) I.P. Pavlov wrote: “Learn the basics of science before you try to climb to its heights... Learn to do the dirty work in science... Never think that you know everything. And no matter how highly they rate you, always have the courage to say to yourself: “I am an ignoramus.”
Prof. H. S. Koshtoyants
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov for his long journey scientific work left a deep imprint in many areas of theory and practice. He re-created a number of chapters of modern physiology, a new direction in experimental therapy, he passionately fought for objective methods of research in one of the most difficult areas of knowledge - psychology. He has the greatest merit of creating the world's largest physiological school, which has no equal in creative charge and magnitude. Analysis of scientific creativity and the appearance of Pavlov as a citizen Soviet Union, proud of the consciousness of belonging to the great family of peoples of the USSR, should be the task of many researchers. In this article we will try to give an outline of the main line of Pavlov’s scientific activity.
I. P. Pavlov.
At the “dog monuments” opened in the courtyard of the Institute of Experimental Medicine.
Experimental animals of the physiological laboratory.
Dogs with gastric fistula: I - operated according to the method of Acad. I. P. Pavlova (“empty stomach”), a - place of transection of the esophagus, b - fistula tube through which juice flows; I I - operated using the Heidenhain method (“small stomach”), c - separated part of the stomach with a fistula tube.
Experimental animal in a pen.
Physiological laboratory.
Pavlov - bright representative experimental natural science. Physiological experiment, “observation and observation”, facts are the air that Pavlov, the explorer of nature, breathed. Reasoning about natural phenomena that was not based on reliable experience was organically alien to him.
Pavlov clearly showed that the newly created ways and methods of experimental study of nature reveal new aspects of phenomena that could not be shown with previous methods of research. Pavlov's work in this regard may be a classic example of how the creation of new approaches to the study of phenomena takes our knowledge to a new, higher level. This is how Pavlov assessed the methods of studying digestion that existed before him and that he developed (in his lectures on the work of the main digestive glands in 1897).
“The hindrance of early research was insufficient methodology. It is often said, and not without reason, that science moves in spurts, depending on the successes achieved by the methodology. With each step of the technique forward, we seem to rise a step higher, from which a wider horizon opens up to us, with previously invisible objects. Therefore, our first task was to develop a methodology.”
Having correctly solved the problem of new methodological approaches, creating research methods that were closest to the conditions of the whole organism, Pavlov and his collaborators quickly made a number of major scientific discoveries. A group of works by Pavlov and his students in the field of physiology of the main digestive glands brought order to the “chaos” of ideas that existed in the doctrine of digestion before Pavlov.
To eliminate the absolute insufficiency of all previous studies, which was evidenced by the centuries-old history of the study of digestion from experiments on the digestion of birds of the Italian Academia del Cimento and to the development of a method of artificial gastric fistula in a dog (Basov, 1842), Pavlov demanded that a number of conditions for obtaining gastric juice be fulfilled at all times , absolutely pure form, precise definition its quantity, proper functioning of the digestive canal and monitoring the preservation of the animal in a healthy state. The fulfillment of all these conditions was the focus of work on the development of the isolated (solitary) ventricle method, which was carried out by Pavlov (1879) and independently by the German scientist Heidenhain (1880).
Subsequently, methods of chronic pancreatic fistula, the method of imaginary feeding, etc. were developed. All this taken together allowed Pavlov and his students to make a number of major discoveries: they proved the basic patterns of the quantitative and qualitative reaction of glandular cells to one or another type of food irritation, which found their expression in classical Pavlovian contraction curves; they showed harmony and consistency in the work of various parts of the digestive tract; they discovered the role of the nervous system in regulating the functioning of the digestive glands, which was the beginning of great work in the field of conditioned reflexes; they made a number of major observations and discoveries that formed the basis of modern views on the nature of enzymatic processes (the discovery of enterokinase); Finally, these works showed the enormous importance of the surgical method. Pavlov's book "Lectures on the work of the main digestive glands" became a classic work that won worldwide fame, and Pavlov received the Nobel Prize for this group of works (1904).
