Every American knows the name, George Washington. Not only is his face on the $1 bill, he was a General during the Revolutionary War and became America’s first president. Washington was loved by many – the people, his family and his friends. One such friend rushed to his side as he lay dying, but was too late. This friend, Dr. William Thornton hatched a plan to resurrect the president.
Dr. William Thornton was born on May 20, 1759 in the British Virgin Islands. At the age of 5, he was sent to England to be educated. At the age of 18 he began his apprenticeship, to a practical physician and apothecary. A talented man, he kept journals noting medical treatments and studies of flora and fauna.
In 1781, Thornton enrolled as a medical student in the University of Edinburgh and later interned at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Further, in 1783, he went to London to continue his studies, even attending lectures at the Royal Academy. The following year, he found himself America-bound, carrying a letter of introduction to Benjamin Franklin, written by his mentor and distant cousin.
In the summer of 1784, Thornton explored the Highlands and received his medical degree at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
Back in America, he found his way not only as a physician, but also as an architectural designer, having won a competition to design the United States Capitol building. He also became the first Superintendent of the United States Patent Office.
On December 13, 1799, president George Washington rode his horse through icy rain, snow, and hail. Hating to be late, he hustled home and straight to dinner, not even bothering to change out of his wet clothes. That night, he woke up clutching his chest, almost unable to breathe. His wife, Martha, called for help and Washington’s chief aide, Colonel Tobias Lear, rushed to find a physician.
Two men arrived to help, Dr. James Craik, who had been treating Washington for more than forty years, and George Rawlins, an expert bloodletter.
Col. Lear gave Washington a tonic made from molasses, butter, and vinegar – which nearly choked him to death.
Rawlins treated the president throughout the night, removing blood to help reduce his fever. By dusk on December 14th, he had taken out nearly 40% of the blood in George Washington’s body.
President George Washington died just after 10pm on December 14, 1799 from a combination of a viral infection of his throat and the bloodletting treatments.
As soon as he heard of Washington’s ailments, Dr. William Thornton rushed to the President’s Mount Vernon home. He was confident he could save his life by performing a tracheotomy. Unfortunately, he was too late, arriving on December 15.
He later wrote, “My feelings at that moment I cannot express! I was overwhelmed with the loss of the best friend I had on Earth.”
But Thornton was not ready to give up yet. He believed in his heart that he could bring George Washington back to life.
Dr. William Thornton had been trained at some of the best medical schools Europe had to offer. He was an expert in tracheotomies, a practice considered to be a cutting-edge medical technique for the time. Moreover, he had studied the history of blood transfusions.
Up until this time, blood transfusions were considered unnatural and dangerous. Physician and former pirate-ship doctor, Henri-Martin de la Martinière argued that blood transfusions would lead to the kidnapping of children and cannibalism. He even wrote to Jean-Baptist Denis, “Allow me to tell you, Sir, that Satan reveals himself through your work.” Denis was an expert in animal transfusions in the 1660’s.
If we look at the history of blood transfusions, it’s no surprise why it wasn’t trusted.
The first known attempt at a blood transfusion took place in 1492 when Pope Innocent VIII fell into a coma. His physician recommended the procedure and hired three young boys to donate blood. Without the technology to inject blood intravenously, the physician poured the blood into the Pope’s mouth. Needless to say, the procedure didn’t work. The Pope, and all three boys died.
In 1628 came a great advancement when William Harvey, an English physician, discovered that blood circulated through the body. This discovery illustrated that it was possible to insert new blood into someone’s veins.
With the invention of metal tools, capable of injecting blood into the veins, in the 17th century, blood transfusion was a real possibility.
The first recorded successful blood transfusion took place in 1665 when Richard Lower, a physician at Oxford wondered if it was possible to swap blood between two dogs. This came after several attempts of transfusing other things, from wine to milk and broth – none of which did any good. But the blood – that was successful.
