Speransky (Alexei and Georgy)

SPERANSKY Alexei Dmitrievich (born in 1888), professor, prominent pathophysiologist. He graduated from the medical faculty of Kazan State University in 1911. His scientific activity begins from this year. He underwent a solid anatomical training, working as a prosector at the Department of Anatomy and simultaneously perfecting his skills in surgery by working in the clinic. From 1914 he worked as a military surgeon in the active army. In 1920 he was elected professor of operative surgery and topographical anatomy at Irkutsk State University. From 1923 his work in physiology begins under Academician I. P. Pavlov. Here he immediately emerged as one of the most outstanding associates. Already in Speransky's first works on the physiology of the nervous system, his interest in pathological processes was revealed. Developing his work in this field, Speransky in 1924 became the organizer of an entire trend in experimental pathology and obtained an independent laboratory, and subsequently a department, at the Institute of Experimental Medicine. All research by Speransky and his pupils is devoted to the question of the role of the nervous system in pathology. An exceptional experimental talent, combined with broad theoretical and practical knowledge, enabled Speransky to organize research work on new methodological foundations. What previously served as the subject of study, he made into its method for the purpose of comparative study of the nervous mechanisms of processes that outwardly have nothing in common with each other. In 1930 Speransky published the first summary of experimental materials in the book «The Nervous System in Pathology» (Leningrad-Moscow, 1930). Analysis of the material allowed Speransky to link a number of pathological processes occurring in the periphery with the nervous system, to grasp the mechanism of this connection, as a result of which he concluded that the nervous system is not only involved in the process, but organizes it itself, that any pathological phenomenon is a reflection in peripheral tissues of one of the forms of a peculiar process occurring in the nervous system, which he unites under the name of «nervous dystrophies». Speransky transferred experimental data into the clinic, making work in it one of the methods of research. Such complex research confirmed the fundamental proposition put forward by him, namely, that in any pathological process the nervous component is the guiding factor. A number of new approaches to the concept of therapeutic intervention were outlined, which basically boils down to the principle of acting on the nervous system in order to change established pathological nervous combinations. As a result of creating new intra-nervous relations, the «face» of the disease process itself changes. In 1934, under Speransky's editorship and with his participation as an author, a collection of articles «Nervous Trophics» was published (Leningrad-Moscow). In 1935, a new book by Speransky was released, giving a formulation of his basic propositions on nervous trophics and a general pathological evaluation of the nervous factor. The theory put forward by Speransky creates a new direction in pathology. It establishes the principles of uniting a countless number of separate pathological forms into a single system. In 1934 the government awarded Speransky the title of Honored Worker of Science. Speransky is a full member of the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine. SPERANSKY Georgy Nestorovich (born in 1873), pediatrician, professor, head of the pediatrics sector of the State Scientific Institute for the Protection of Motherhood and Infancy of the People's Commissariat of Health in Moscow. Upon graduating from Moscow University in 1898, he worked in the children's clinic headed by N. F. Filatov, first as a resident, then

assistant. In 1907 he was the first physician of the maternity ward for newborns (maternity hospital named after Krupskaya) and in the same

ward

prototypical of those now existing. Speransky was the initiator of the reorganization of the former Foundling Home in Moscow and one of the first workers of the Department for the Protection of Motherhood and Infancy of the People's Commissariat of Health, founded by V. P. Lebedeva after the October Revolution. In 1918 he worked in the laboratory of Prof. V. V. Voronin (Odessa) on the mechanism of regurgitation; in 1919-1920 he organized and headed the Department of Children's Diseases at Kuban University; from 1921 he was the senior physician of the House for the Protection of Infants of the People's Commissariat of Health in Moscow, and then upon the reorganization of the latter into the State Scientific Institute for the Protection of Motherhood and Infancy, he was its director for 8 years. Speransky always worked extensively on the training of nurses, physicians, and postgraduate students in the protection of motherhood and infancy and pediatrics, and serves as professor of the Department of Early Age Pediatrics at the Central Institute for the Advanced Training of Physicians of the People's Commissariat of Health. Starting in 1912, he began publishing «Materials on the Study of Infancy», the first publication in this field. In 1922 he founded the «Journal for the Study of Early Childhood», which he edited, releasing 13 volumes. At present, he serves as the executive editor of the journal «Soviet Pediatrics» and editor of the pediatrics department of the Great Medical Encyclopedia from its very inception. Speransky is the author of a large number of works on various branches of pediatrics, the protection of motherhood and infancy, and popular brochures. He is an active member and vice-chairman of the Society of Children's Physicians of the RSFSR, the Moscow Regional Society, and others. In 1934 Speransky received the title of Honored Worker of Science.