The results achieved by Pavlov in the development of methods for studying the digestive glands and which have become firmly established in modern physiological institutions are important in the sense of affirming the enormous importance of the holistic study of the animal body. This is precisely the huge advantage of Pavlov over his predecessors (Helm, Bomoi, Basov, Blondlot, Heidenhain), who were involved in the development of the so-called fistula technique. Pavlov's greatness lies not in the fact that he improved the already existing techniques of the fistula technique, but in the fact that he saw in this the basis for a holistic study of physiological processes. This extremely important biological tendency for the holistic study of the organism characterizes not only the period of work on the digestive glands, but also the entire huge period of time that Pavlov’s school worked on the most complex problem of conditioned reflexes.
The long-term development of the physiology of the cerebral hemispheres in the doctrine of conditioned reflexes was the development and completion of the doctrine of the integrity of the organism. Pavlov saw the cerebral hemispheres as organs regulating the animal’s relations with the outside world in the interests of preserving the integrity of this animal. In experiments with conditioned reflexes, Pavlov paid most attention to the integrity of the organism. Understanding the complex issue of inhibitory influences external environment on the development of conditioned reflexes of an animal, Pavlov especially emphasized the importance of the integrity of the system.
For Pavlov, the development of an operative-surgical method of research was, as he put it, “a method of physiological thinking.” It was thanks to this method of physiological thinking that Pavlov was able to late XIX and at the beginning of the 20th century to become one of the few representatives of the holistic study of physiological processes in the era of the heyday of the analytical method of physiology. And it is no coincidence that he connected the fate of synthetic physiology with the development of methods for the holistic study of physiological processes.
So, Pavlov presented in his work a vivid example of the application of experimental research into life phenomena, created new ways in this direction and gave physiologists a method for the holistic study of physiological processes. But this does not exhaust the characteristics of Pavlov as an experimenter. His most important feature is that he connected the paths of theoretical analysis of the issue with direct practice; he connected questions of physiology with questions of medicine.
Convinced of the enormous importance of experiment for studying processes in a normal body, Pavlov became a true preacher of the experimental method in the field of medicine. “Only by going through the fire of experiment will all medicine become what it should be, that is, conscious, and therefore always and completely purposeful... And therefore I dare to predict that the progress of medicine in this or that country, in this or that another scientist or educational medical institution will be measured by the attention, the care that surrounds the experimental department of medicine there.” And it is no coincidence that Pavlov’s laboratory became a true Mecca for the most advanced representatives of medical science, who went to this laboratory to do their dissertations. From among Pavlov's students, leading workers grew up not only in the field of theoretical physiology, but also in the clinical field. And his dream is to create an experimental base for medicine in order to ensure better conditions“People’s passionate desire for health and life” (Pavlov) was translated into reality in our days by the creation of the gigantic All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine, one of the active figures of which was Pavlov until his death.
Pavlov’s understanding of the relationship between physiological theory and clinical practice is characterized by the organic connection of these two scientific lines as mutually fertilizing lines. Not only a physiological experiment and conclusions from it are the basis for understanding the pathological process and the impact on it, but the pathological process, for its part, is the basis for understanding physiological processes. Coming to an experimental theory from a physiological experiment in Pavlov is a natural act.
For Pavlov, the pathological process and the normal process are not separate phenomena, but phenomena of the same order.
Throughout Pavlov's entire scientific career, observations not only of normal animals, but also of sick animals and humans served as an inexhaustible source for his strictly scientific constructions in the field of physiology. First, on random patients, then systematically in hospitals, Pavlov conducted observations as consistently and persistently as he did in the physiological laboratory. Clinical cases served as an indication and impetus for him to develop such methods for studying physiological processes in a normal body, which later became classical. We are referring to the fact that Pavlov discovered the method of imaginary feeding, which was prompted by clinical cases of patients with a blocked esophagus.
Pavlov, together with his collaborator Shumova-Simonovskaya, gave a method of imaginary feeding, which made it possible to show the fact of the secretive activity of the gastric glands under the influence of the nervous system without contact with food, a method that has become classic. It grew out of the experience accumulated by the clinic.
Having received at the beginning of the 20th century. Nobel Prize for classical work in the field of digestion, I. P. Pavlov launched a new cycle of research, organically connected with the first cycle and brought him even greater fame as a great researcher and world scientist. We mean his brilliant work in the field of conditioned reflexes.
