Ponce de Leon's search for the fountain of eternal youth may be a legend, but the core idea - finding a cure for old age - is very real.

Abstract of a series of articles

The encyclopedia continues to introduce readers to a series of essays by Ivan Medvedev, the author of the book “In Search of El Dorado,” about the great travelers and adventurers of the past. Articles by Ivan Medvedev are created on the basis of primary sources and archival materials, which are a presentation of the writer’s work on the World Encyclopedia of Travel portal. Readers can expect to meet Spanish navigators who tried to discover the legendary country of King Solomon - the country of Ophir; the travels of a Russian army sergeant in India and Central Asia in 1774; Full of drama, the story of the first crossing of Australia from south to north by the expedition of Robert O'Hara Burke. Essays are published on the World Wide Web for the first time.

As soon as a person realized the transience of life, he could not come to terms with death. To defeat the laws of nature, people have been searching for the philosopher's stone for centuries, inventing the elixir of life, and going to distant lands for new knowledge. Sometimes these searches led to completely unexpected and other significant discoveries.

As soon as a person realized the transience of life, he could not come to terms with death. To defeat the laws of nature, people have been searching for the philosopher's stone for centuries, inventing the elixir of life, and going to distant lands for new knowledge. Sometimes these searches led to other significant discoveries. At the beginning of the 16th century, among the Indians of the island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, there was a legend about the fountain of eternal youth on the island of Bimini, ten days' journey to the north. Crowned by a high mountain, the island is covered with dense forest. But if you walk along inconspicuous paths to the foot of the mountain without turning around, otherwise the source will lose its magical power, a reservoir with clear running water will appear. A dried flower dipped in it will come to life, a dead branch will turn green, but a person only needs to take a few sips to regain youth and be cured of all diseases.

Old Governor

Puerto Rico Governor Juan Ponce de Leon has reached the age when people begin to understand the relative value of money and the absolute value of life. He spent his youth in military campaigns against the Moors, his maturity in the exploration of the New World. A homeless Castilian nobleman, he devoted his life to adding substantial capital to his great name. And at the end of life, when the goal was achieved, it opened simple truth: gold cannot replace those true joys that only youth gives. In heaven, if it exists, there are different values. Besides, there are no guarantees that you will end up there and not in hell. And here on earth, ten days away, as rumor claims, you can find the youth lost in struggle and labor. And then, relying on your accumulated wealth, you can enjoy life forever! The Indians swore that many of their fellow tribesmen regained their youth and remained forever in the wonderful country of Bimini.

Royal patent

Ponce de Leon formally petitioned Queen Juana the Mad of Spain to grant him a patent to search for, colonize, and exploit the source of eternal youth. Instead of the mentally ill Juana, the country was ruled by the completely sober, pragmatic regent of the kingdom, Ferdinand, who was not at all surprised by such a request. In those days, when the unusual and wonderful world of a new continent was opening up across the ocean, everything seemed possible. Since the governor of Puerto Rico took on all the expenses of the expedition himself, the regent, without blinking an eye, granted such a fantastic request.

Having invested almost all his funds in the purchase of three caravels, Ponce de Leon, not being a sailor, invited the most experienced navigator Anton Alaminos, an associate of Columbus himself, to serve as chief helmsman. There was no end to those wishing to go on a trip. Everyone was taken onto the ships, including the old, the sick and the disabled. The holds were filled to capacity with empty barrels for living water from a magical spring. The governor understood that such an unusual product would be the most expensive and best-selling in the world. The prospects for such a business were pleasantly dizzying.

From island to island

On a warm sunny day on March 3, 1513, the ships left the harbor of Saint-Herman on west coast Puerto Rico, intending to make a discovery that humanity has never known before. The stem of the "Nadezhda", the flagship of the squadron, was decorated with a carved figure of the Madonna, whose glass eyes gazed forward - to where the miracle land would open, granting people immortality.

The squadron's navigator Anton Alaminos confidently headed northwest, towards the Bahamas. Having passed earlier discovered by Columbus southern group of the archipelago, the ships found themselves in unknown waters. The Spaniards peered at the horizon until their eyes hurt.

Discoveries were made almost every day. Fearing they would miss the fountain of youth, the Spaniards landed on every new open island, scattered across the deserted land covered with stones and stunted vegetation, swam in lakes and tasted water from springs and even rain puddles. But, alas, the old people remained weak, and the sick did not recover. Disappointed sailors returned to their ships and, with new hopes, again rushed further north.

Chain Bahamas broke off, the squadron was sailing on the open sea. Ten days of sailing are long gone. The fourth week of agonizing waiting dragged on. When will the compass of fate lead travelers to the promised land?

On April 2, 1513, a land appeared on the horizon that could not be compared with any of the previously encountered islands. A solid wall of green trees intertwined with vines appeared before the gaze of the sailors. Dropping anchor in the quiet cozy bay, the travelers deeply inhaled the thick, spicy aroma of fragrant flowers wafting from the shore along with the enchanting singing of birds. The warm water on the coastal shallows sparkled under the rays of the sun. Since the remarkable discovery fell on the Christian holiday of Easter (Pascua Florida in Spanish), the Spaniards regarded it as a sign, and Ponce de Leon named the discovered land Florida. No one doubted that beautiful coast- this is the Indian island of Bimini, only such a land can give people youth, immortality and happiness.

