Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"...being predictive, being right about the future, is not the point of any given story or novel. The point is about exploring as wide a range of possibilities as possible."
- Peter Watts
 |
| Suspended Animation (Frigorific Process) | ||
| Very early reference to cryogenic storage. |
Clara Newton is forbidden by her father to marry her true love. She resolves to enter into a state of voluntary suspended animation until he dies, when his will can no longer be enforced.
This is the first use of this idea in science fiction, as far as I know. The phrase "suspended animation" seems to have been in use since the late eighteenth century to describe animals that hibernate.
| She inquired, "Is there not also a law providing for voluntary suspension of animation?"
"The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the Constitution," replied the lawyer, "recognizes the right of any individual, not satisfied with the condition of his life, to suspend that life for a time, long or short, according to his pleasure. But it is rarely, as you know, that any one avails himself of the right- practically never, except as the only means to procure divorce from uncongenial marriage relations." "Still," she persisted, "the right exists and the way is open?" He bowed. She went to Wanlee and said: "My darling, it must be so. I must leave you for a time, but as your wife. We will arrange a wedding"- and she smiled sadly- "within this hour. Mr. Brown will go with us to the clergyman. Then we will proceed at once to the Refuge, and you yourself shall lead me to the cloister that is to keep me safe till times are better for us. No, do not be startled, my love! The resolution is taken; you cannot alter it. And it will not be so very long, dear. Once, by accident, in arranging my father's papers, I came across his Life Probabilities, drawn up by the Vital Bureau at Washington. He has less than ten years to live. I never thought to calculate in cold blood on the chances of my father's life, but it must be. In ten years, Daniel, you may come to the Refuge again and claim your bride. You will find me as you left me..." "Have you ever seen," he asked, "a woman who has undergone what you propose to undergo? She went into the Refuge, perhaps, as you will go, fresh, rosy, beautiful, full of life and energy. She comes out a prematurely aged, withered, sallow, flaccid body, a living corpse- a skeleton, a ghost of her former self. In spite of all they say, there can be no absolute suspension of animation. Absolute suspension would be death. Even in the case of the most perfect freezing there is still some activity of the vital functions, and they gnaw and prey upon the existence of the unconscious subject. Will you risk," he suddenly demanded, using the last and most perfect argument that can be addressed to a woman "-will you risk the effect your loss of beauty may have upon Wanlee's love after ten years' separation?" |
| From The Senator's Daughter,
by Edward Page Mitchell. Published by Not known in 1879 Additional resources -
|
A true Victorian tragedy, the story ends with Clara entering into the Frigorific Refuge as a bride:
Without delay the necessary papers of admission were drawn up and signed and the proper registration was made upon the books of the establishment. For an instant husband and wife rested in each other's arms. Then she, still cheerful, followed the attendants toward the inner door, while he, pressing both hands upon his tearless eyes, turned away sobbing.
A moment later the intense cold of the congealing chamber caught the bride and wrapped her close in its icy embrace.
The story also describes suspended animation as the "frigorific process known as the Werkomer process".
This is the earliest direct reference to the idea of suspended animation or cryogenic freezing, as far as I know.
Compare to cold-sleep from Robert Heinlein's Methuselah's Children (1941), stasis from Heinlein's Door Into Summer (1951),
corpsicle from Pohl's The Age of the Pussyfoot (1965) and the EverRest Cryotorium from Roger Zelazny's Flare (1992).
In the gray dawn of the early morning the officials at the Frigorific Refuge in Cambridgeport were astonished by the arrival of a bridal party. The bridegroom's haggard countenance contrasted strangely with the elegance of his full evening toilet, and the bright scarlet bows at his knees seemed a mockery of grief. The bride, in white satin, wore a placid smile on her lovely face. The friend accompanying the two was grave and silent.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Senator's Daughter
More Ideas
and Technology by Edward Page Mitchell
Tech news articles related to The Senator's Daughter
Tech news articles related to works by Edward Page Mitchell
Suspended Animation (Frigorific Process)-related
news articles:
- Suspended Animation For Surgery Patients
- Rabbit's Brain Cryogenically Frozen Successfully
- Cryonic Preservation - The Last Perk You'll Ever Need
| China Accused Of Harvesting Organs From Unwanted Groups |
| Robothread Robotic Worms Crawling Through Your Brain |
| Skin Electronics Can Show Electrocardiogram |
| Neurodevices For Consumers? Neuroethicists (And Philip K Dick) Say 'Caveat Emptor' |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'CIC uses [it] to keep track of every bit of spatial information that it owns...'
'With one fluid motion, it surged forward, plunged, and was gone.'
'Its lines wavered, flowed, and then painfully reformed. For an interval, the device struggled with itself...'
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time, subtly smoothing, deleting and coloring.'
'The death penalty was his immortality, and he would vote the death penalty for any crime at all.'
I can't resist science-fictional elements. Especially when they're real.
'The heart of it was a vast hexagonal structure of welded metal, ten miles across...'