The theory of conditioned reflexes as a biological theory was first formulated by Pavlov and it was as such that it was completed in latest research Pavlova in the field of genetic analysis of conditioned reflex activity. For Pavlov, the development of a conditioned reflex is, first of all, a biological act that creates the prerequisites for proper metabolism and energy between the body and the external environment. He came to this on the basis of his classical studies on the physiology of the digestive process, the process of perception and processing nutrients from the outside, as well as on the basis of his own, also classical, works in elucidating the trophic role of the nervous system.
Numerous experimental data showed Pavlov the enormous role played by the nervous system in the main biological process - the process of metabolism. He and his students, more convincingly than anyone else, were able to show that in the acts of perception and processing of food, in the acts of extracting it, as well as in the subtlest acts of chemical transformations of these nutrients in the cells of a multicellular organism, the leading role is played by the nervous system . The doctrine formulated by Pavlov about the trophic role of the nervous system is currently developing into an extremely important section of physiology.
Pavlov's brilliant discovery is that this process of continuous exchange of substances and energy between the body and the external environment is not only carried out by a complex of innate neuro-reflex acts, but that in the individual development of the animal in each specific case, in each specific situation, new, acquired environmentally conditioned neural connections (conditioned reflexes) that make the most optimal relationship between animals and the external environment under given conditions. In his speech “Natural Science and the Brain,” Pavlov very clearly defines this biological significance of the conditioned reflexes he discovered:
“The most essential connection of an animal organism with the surrounding nature is the connection through known chemical substances, which must constantly be included in the composition of a given organism, i.e. connection through food. At the lower levels of the animal world, only the direct contact of food with the animal organism or, conversely, of the organism with food, primarily leads to food metabolism. At higher levels these relationships become more numerous and distant. Now smells, sounds and pictures direct animals, already in wide areas of the surrounding world, to food substances. And at the highest level, the sounds of speech and the icons of writing for printing scatter the human mass over the entire surface of the globe in search of daily bread. Thus, countless, diverse and distant external agents are, as it were, signals of food matter, directing higher animals to capture it, moving them to establish food connections with the outside world.”
More than thirty years of work by Pavlov and his students clearly showed that, in addition to innate reflexes based on the anatomical connection of the central nervous system and its conductors with peripheral organs (muscles, glands), there are also additional reflexes that can arise during the individual life of an animal in as a result of the coincidence of the action of various, previously indifferent, stimuli of the external world with such stimuli that are the unconditional causative agents of one or another reaction (secretory, motor, etc.). This is the main theoretical premise for the development of methodological techniques, which underlies the Pavlovian method of conditioned reflexes, in which such indifferent stimuli of the food reaction as light, sound, tingling, etc., become conditioned stimuli of the digestive glands if they coincide with the action unconditional food stimulus - the food itself. From a general biological point of view, especially valuable are the experiments with newborn animals carried out in Pavlov’s laboratory, in which it was possible to show that if newborn puppies are raised on food devoid of meat (milk-bread regime), then the sight and smell of meat are not stimulants of the digestive glands of the named puppies. But after giving meat to puppies just once, in the future the sight and smell of meat become powerful stimulants, for example, of the salivary gland. All this led Pavlov to the conclusion that the animal body has two types of reflexes: permanent, or innate, and temporary, or acquired.
The sum of facts obtained regarding the characterization of the functions of cells of the cerebral cortex by the method of conditioned reflexes can rightfully be considered the basis for the real physiology of the cerebral hemispheres. These facts provided extremely valuable material for understanding the complex problems of the sense organs and their localization; they revealed the physiological nature of the processes of excitation and inhibition in the central nervous system. The technique of salivary conditioned reflexes itself, in addition to its enormous general biological significance, is essential for analyzing the question of the nature of the nervous process, especially for the processes of the emergence and conduction of natural nerve impulses. It can be said without exaggeration that the method of conditioned reflexes will provide a lot more for the analysis of complex issues of the reaction of peripheral cells in response to natural irritation.