The sailors eagerly landed on the yellow sand beach. We moved along one of the paths through the dense forest. In a clearing strewn with flowers, a spring with crystal clear water gurgled. Ponce de Leon was the first to reach the source. Taking a breath, he raised his face, eagerly peering into his reflection, expecting the wrinkles to smooth out. In vain. A beautiful dream was crumbling.

Clinging to their last hopes, the Spaniards sailed north along the east coast for another two weeks, landing on the shore in the morning and checking every body of water for a miracle. In vain. Soon the search became complicated by the fact that the squadron reached areas inhabited by warlike Indian tribes. Fearless, tall and strong warriors refused to negotiate with the aliens and threatened with spears and huge bows with poisoned arrows. Ponce de Leon did not risk the expedition and ordered to turn south and look for a miracle source on the other end of the island. The Spaniards did not suspect that they had discovered not an island, but the Florida Peninsula - part of the North American continent.

Gulf Stream

Ponce de Leon and his navigator Anton Alaminos discovered a five-hundred-kilometer stretch of the east coast of Florida and Cape Canaveral, from which US spacecraft are launched today. Here the expedition for immortality found itself in a powerful stream of warm sea current. The water of the sea river was sharply different in color from the rest of the ocean. It flowed from the west, and at the tip of Florida it turned sharply to the north. Anton Alaminos made the correct assumption that this current could be used to return to Spain.

It was the Gulf Stream - a source of heat for northern Europe, carrying 96 times more water than all the rivers on Earth combined. The Spaniards did not suspect that this was the source of life for many peoples, but of a completely different kind.

Newfound hope

Ponce de Leon continued his search with enviable persistence. Probably, if the fountain of youth really existed, he would have found it. In August 1513, the head of the expedition decided to split the squadron to increase the chances of success. He sent Alaminos to once again “comb” the Bahamas, while he himself explored the northern coast of Yucatan.

In early October, the discouraged governor of Puerto Rico returned home, and in February 1514, Alaminos arrived with stunning news: he had found an island that the local Indians call Bimini! True, there was no fountain of youth on it; it was deserted and bare, but the name again revived the governor’s hopes for immortality.

It took seven years to prepare the new expedition. During this time, Ponce de Leon visited Spain and received the rights of governor of the lands he discovered. If the desired source is not on the island of Bimini, then it must be somewhere nearby, most likely in Florida, the governor believed. It is necessary to conquer this country and explore the water from every reservoir.

Ponce de Leon turned sixty years old. There wasn't much time left. Either he will gain youth, or the old woman with a scythe will take him to a place from which no one returns.

With fire and sword

In 1521, two ships went to sea. Along with a selected team of sailors, there was a well-armed detachment of two hundred professional soldiers and ferocious dogs on board, specially trained to hunt people. At that time, these were significant forces for the New World: ten years later, Francisco Pissaro with four hundred soldiers crushed the vast Inca empire.

With fire and sword, Ponce de Leon walked through the villages of Florida. Captured Indians were tortured on hot bars, but none of them knew anything about the magical source. Deeper into the wilds of the peninsula, a detachment of Spaniards was ambushed. Several thousand Indians rained down poisoned arrows and spears on the newcomers. Return fire in the jungle yielded nothing. The Redskins intensified their attack. The Spaniards wavered, their ranks were mixed and Ponce de Leon's soldiers retreated in complete disorder. Ponce de Leon himself was wounded by a poisoned arrow. With great difficulty, the remnants of the detachment managed to reach the ships, which hastily weighed anchor and set course for Cuba.

Ponce de Leon writhed on the deck in his death throes. Nobody paid attention to him: the crew was struggling with the powerful Gulf Stream current. In the clouded consciousness of the governor, who so strived for immortality, the cold refreshing streams of the source of life mixed with the shore of Florida, which was falling into the ocean - a land that not only did not return his youth, but also took away the last years allotted by God.

Additional information for the series of articles

Extreme for millennia

Ivan Medvedev’s book “In Search of Eldorado” is a collection of fascinating essays about travel from antiquity to the end of the 20th century, written in the best traditions of the adventure genre. The essays are in chronological order, which allows the reader to trace the history of geographical discoveries - in its brightest, most extreme moments. The adventures of the royal prosecutor in captivity among the Dakota Indians give way to the search for ancient cities lost in the jungle, a flight to the Pole on hot-air balloon- a risky expedition to unexplored areas of Africa, and the story of the first crossing of Australia is as dramatic as the tragic fate of Robert Scott. The plots develop quickly, you never get bored. The author managed to saturate the text with such companions of success as entertaining, informative, laconic and imagery.

In total, 50 stories are collected under the cover, which to one degree or another reflect the title of the book: the captivating myth of the golden country forced Europeans to conquer the seas and oceans, pave many roads and explore entire continents. Over time, Eldorado became synonymous with great discoveries. This spectacular name was suitable for all new achievements of which the mighty spirit of the discoverer is capable.

The materials in the book were supplemented and revised by the author specifically for publication on the World Encyclopedia of Travel portal.
Book sales addresses can be found at: [email protected]

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Page one – BLUE, colors of hope

KNOCKING AT THE DOOR OF IMMORTALITY

It would not be better for people if everything they desire were fulfilled.

