George Washington died at Mount Vernon in December 1799 after a sudden illness. The nation mourned as the body was prepared for burial.
Then Dr. William Thornton arrived with an idea.
Thornton was a physician, an architect, and a
close admirer of Washington. He proposed a radical plan to bring the former
president back to life.
He suggested warming the body, performing a
tracheostomy, inflating the lungs, and transfusing lamb’s blood to restart
circulation. The method reflected the experimental medicine of the era, when
the line between science and speculation was thin.
Washington’s family refused, and the plan was
never attempted.
Afterward, Thornton designed the U.S. Capitol and
lived a respected life.
History remembers the president’s death. And
mostly forgot how close someone came to trying to reverse it.
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