When it comes to using human beings as experimental subjects, we are probably no strangers to such far-flung experiments as nazi germany's use of jews, gypsies and other people they considered "Inferior" To do all kinds of horrific experiments, and more recent ones such as the "Coincidence" Of infectious diseases around the us fort detrick laboratory. All the time, the nerves are being stirred. The purpose of these experiments, which tested the limits of humanity, is not important, but why they were carried out on the same species.

In 1930, however, a brutal experiment was carried out in new york in the usa on his own son, and although the experiment had to be terminated after nine months, the implications were alarming.

Kellogg and his research

The story begins with an american man named kellogg. Born in 1898, kellogg was a native of tevernon, new york, usa. Growing up intelligent and clever, he had a knack for reading minds, and beyond the compliments these could give him for his high emotional intelligence, it also reinforced his belief that psychology was his lifelong pursuit.

World war i broke out while kellogg was a student at indiana university, and in response to his country's call for troops, kellogg enlisted in the army and went to fight in europe with the united states army expeditionary force. After the war, kellogg was fortunate enough to return to the united states unscathed and intact, and continued to return to school for further study. For reasons of interest, kellogg chose to major in philosophy and psychology.

During his time at school kellogg also met his lifelong partner, a beautiful girl called luella. Luella was very understanding and supportive of kellogg's research and often discussed academic topics with him. After graduation they married and started a new life together. Kellogg found a job as a journalist at a newspaper, which did not pay well and did not suit kellogg's interests, so after discussing it with his wife, he quit the job and enrolled instead in a master's degree in psychology at columbia university.

In 1927, kellogg finished his studies and began research on the subject, soon making a name for himself as a successful psychologist in the united states.

Just when everything was going the right way, a news article changed kellogg's life.

The story of kamala, the wolf boy

A thousand kilometres west of calcutta, india, people were amazed to find three wolves firmly followed by a thin, unknown creature. The creature crawled on all fours, with thick hair but a smooth back, much like a 'human'. The group killed three wolves and followed the strange creature to its lair, where they found another identical creature inside, which they captured and found to be two little girls.

This is the story of the infamous "Indian wolf children". The story ends with the two little girls being taken back to a human colony, one of whom died of kidney disease the following year and the other lived to the age of 17. The two children never learned human language and lived a lifestyle similar to that of wild animals.

This story piqued kellogg's interest in whether habits influence each other when humans and animals live together, and how much the outside environment influences a human when he is young.

Crazy experiments with young children and orangutans

Kellogg did not rush to prepare his experiments, but prepared his theoretical foundations adequately, and the thing that made him determined to put them into action originated from a scientific salon.

In 1929 columbia university held an academic salon to discuss genetics and the environment, attended by experts in the relevant disciplines. When it was kellogg's turn to speak, he referred to the example of wolf children in india and decided that the environment was crucial to human impact. His speech caused laughter and many people said that his hearsay fake news proved nothing at all and that science needs to be verified by experiment.

This result hurt kellogg's pride so much that he realised he had to do something about it right away.

Kellogg set aside a sum of cash to recruit volunteers for the experiment, but the results were extremely disappointing and months of recruitment went to naught, with every volunteer who applied laughing at the crazy idea.

In august 1930, luella gave birth to kellogg's first child, donald. Kellogg was overjoyed at the prospect of a lovely child, but a terrible thought also crossed his mind.

In 1931, when donald was ten months old, kellogg proposed to his wife that the experiment had to be continued and that, if there were no volunteers, an orangutan could be brought home and kept, and donald's behaviour and that of the orangutan could then be observed as the result of the experiment. Luella agreed to this absurd request out of her trust in her husband and her understanding of science.

Kellogg adopted a seven-month-old female chimpanzee from a charity and named her gouya. Donald and goya live together every day getting up, eating and moving around. Surrounding neighbours have since been amazed to find the child next door in and out with the orangutan!

The results of gouya's experiment

Kellogg recorded a series of behavioural changes in the child and the orangutan and gradually got a bad feeling.

First donald showed limited speech for 10 months and began to make similar growling noises to gouya's.

Secondly in terms of learning, chimpanzees are quick in human development and physical maturation and learn human behaviour quickly. Within a few months goya was already showing behaviours such as opening doors and going to the toilet, while donald only had animal behaviours such as hissing, crawling and biting.

However the peace was shattered during an outing and his wife luella began to start to stop supporting her husband through the incident. As usual, luella was leading donald and güia alone for a walk in the square when güia suddenly got into an argument with another child and wrestled with him. Donald's open nostrils and grimace on the sidelines made luella realise that something was wrong and that this was no longer the behaviour of a human child.

When they got home, luella had a showdown with kellogg and it was time for the experiment to end. Kellogg also recognised the problem; more and more of his friends were saying that their children were like apes, and that the success of the experiment would not be accompanied by endless pain for the child. And so the goya experiment, which lasted 10 months, came to an end.

The story ends as follows: After living in human society, goya returns to her kind to be ostracised and dies of depression 3 years later. Donald quickly lost his ape behavioural traits and regained his language skills under the care and correction of his family, and grew up to attend harvard university as a psychiatric science major, a no-nonsense senior student.

From the outset, the guia experiment was full of absurdities and more than a few expressions of incomprehension and strong condemnation. Given the current steps in scientific experimentation, the act of directly using human beings as subjects, without full justification and without conducting experiments with animals as subjects, was undoubtedly criminal. Of course this experiment also raises ethics to the standard of scientific experimentation for the first time. Experiments cannot be conducted without a bottom line, and any act that devalues life does not deserve respect.