(Heraclitus)

In the spring month of Nishan, on the second day of the new moon, the king of kings, ruler of the Universe, ruler of all Persians, Xerxes, wished to review his great army. When fleet-footed messengers spread this news throughout all the cities and fortresses where the invincible Persian army was garrisoned, many rejoiced, but even more were saddened.

Those who rejoiced thought about the future great awards and honors for those who distinguished themselves, which usually accompanied such reviews. Those who were saddened recalled the terrible executions that were inflicted on the guilty - those who were unlucky: either the girth burst, or the spear was held unevenly, or the horse suddenly lost its steady trot. But even those who were saddened tried to keep a cheerful face, so as not to tempt fate and not become easy prey for the ubiquitous informers.

And now the day has come, which so many have eagerly awaited and even more feared. The great army gathered at the foot of the hill, on which the king’s huge tent was white, and when the king of kings, Xerxes, came out of the tent, a copper roar shook heaven and earth. Compared to it, with this roar, the thunder that the clouds brought, the sound of the stormy sea was like a whisper, like a breath of wind. It was thousands of warriors who struck their swords against forged copper shields.

The commander of the army, standing a little behind, on the king’s right hand, noticed how a shadow of pleasure ran across the ruler’s face, and this was a sign of mercy. When, at the wave of the king's hand, the great army began to move, it seemed that the whole earth was in motion - from one end of the sky to the other, because for those who stood on the hill, there was neither an archer, nor a horseman, nor a shield-bearer - there was only a mobile human mass sparkling with weapons, and there was no such barrier, such a fortress, country or army that this mass would not break and could not crush. Therefore, pride and joy that they were involved in such power filled the hearts of the people who stood on the hill at the right and left hand of the king of kings.

But they could not see the face of Xerxes. When he wanted to turn his face towards them, they saw that the ruler was crying. And their souls were seized with horror.

“It truly saddens me to think about the brevity of human life.” In about a hundred years, not a single person from all of them will be among the living...

And having said this, the king, without looking at anyone, retired to the tent. And the courtiers did not know what to say and what to do. The army continued to march, and the earth swayed from one end of the heavens to the other, and it seemed that there would be no end to this.

The king of kings, the ruler of the Persians, never left his tent that day. This time after the review there were no awards or executions...

This is how, or approximately this, the Greek historian Herodotus narrates. This happened in the spring month of Nishan, on the second day of the young moon, two and a half thousand years ago.

1. Those on the go

It always seemed to man that nature acted unfairly, allocating him such a short existence and dooming him to death. Long before the great Xerxes, the inhabitants of ancient Sumer, who lived on the swampy banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, painfully thought about this. Why did the gods, who gave man reason, not endow him with immortality? From clay tablets dotted with cuneiform characters, through the dark tunnels of five thousand years, a voice full of bewilderment and sorrow reaches us:

How can I remain silent, how can I calm down?
My beloved friend has become the earth,
Enkidu, my beloved friend, has become earth!
Just like him, I won’t lie down,
So as not to rise forever and ever?

But a person would never become what he is if he limited himself only to lamentations. That is why Gilgamesh, the hero of the world's first epic, sets off on a dangerous journey beyond the distant sea to get there a “flower like a thorn,” which bestows youth and delays death.

Years and millennia passed, ideas about good and evil changed, gods died and new ones were born, but this dream remained ineradicable, this belief that there is a way? the only one among many leading to immortality. And to the credit of humanity, there have always been madmen who sought this path. Who can say how many of them there were - unknown and nameless, who ventured in the footsteps of Gilgamesh and did not reach their goal, lost their way and died on false paths?

The Epic of Gilgamesh talks about a flower that brings immortality. The Mahabharata, an epic of Ancient India, mentions the sap of a tree that prolongs human life to 10,000 years. The ancient Greek historians Megasthenes and Strabo also mention this. And Aelian, a Roman author who lived in the 2nd-3rd centuries, talks about trees whose fruits can supposedly restore lost youth.

Other ancient texts persistently speak of some kind of “water of eternal life.” This tradition existed among African peoples, and among the peoples of America, and among the Slavs in the form of legends about “living water”. Russian epics place a source of living water on the island of Buyan, which stands in the middle of the ocean. The inhabitants of the ocean expanses were looking for a source of water that gives eternal life in the regions that lie “many days’ journey away.”

Gilgamesh (XXVIII century BC), king of Uruk, according to legend, went in search of a magical flower that bestows youth

A hieroglyph denoting the “elixir of immortality,” the secret of which was kept by Taoist monks

In the same way, if the inhabitants of the countries neighboring China placed such a source of living water in China, then the Chinese themselves, following the same logic, went in search of it anywhere, but only as far as possible, beyond the borders of their country.

One of these expeditions is associated with the name of the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC).

It was the emperor who united the country and began the construction of the Great Chinese wall. The wall protected the country from nomads, and the emperor from the military anxieties that so burdened his predecessors. But one concern is always replaced by another. Other rulers did not even dare to think about what the emperor was concerned about: Qin Shi Huang decided to live forever. And he spared neither time nor effort to find a path that would lead him to this goal.

