Thursday, July 29, 2004

Worth not repeating

Here is one ignoble award (for "scientific achievements" that "should
not be repeated").

MEDICINE, 1994
This prize is awarded in two parts. First, to Patient X, formerly
of the US Marine Corps, valiant victim of a venomous bite from his
pet rattlesnake, for his determined use of electroshock therapy --
at his own insistence, automobile sparkplug wires were attached to
his lip, and the car engine revved to 3000 rpm for five minutes.
Second, to Dr. Richard C. Dart of the Rocky Mountain Poison Center
and Dr. Richard A. Gustafson of The University of Arizona Health
Sciences Center, for their well-grounded medical report: "Failure
of Electric Shock Treatment for Rattlesnake Envenomation."
[Published in "Annals of Emergency Medicine," vol. 20, no. 6, June
1991, pp. 659-61.]

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