But the scientists had questions. Was it ethical? Was blood tied to identity and what characteristics of a person did blood contain? Richard Boyle asked, “whether a fierce Dog, by being often quite new stocked with blood of a cowardly Dog, may not become more tame? Would a dog lose the ability to fetch and carry if given blood from a dog without those skills? Would a dog’s fur curl if it received blood from a poodle?”
Looking forward to humans, scientists asked if blood and the soul were connected, and if so, would a blood transfusion threaten someone’s very soul?
But that didn’t stop them. In 1667, French doctor, Jean-Baptiste Denis, performed the first successful human blood transfusion.
Denis had already proven himself an expert in blood transfusions. He spent time on the banks of the Seine river in Paris, performing public demonstrations of transfusions between animals. But the next challenge was humans.
When it came to human blood transfusions, Denis ruled out the use of human blood, declaring it barbarous to shorten the life of one man to extend the life of another. Instead, he would use animal blood, which he believed had fewer impurities than human blood – because animals didn’t drink or swear. Truly scientific.
In June 1667, it was time for him to test out his theory. His patient was a 16-year-old boy who suffered from fevers. His treatment was a blood transfusion in which he gave him lamb’s blood. Afterward, he declared the boy cured.
The success of this blood transfusion encouraged others to give it a go.
In November, the English scientists of the Royal Society performed their own animal to human transfusion. Their patient was Arthur Coga, a Cambridge educated man who was mentally unstable. He only spoke Latin, and physicians said his brain was “a little too warm.”
Their goal was to cure him of his mental illness, and prove that their transfusion was better than the French method.
The transfusion was conducted by Richard Lower, in front of an audience of more than 40 people including a bishop, multiple physicians, and members of Parliament. Lower successfully transfused lamb’s blood into Coga. But he would require more than one transfusion.
1 month later, Coga received his second transfusion. But when the scientists wanted to perform a third transfusion, Coga refused. He believed the transfusions had turned him into a sheep.
The results of Coga’s transfusions did not help to further the study of blood transfusions. And then, back in France, Denis ran into a problem of his own.
Denis had a patient named Antoine Mauroy. He performed two successful blood transfusions, using the blood of a calf. But during the third transfusion, Mauroy began having seizures, and died. Although Denis was charged with murder, but found not guilty, blood transfusions were banned in France as an unsafe procedure.
There was no real progress from 1667 to 1799, but Dr. William Thornton believed a transfusion would bring back his friend.
He looked at the frozen corpse of George Washington, believing that he could resurrect him by combining heat, air, and blood.
Thornton required cold water, blankets, surgical tools, and the blood of a lamb. His plan would begin with using the cold water to slowly warm Washington’s body, then wrapping it in blankets, and “by degrees and by friction to give him warmth.” This would warm the President’s blood vessels, preparing them for the transfusion.
Next he would perform a tracheotomy. A tracheotomy is the act of creating an incision in the windpipe to relieve an obstruction to breathing. This procedure would allow Thornton to inflate Washington’s lungs with air, thus artificially replicating respiration.
Then, perhaps, the most vital part. He would perform a blood transfusion, using the blood of the lamb to give the President life.
Before he could enact his plan, however, Washington’s family stepped in. Perhaps heeding the President’s last words. “I am just going! Have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the vault less than three days after I am dead.” The, “Do you understand me? … Tis well!”
His family claimed it was better to leave George Washington’s legacy intact as “one who had departed full of honor and renown; free from the frailties of age, in full enjoyment of every faculty, and prepared for eternity.”
Although Dr. Thornton did not agree, he had no choice but to acquiesce. Despite this, he never gave up the belief that it would have worked, writing, “there was no doubt in my mind that his restoration was possible,” two decades later.
What would the world have been like had Dr. William Thornton been allowed to perform his procedure? If somehow, he miraculously brought the President back to life?
Still interested in life after death? Take a look at these stories of scientists who also believed they could resurrect the dead. Andrew Ure and Giovanni Aldini.
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