...No outsider could enter the Forbidden City, where the emperor’s residence was located. Those curious who dared to come too close to the gate were hacked to death on the spot by the guards. Even birds that carelessly tried to fly across the canal to the imperial residence were shot down by archers in flight with long red arrows. This measure was not superfluous - an evil spirit or werewolf could take the form of a bird in order to get closer to the emperor and cause him harm. It was believed that evil spirits could only move straight or turn at right angles. That's why all the entrances to Forbidden City, all the passages in the palace and the paths in the imperial park were laid so that there were no straight lines anywhere. Even the edges of the palace roof were curved so that evil spirits could not move along them. But, despite all these measures and all the prohibitions, there was one terrible guest that nothing could stop. And the emperor remembered her every day and every hour.

In vain did Qin Shi Huang talk about this with the smartest people of his state. They were skilled in gaining and maintaining power, in waging war or collecting taxes, but not one of them could tell their master how to overcome nature and avoid death. Then the emperor retired to the far chambers of his palace and began to talk with those who had not been among the living for a long time, looking for answers in ancient books and manuscripts.

“They say,” wrote one ancient author, “that in the middle Eastern Sea there are three extraordinary islands. They are not so far from places inhabited by people, but, unfortunately, as soon as anyone tries to land on them, the wind rises and carries the boat far away. If what they say is true, then in ancient times there were people who managed to reach these islands. Immortals live on these islands and there is a compound that protects against death. Everything living there, even birds and animals, is white.” On one of these islands, according to legend, there is a source of jade-colored wine. Whoever drinks this wine will gain immortality.

When Qin Shi Huang finished reading, he realized that this was a sign of fate. From the same day, by imperial order, construction began on two dozen large ships, on which one could risk going to sea. But no one, not a single subject, not a single confidant or minister of the emperor, knew about the purpose for which this unprecedented flotilla was being built. However, the further the construction progressed, the greater the doubt that gripped the emperor. Can he leave the palace and the Forbidden City without risking losing his empire? As soon as the flotilla under sails made of yellow silk - a sign that the emperor himself is on one of the ships - disappears beyond the horizon, a rebellion breaks out in the capital. And from the remote provinces, countless hordes of pretenders will move to the Forbidden City, hurrying to quickly occupy the throne that has been empty for a while. The emperor knew that this would be the case, and this forced him to look for more and more new reasons to delay the completion of construction. Then he didn’t like the room for his retinue, and the carpenters had to rebuild everything from scratch. Those are the dragons who decorated bow The ships turned out to be not what the emperor had imagined them to be, and he ordered the woodcarvers to be executed. But still, construction continued, and sooner or later the day had to come when the emperor had to make a decision.

That’s why this request, respectfully handed over to him by the chief superintendent of the office when the construction was nearing completion, turned out to be so opportune. The subject, a certain man unknown to the emperor named Su She, fell at the high feet of his master. “We beg,” he wrote, “to be allowed, after proper purification, to go with the boys and girls in search of the islands of immortality.” The Emperor was convinced that fate had once again heard his thoughts.

On the appointed day, all twenty ships were launched. To the bright sounds of flutes, clearing away the evil eye and evil thoughts, the rowers took up the oars, and the flotilla, carrying three thousand young men and women, as well as a large number of various workers, servants and artisans, headed towards the Eastern Sea.

Long days, weeks, and finally months passed. There was no news from Su She. The emperor spent many hours on the shore, peering into the unclear horizon. But the ships never returned.

“Su She set sail,” the Chinese historian wrote about the end of this expedition, “he discovered lands remarkable for their peacefulness and fertility. He settled there, became king and never returned.”

When it became clear that Su She and his people would not return, the emperor began to look for other ways to immortality. Throughout the country, his messengers were looking for people involved in the knowledge of the ancients, higher wisdom and magic. He especially favored the Taoist monks - to whom, if not them, should this secret be revealed!

The Emperor had reason to think so. In Ancient China, many believed that Taoist monks jealously guarded the secret of certain “immortality pills” that could supposedly prolong a person’s life indefinitely. Texts mentioning this have survived to this day. But no one reports the composition of the pills. Only one source silently says that they contain, among other things, “eight precious components.”

The path to making “immortality pills” was long and complicated: “The sun, moon and stars must complete their circle seven times, and the four seasons must return nine times. You must wash the mixture until it turns white and churn until it turns red, then you will receive an elixir that will give you a life of ten thousand eras.”

By order of Qin Shi Huang, apartments were set aside in the depths of the palace in which strange, silent people settled. They were supposed to produce for the emperor compositions and secret potions known only to them. Each, the very last subject, knew that the emperor ordered the wisest people to make sure that he lived forever. There was not a person in the empire who did not know that the will of their ruler was sacred. And so that none of his subjects - from the shepherd to the highest dignitary - would have doubts about the justice of this thought, Qin Shi Huang, throughout the long years of his reign, mercilessly executed those who thought differently.

That is why, when the emperor finally died at the appointed hour, his subjects and courtiers found themselves faced with a difficult dilemma: what to consider more important - the sacred will of the emperor, who wished to live forever, or the insignificant fact that was before their eyes. However, the hesitation was short-lived. It was decided to consider the emperor alive. His body was placed on the throne, and from there, from behind a screen, he gave silent audiences for many days to dignitaries, provincial governors and diplomats. Still silent and motionless, sitting on the throne, the emperor traveled around the country, and only at the end of the month, overcoming fear and doubts, those close to him decided to bury what had once been their emperor. So the chronicles tell.

Neither Qin Shi Huang nor the expedition he sent found the water of eternal life. Later, in subsequent centuries, travelers from the Celestial Empire, busy in search of the source of eternal life, could often be seen in other countries. They searched especially hard in India.