The major works of the Pavlovian school on conditioned reflexes are one of the leading chapters in the physiology of the nervous system. It is worth mentioning here how worried Pavlov was about this question. Just recently he wrote about his indignation at what one of the German physiologists said to Prof. Folbort in Kharkov: conditioned reflexes are “not physiology.” Deeply affected by this, Pavlov showed his experiments to our guest Prof. Jordan (Holland), asked him excitedly: “But isn’t this physiology?” What does Prof. Jordanes replied: “Well, of course, this is what true physiology is.” This is how one of the largest representatives of the modern biological movement in the field of physiology answered Pavlov, whose goal is to study the whole organism.
Pavlov tried to comprehend the vast natural-historical experience and observations on the development of conditioned reflexes in the individual life of an animal. As a natural scientist, he assessed the significance of conditioned reflexes from a general biological point of view. He said that innate reflexes are specific reflexes, while acquired reflexes are individual. And further he reported: “We called, so to speak, from a purely practical point of view, the first reflex unconditioned, and the second conditioned. It is highly probable (and there are already separate factual indications of this) that new emerging reflexes, while maintaining the same living conditions in a number of successive generations, continuously transform into permanent ones. This would thus be one of the constantly operating mechanisms for the development of the animal world.” And Pavlov returned to this issue in his last summary article, written for the Great Medical Encyclopedia in 1935, when he wrote that conditioned reflexes provide everything that is necessary both for the well-being of the organism and for the well-being of the species. In a speech at the International Congress of Physiologists in 1913, Pavlov decisively stated on this issue: “It can be accepted that some of the newly formed conditioned reflexes later hereditarily turn into unconditioned ones.”
Subsequently, under the leadership of Pavlov, Students undertook special research to test this idea, and Pavlov’s speech based on these experiments met with great interest from biologists, because it concerned such important issue, as a question about the inheritance of acquired characteristics. This was the subject of special discussion and criticism from geneticists. The prominent American geneticist Morgan spoke out against these experiments and their interpretation, and Pavlov had to agree with the main arguments of this discussion. But Pavlov not only did not abandon the development of the question precisely in this biological direction, but developed it further. Here a huge new area of Pavlov’s activity opened up in the study of the genetics of higher nervous activity. This new area of research, which formed the basis for the work of the newly created biological station in Koltushi, was to crown the edifice of Pavlov's thoughts on the biological significance of conditioned reflexes. The very posing of the question of the genetics of higher nervous activity, the specific development of the doctrine of various types nervous system in various animals, Pavlov’s above statements about the inheritance of acquired characteristics were dismissed as statements not justified by reliable experience.
Pavlov and his students developed an extremely detailed typology of the behavior of various dogs, doing this biological basis for conducting experiments on various animals and possible conclusions in each individual case. In a summary article on conditioned reflexes, written in 1935, Pavlov points out that “the study of conditioned reflexes in the mass of dogs gradually raised the question of the different nervous systems of individual animals and that, finally, there were grounds to systematize the nervous systems according to some of their main features "
As for the types of the nervous system, Pavlov gives an exhaustive description of them, which completely coincides with modern general biological concepts. These thoughts of Pavlov were a truly grandiose plan for a new field of study of the higher nervous activity of animals using the methods of genetics and physiology, which open up a completely new way of studying the issue. This time, death forced Pavlov to exhaust the question in the same way as he did when creating three new chapters of physiology - digestion, conditioned reflexes and the trophic role of the nervous system. This work will be the subject of research by a new generation of physiologists.
In the last period of his scientific work, Pavlov exclusively consistently promoted the need for physiologists to study genetics and the application of genetics to the analysis of the types of functioning of the nervous system in animals. This found symbolic expression in the artistic design that, according to Pavlov’s idea, was given to the Koltushi Biological Station: three sculptures were erected in front of Pavlov’s laboratory in Koltushi - the creator of the concept of the reflex, Rene Descartes, the founder of the strictly scientific physiology of the central nervous system, Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov, and, finally, , founder of modern genetics Gregor Mendel.
