You've probably heard of the Russian researcher Ivan Pavlov who conditioned dogs to salivate whenever they heard the ringing of a bell. Less well known, but more appropriate for Weird Universe, are the experiments of Pavlov's American student W. Horsley Gantt, who was a researcher at Johns Hopkins. Instead of making dogs salivate, Gantt had a dog named Nick who became conditioned to develop an erection whenever he heard a tone. Mandy Merck briefly describes the experiments with Nick in her book In Your Face: 9 Sexual Studies:
Gantt's subjects included Fritz the Alsatian, Peter the beagle, a male poodle known as "V3," and especially the mongrel Nick, subject of "the most meticulous and complete case history of a single animal to be found in the conditioned reflex literature." These animals and others like them were subjected to a barrage of procedures to study conflicts of the drives between, for example, experimentally induced anxiety states and sexual excitement... Nick, in particular, exhibited symptomatic erections and ejaculations whenever he encountered stimuli associated with previous situations of anxiety. Years after one such experiment, in which anxious reactions were elicited by requiring dogs to make a difficult distinction between two tones of similar pitch (a distinction that determined whether the dog was fed), Nick would develop a "prominent erection... within a few seconds after the onset of the tone," Gantt enthused. "We could always count of Nick for a demonstration."
Shown is a picture of poor Nick demonstrating his unusual talent.
Acupuncture is the procedure of inserting needles into various points on the body, used in most cases to eliminate chronic pain. But as with most ancient medical practices, there is heavy debate as to the validity of the science. And in all my reading on the subject, I have never encountered a claim like the one being made by Pham Thi Hong of Vietnam. Ms. Hong says she can detect whether or not a man is a virgin - it is a combination of checking the man's pulse and looking for a tiny red spot behind his ear. Apparently the spot will only disappear after heterosexual intercourse, and is not affected by gay sex or masturbation. But even though I doubt Ms. Hong's methods, she has made a name for herself. While treating a young man convicted of gang rape, she discovered the spot behind his ear and was convinced he was innocent. Her extremely persuasive campaign lead to the case being re-examined and investigators determined that the original case was flawed. The man was released from prison in January. Of course this has lead to a surge of appeals from other convicted rapists for Ms. Hong to examine them and clear their name. And while many would say this is proof that her method has merit, the underlying point is that the man was released from prison because the original investigation was erroneous. It raises an interesting question, though. How many of you read this and went to see if you have a tiny red spot behind your ear?
While we wait for our banner-artist Rick Altergott to finish his concluding installment of RAISIN PIE, we will have to content ourselves with these great covers he did for two Gilbert Hernandez graphic novels. I just finished reading both of them, and they are of course superb.
The third one, due out at the end of this year, seems to lack the distinction of Altergott cover imagery, but will no doubt repay your attentions as well.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.