Centuries passed, and here their paths invisibly crossed with the paths of the Jesuits and Catholic missionaries. One of these missionary travelers, writing from India in 1291, sadly complained that his many years of searching had been in vain. By the way, at that time the opinions of theologians about where the source of living water was located differed: some were inclined to believe that the search should be continued in India, others, citing vague passages of the Holy Scriptures and omissions of ancient authors, called Ceylon, and still others called Ethiopia.

But when His Majesty's Admiral Christopher Columbus discovered new, unknown lands overseas, hopes for immortality followed the conquistadors and merchants to the West.

The Italian humanist Pedro Martyr, who lived in those years and personally knew the great navigator, wrote to Pope Leo X: “North of Hispaniola, among other islands, there is one island at a distance of three hundred and twenty miles from it, as those who have found it say. On the island there flows an inexhaustible spring of running water of such wonderful quality that an old man who drinks it, observing a certain diet, will after a while turn into a young man. I beg, Your Holiness, do not think that I said this out of frivolity or at random; This rumor has really established itself at court as an undoubted truth, and not only the common people, but also many of those who stand above the crowd in their intelligence or wealth also believe it.”

Is it any wonder that the noble Castilian hidalgo Juan Ponce de Leon was among those who believed in the existence of a source of eternal life? He was already over fifty when, from old Indians living in Puerto Rico, he learned about some country located in the north, where there was a source that bestowed eternal youth. It was said that several years before, many Indians from the island of Cuba went in search of her and not one of them returned. Do we need any other evidence that they managed to find this country?!

Other Indians objected: is it worth going on such a long journey when among the Bahamas there is also an island where exactly the same source of youth and eternal life flows.

Ponce de Leon was not the only Spaniard to hear these stories. But he was the only one who decided, at his own risk, to equip an expedition to search for the island. Of course, if the rumors concerned gold, funds and ships would immediately be found, and a crowd of volunteers would not be long in coming. But it was not about wealth, but simply about immortality. True, Ponce de Leon himself was already at that age when people begin to understand the relative value of gold and the absolute value of life.

That is why, having invested all his funds in the purchase of three brigs, Ponce de Leon recruited a crew and at dawn on March 3, 1512, he ordered the anchors to be raised amid cannon fire. The sun shines brightly, foreshadowing good luck, the morning wind inflates the sails, and the flotilla sets off. How many such ships were equipped in those years to search for new lands, spices or gold! But these were marked with a special sign. The one who led them was not called fame, power or wealth. Eternal life and eternal youth - that’s what he was looking for. And for a long time, until the ships turned into three points on the horizon, a crowd stood on the shore and looked after them.

The weather and luck were favorable for sailing, and soon the green islands of the Bahamas archipelago appeared in the distance. Each of them was replete with quiet bays and channels, convenient for anchoring ships. And each could turn out to be exactly what they were looking for. In the mornings, boats descended from the ships and, cutting through the blue surface of the lagoon, headed to the shore. Those remaining on board were jealous of those who had a happier fate that day. But no one awaited their return with such impatience as the captain himself. In the evenings, the boats sailed up to the ship on which he was located, and with a quiet knock - wood on wood - froze at the tarred side. Boatswain Crooked Juan accepted the spoils - copper flasks, flasks, bottles and vials filled with water from all sources that could be found on the island.

Long after the crew had gone to bed and the duty officers had taken up the night watch, the lantern in the captain's cabin continued to burn. The oil crackled in the wick, and then reddish reflections shuddered on the copper flasks, polished to a shine in rough sailor pockets. Ponce de Leon lined them up on the table in front of him and slowly tasted the contents of each flask. They said that just a couple of sips are enough, that the transformation begins instantly.

The next morning, other sailors, those whom the lot pointed to, dismantled the empty flasks and went overboard along hemp ladders into the rocking boats. And while the captain looked impatiently at the sun, again waiting for the evening to come, the sailors, huddled under the awning, once again told each other everything that they had heard from those who had gone ashore. If there is heaven on earth, then it should be here on these islands. The forests here are full of game, and the quiet rivers are filled with fish that you can catch with your hands right off the shore. But most importantly, it was land - fertile, abounding in fruits and, what is most surprising, practically no one's land. Because it was impossible to take seriously the timid Indians, who fled as soon as they heard the approach of the Spaniards. Could they have dreamed of such a land, of such a land, born among the rocky fields of Andalusia or the sun-scorched plains of Castile?!

Crooked Juan did not interfere in these conversations. As he passed by, he didn't even listen to them. But not because he did not know about them or did not guess about the inevitable development of events that, he knew, would follow all this.

And again, long after midnight, the light was on in the captain's cabin. And again, after the team had gone to bed, muffled voices were heard for a long time from the cockpit. No matter how quietly Crooked Juan walked, every time he passed by, the voices died down. But Juan only grinned in the darkness. Tomorrow morning, as always, he will know everything. It was not for this reason that he sailed the seas for seventeen years and escaped the gallows three times, so as not to learn to see what was happening under his nose. And Juan learned one more lesson from what he saw and which would have been enough for, perhaps, a dozen other lives - never rush and never join either side until that very minute, the last minute, when the scales of fate will come into motion. And only then he, Crooked Juan, a moment earlier than everyone else, should understand what fate wants. And then, as has happened more than once, he will grab his pistols and be the first to shout: “Hurray for the captain!” or “Captain to the yard!” But every time – exactly what is needed to end up with the winners.