As a profound naturalist, Pavlov showed great interest in the problems of behavior of animals close to humans, and in recent years, research on monkeys was carried out in his laboratory. Constantly interested in the transfer of data obtained in experiments with laboratory animals to humans and specifically raising the question of the characteristics of human physiology, Pavlov was able to come to one of the most profound conclusions regarding human physiology. We mean Pavlov’s posing the question of a special, only human-specific, second signal system of reality in the form of a word. In this regard, let us cite an exceptionally clear and concise formulation that Pavlov gave in his summary article in 1935. “In the developing animal world, during the human phase, an extraordinary increase in the mechanisms of nervous activity occurred. For an animal, reality is signaled almost exclusively only by irritations and their traces in the cerebral hemispheres, directly leading to special cells of visual, auditory and other receptors of the body. This is what we also have in ourselves as an impression, sensation and idea from the surrounding external environment, both natural and social, excluding the word, audible and visible. This is the nervous signaling system of reality that we share with animals. But the word constituted our second, special signaling system of reality, being a signal of the first signals.”
Special work on questions about the characteristics of human higher nervous activity led Pavlov to the study of human psychopathology, to a psychiatric clinic, where he remained an experimenter, trying to approach the analysis of human mental disorders and their treatment on the basis of experimental physiology data.
The new chapter of human physiology discovered by Pavlov about the word as a signaling system began to receive experimental confirmation in the works of Pavlov’s school and will be one of the fruitful avenues of research along with the genetics of higher nervous activity, which remained undeveloped in Pavlov’s scientific legacy.
Pavlov's teaching on conditioned reflexes is increasingly gaining citizenship rights outside the Soviet Union and, contrary to the remark of the leading English physiologist Sherington that it will not spread abroad, is making its way in a number of countries in Europe and America. This was especially clearly demonstrated by the last International Physiological Congress, at which prof. Sorbonne Louis Lyapik stated that the main problems of the physiology of the central nervous system will be solved by applying the method “created by the genius of Pavlov.” The doctrine of conditioned reflexes begins to acquire great importance in the analysis of many biological processes in both simple and complex organisms, and this confirms Pavlov’s confident view that conditioned reflexes are a universal process for a living system.
The reaction that existed against conditioned reflexes in bourgeois countries and still partly continues to exist there rests on deeply fundamental foundations and therefore reveals the enormous fundamental significance of Pavlov’s teaching. Pavlov told how, more than 10 years ago, at the anniversary of the Royal Society of London, the famous English physiologist and neurologist Sherington told him: “You know, your conditioned reflexes in England are unlikely to be successful, because they smell of materialism.” It was to materialism that Pavlov’s life as a natural scientist was devoted to the end. Observing nature on a “large scale and in general terms”, constantly relying on the “staff of experience”, Pavlov saw before himself “the grandiose fact of the development of nature from the initial state in the form of nebulae in infinite space to the human being on our planet” (Pavlov) and how the natural scientist was not needed to interpret phenomena surrounding nature in forces that lie outside this nature. The entire classical heritage of this great researcher and world scientist will be used in building the building of a strictly scientific, the only correct materialist knowledge of the world.
The brilliant researcher of nature, Pavlov, with his deep mind, was able to understand the specific historical reality that he witnessed in his declining years. I. P. Pavlov was deeply concerned about the fate of the culture of mankind, the fate of his homeland. In this sense, he is higher than many of those classics of natural science who, in matters of natural politics, did not rise above the philistine level of their era.
The indisputable service of the brilliant physiologist Pavlov to humanity will always be that from the rostrum of the world congress he raised his voice of protest against war and fascism. This protest met with a wide response among prominent scientists around the world, delegates of the XV International Congress of Physiologists in Leningrad. In the face of militant fascism, Pavlov unconditionally defended his great socialist homeland, leaving behind the memory of a citizen of the USSR, proud of the consciousness of belonging to the great family of peoples of the USSR, building a new society. He, an outstanding representative of mental labor, understood and appreciated the historical significance of the Stakhanov movement as a step towards overcoming the contradictions between physical and mental labor. He, an honorary member of many academies and universities around the world, officially recognized at world congresses as “the head of physiologists of the world”, received with great excitement the notification that he had been elected an “honorary miner” by a rally of Donetsk miners.
Dying in the true sense of the word at a scientific post, Pavlov, despite his age (86 years old), was constantly worried about the fate of the Soviet homeland and shortly before his death he wrote his famous message to the youth of the USSR, among whom the image of the great citizen of the USSR Ivan Petrovich Pavlov will always live .