True to himself, Crooked Juan was in no hurry this time either, although everything seemed to be clear and the fate of the insane hidalgo seemed predetermined.

So they moved from island to island, and no one complained, because every time new island turned out to be even more beautiful than the one I had to leave. But the inevitable events that Juan had foreseen were about to unfold when an episode occurred that mixed everything up.

In the evening, when the captain, as always, retired to the cabin with his flasks, Crooked Juan was missing one flask. Someone, having boarded the ship, did not give it away as usual, but kept it for himself. Why? The captain will hardly notice it. Juan was the only one on the ship who knew. This gave him an extra card in the game, and that's where he decided to go.

The one who did not give up his flask actually risked little. But did he really think that if this became known, Crooked Juan would not figure out who did it?

The next morning Juan knew who it was. For this enough was from those who were on the shore, subtract those who came to take the flasks. Rodrigo, nicknamed Little Fox, was the one left behind. Once again, Juan did not rush things. He only made sure that on that day the Little Fox got a job at the rear stern, on the poop deck, away from the others. Rewinding ropes is not a very easy job, especially when the sun is directly overhead and there is no protection from it. Juan waited patiently until the shadow of the mast became as short as the thought of a fool, and only then slowly moved towards the poop deck. The little fox did not immediately notice the boatswain, but having noticed it, he began to rewind the thick tarred rope even more quickly. Juan came very close, so that there was almost no space between him and the sailor. Juan knew what he was doing.

- Is it hot, baby?

Only now the Little Fox risked straightening up.

- Hot? – Juan put on a smile on his face that could only seem sincere to the last idiot. - Maybe you can find a sip of water? - And he extended his hand to the flask that hung on the Little Fox’s belt, extended his left hand, precisely his left.

He still continued to smile when his body barely had time to dart to the side, dodging the blow. At the same instant, his right hand, also as if of its own accord, against his will, shot up, and the knocked-out knife entered deeply into the deck boards. But it was not for nothing that the Little Fox was younger than him. The next moment he was ahead of the boatswain. There was only a splash overboard, and the Little Fox, making wide strokes, was already quickly swimming to the shore.

The shore, however, was not close, and Juan knew that the Little Fox would not be able to swim like this for long. He managed to think this in a split second and in the same split second he was glad that he had made him work all morning - now he is no longer the same swimmer. And a split second later, Juan’s voice boomed on the deck, and the sailors rolled into the boat overboard one after another. Juan decided not to say anything about the flask for now, let them catch him first.

“This scoundrel tried to kill me,” he hastily explained, but the captain only pursed his thin lips and did not answer. Juan understood why: he had committed the impudence of being the first to turn before the elder spoke to him.

For an attack on the boatswain, Little Fox was given shackles and work on the galleys. He knew this and swam with all his might. But the distance between the boat and the swimmer was getting shorter and shorter. However, the distance between the swimmer and the yellow strip of sand where the shore began was reduced even faster. Ponce de Leon pushed the captain's cocked hat onto his forehead so that the sun would not blind his eyes. Now it became clear that the boat was really lagging behind; the rowers in it had completely stopped working with the oars. Squinting his eyes, Juan saw the captain's thin Castilian mustache twitch angrily. Of course, he is a hidalgo and a noble gentleman, but he does not understand the guys who sail with him. He doesn't understand at all. And Juan allowed himself to remark respectfully:

- Mr. Captain, he won’t leave. The guys are just playing with him. They want to play.

But the captain didn’t even look at him: he had committed insolence again.

And the sailors really “played” with the fugitive. When it seemed that he was about to reach the shore, the oars suddenly flashed, the boat rushed off and a minute later found itself between the Little Fox and the surf. Then she froze again, moving slightly away from the shore and driving the Little Fox into the open sea. He apparently understood this and now barely waved his arms just to stay on the water. But the boat was moving faster and faster, and he had to hurry to prevent the distance from closing.

Then, it seemed, the boat fell behind again, and Little Fox managed to go around it and head towards the shore. This was repeated several times, but even from the ship it was clear that the fugitive was already exhausted and would not last long. When they tried to repeat this fun again on the boat, he began to sink. Now the rowers leaned on the oars with all their might, but when the boat almost overtook him, the Little Fox emerged for the last time, his hand suddenly rose out of the water, and he threw something that glittered in the sun away from myself. A second later the boat was already above the place where the Little Fox had just been, but he did not appear again.

The captain turned questioningly to Juan. Now he had to speak or throw up his hands. Juan spoke and thus chose his fate.

“Mr. Captain, this sailor hid his flask last night.” Today, when I asked for it...

Crooked Juan had never seen a person turn so pale at once.

“A boat,” the hidalgo unclenched his dry lips.

There were no more boats on the ship. There was only a two-seater boat, and Juan sat on the oars himself.

When they finally reached the boat with the sailors waiting for them, everyone began to point out the place where the Little Fox had thrown his flask.

“Fifty reals to whoever finds it.”

You had to be born rich and have behind behind a line of rich people ancestors to say it the way it was said.

- Fifty reals? – like an echo, Juan asked. It was a condition. Juan regretted that he was not an ordinary sailor and could not now dive into the water after the others. In his entire life he had never, not only held in his hands, but even seen such money. And in life he had everything.

They finally found the flask. The one who succeeded in this raised it high above his head and shouted so that the captain could see it and the others would not take the find from him.

Juan only held the flask for a moment before handing it over to the captain, but that was enough for him to understand what was in it. And having understood, he was afraid that the captain would guess that he knew. This discovery shocked him so much that his hands did not obey him well and he barely rowed to the ship. But the captain didn't notice anything. The captain had no time for him.

That evening, the muffled chatter in the sailor's quarters continued longer than usual. On the other two ships, Juan knew, it was the same. And when at dawn the captain suddenly ordered to raise the sails and weigh anchor, a riot broke out on all three ships.

The team did not want to sail further. They will settle here, on these lands, they will plant grapes and olives, grow wheat - everyone here will become a noble lord. Let whoever wants to sail with this crazy hidalgo, but not them, not them! Crooked Juan knew that he would stay with them. But not for the purpose of harvesting crops or raising sheep here. He will do something else here - and the later the others find out about it, the better. The moment he took the flask out of the water, his hand could not be mistaken. The water couldn't have weighed that much - there was gold in the flask!

And Juan understood and knew one more thing, something that the others had not thought through and did not have time to understand: if they stay here, they do not need witnesses. He felt that the moment was approaching when the scales of fate would tremble and begin to move. These people did not have a leader, in a minute they will become one. And then, drowning out all the hubbub and screams that rushed from the decks of the three brigs that had come together, he shouted as he only shouted his commands during a storm:

- Captain to the yard!

At first everyone fell silent, but then several voices took up:

- To the yard! Captain to the yard!

And already everyone screamed, roared, bleated:

- Captain to the yard!

Because everyone knew: after these words there was no turning back. And this meant the end of all doubts and hesitations. Someone was hastily dragging the rope, adjusting the loop as they went, someone was already dragging the captain in a torn and wrinkled jacket onto the barrel. Now everything was decided by moments. If the captain can be pulled up before anyone hesitates, there is at least one voice against him, then the job is done and he, Juan, can congratulate himself. If the one with the rope had not hesitated, maybe this would have happened. But the captain suddenly raised his hand. And then everyone fell silent. “So, even now, even under the noose, he still remained a captain for them,” Juan managed to think. And one more thing: “You can’t let him talk.”

But the captain had already spoken. And from how calm and authoritative his voice sounded, Juan realized that he had lost.

“Let anyone who wants to dig into the ground stay here,” said the captain. “So he doesn’t deserve anything better, nothing else.”

“To the yard,” Juan tried to shout, but everyone shushed him, and he bit his tongue.

“Sailors, I, Ponce de Leon, will make sure that your former masters, everyone with whom you served, will bow to your waist and lie at your feet.” There will be no people in the world richer than you. Let them bring the flask that I have in my cabin...

“Look,” he raised the flask over his head, “this is gold.” I neglected him...

And from his elevated position he began to throw small nuggets at the feet of those standing on the deck.

“I’m abandoning him because the day will come when you will also abandon him as unnecessary.” For every sip of youth-restoring water, you will be paid more gold than your pockets can hold. Sailors...

Crooked Juan made a slight movement to get to the ladder, but several hands were already tenaciously holding him.

- Hurray for the captain! - someone shouted. - Hooray! – the others echoed.

A few minutes later Juan was already in the stocks below, in a deaf and damp hold. The days dragged on, and for him they were indistinguishable from the night. He no longer hoped for anything, expected nothing. He no longer became furious when another sailor, bringing food, tried to place it so that he could not reach it. Or he deliberately tried to splash the half mug of water he was allotted for the day. Sometimes he thought about what the royal alcalde would sentence him to - to the gallows or to the galley. But for some reason this didn’t really bother him, as if what happened had happened not to him, but to someone else, whose fate was actually quite indifferent to him.

Therefore, when one day (or night) the hold hatch rose and they came for him, Juan could not know what it meant. He could not know that long weeks of fruitless searches had passed. That now, driven by impatience, the captain himself went down to the shore and walked around all the sources he could find. Hypnotized by his faith, the crew fervently combed island after island, and each failure only strengthened everyone’s hope: if not today, then tomorrow.

But the captain now knew the price of this devotion and this faith. The safest thing, he believed, was to get rid of the instigators as quickly as possible, without waiting to return to Puerto Rico. He landed several people on the islands along the way. Today it was Juan's turn.

The sailors pulled him out of the boat and threw him onto the pebbles near the surf. Then, when the boat had already sailed, they remembered that they had not left him a box of provisions and a pair of knives, as the captain had ordered. They didn’t want to row back, so they simply threw their cargo into the sea.

But despite all this, Crooked Juan survived. And he not only survived, but also outlived the noble hidalgo, owner of three large ships, Ponce de Leon.

Meanwhile, the ships continued on their way, and one day at dawn they discovered a flowering island, which could not be compared with anything they had seen before. It was Palm Sunday (“Pascua Florida”), and the captain named the land, which he took to be an island, Florida.

But no matter how peaceful and beautiful this land seemed, cut through by hundreds of small streams and rivers, the Indians who lived here turned out to be just as warlike and irreconcilable. They cared little about what motives the aliens were motivated by and what they were looking for. They met white strangers, as they were accustomed to meet enemies who encroached on their hunting grounds and huts. In one of the skirmishes, the captain himself was among the wounded...

Many other adventures and disasters befell the Spaniards while the ships continued their long journey. Eventually, battling hostile trade winds, they returned to the port they had left many months before. Ponce de Leon, not without profit, sold his ships and returned to Spain.

In Madrid they already knew about the hidalgo’s courageous attempt to find the water of eternal life. He had scarcely arrived and settled down at the inn when a messenger appeared demanding him to the king's palace.

The king looked with curiosity at the man who, in fact, might have been lucky. And then, standing here, he would hold the bottle of water of eternal life brought for his king. And he, King Ferdinand of Aragon of Spain, would become the first (and perhaps the only) Christian king to live forever.

In any case, it is not the hidalgo’s fault that this time he was unlucky. The king listened favorably to the story of Ponce de Leon and showed him signs of his favor and attention. Respectfully leaving the audience, Ponce de Leon was no longer the same as he was when he entered the high arches of the hall. With a wave of the royal hand, he became “His Excellency”, the governor of the “Island of Florida” he discovered...

The king of Spain was not alone among other monarchs in his secret hopes for immortality. Could the ruler, being unlike other people in everything, really be equated with them even in the face of death? The Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang was probably the first who tried to rebel against the inexorable law of existence. History also knows other rulers who, each in their own way, tried to proclaim their immortality. The Western Roman emperors-co-rulers Arcadius and Honorius (395-408) promulgated an edict proclaiming that from that moment on, when their subjects addressed them, they should no longer say “your majesty,” but “your eternity.” The main argument was the following: “Those who dare to deny the divine essence of our personalities will be deprived of their positions and their property will be confiscated.”

For his subjects, this argument was, naturally, very convincing. But not for nature.

In the same way, at one time his subjects were sincerely confident in the immortal essence of Emperor Augustus. And even earlier, Alexander the Great was revered as immortal by the peoples of the countries he conquered.

And isn’t it a joke of fate: the natives who lived in the vicinity of that same Puerto Rico, from where the brave hidalgo Ponce de Leon set off in search of immortality, were themselves convinced that the Spaniards who conquered them were immortal! That is why the proud Indians endured all the oppression and arbitrariness that the conquistadors inflicted. And indeed, is it possible to imagine an enterprise more senseless and hopeless than an uprising against immortals?

As often happens, the “discovery” began with doubt. There was a local leader who doubted that the cruel white gods do not know death. In order to test this, it was decided to conduct a rather bold experiment. Having learned that a certain young Spaniard was going to pass through his domain, the leader assigned him an honorary escort, to whom he gave appropriate instructions. Following them, the Indians, when crossing the river, dropped the stretcher and kept the Spaniard under water until he stopped struggling. Then they pulled him ashore and, just in case, apologized long and floridly to the “white god” for daring to accidentally drop him. But he did not move and did not accept their apologies. To make sure that this was not a trick or a pretense, the Indians did not take their eyes off the body for several days, now watching it stealthily from the tall grass, now approaching it again and repeating their apologies for the umpteenth time...

After this, the Indians became convinced that their conquerors were mortals like themselves. And having become convinced, in one day and hour they raised an uprising throughout the entire island, destroying and expelling every last one of the Spaniards. True, not for long.

As for Ponce de Leon, he - a man who sought immortality - ultimately died from a wound he once received in Florida. “In this way,” the author of an ancient Spanish chronicle edifyingly notes, “fate destroys human plans: the discovery with which Ponce hoped to prolong his life served to shorten it.”

A few years later, Crooked Juan was removed from the island by a brig that happened to be passing by. No one believed the story he told. But the name Ponce de Leon was known at the time, and the fact that Juan sailed with him aroused the interest of several very elderly (and equally wealthy) Spaniards. For several years, Crooked Juan served as something of a guide on expeditions organized by them. But Juan's trouble was that he was not endowed with imagination. Therefore, the information that he possessed about where to look for the water of eternal life quickly depleted. And soon after that he himself got lost somewhere in the seaside taverns and taverns of the New World.

The names and fates of many others who, like Juan or his reckless captain, went in search of the water of eternal youth, were also irretrievably lost in the past. But were these searches really so crazy?

2. Elixir of Immortality

The human body is 70 percent water. It is not for nothing that one famous biologist figuratively called living beings “animate water.” Obviously, for a person’s health and longevity, it is not indifferent what kind of water nourishes the tissues of his body. Indeed, in recent years it has become known that water varies significantly not only in chemical impurities, but also in isotopic composition and other features. Many properties of water change, for example, if it is passed between the poles of a magnet. Water can be more biologically active, and this affects the aging process of the body. But we still don’t know much about the properties of water - an important component of our body.

In any case, today it is no longer vague legends or ancient legends, but scientific research that speaks about the influence of water on the health and life expectancy of the inhabitants of different regions of the Earth.

It is known that the inhabitants of some islands Caribbean, for example, the Guadeloupe Islands, look much younger than their European peers. When they are asked how they manage to remain young for a long time, the answer is usually: “On our island, such water flows from the springs that rejuvenates a person...” The inhabitants are also distinguished by excellent health central regions Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Residents of Sri Lanka consider the climate and water of mountain springs to be the reason for their health. Apparently, it was no coincidence that the ancients tried to look for life-giving water on this island.

Some scientists also associate the longevity of the highlanders and a number of peoples of the North with the water they drink. This is the so-called “melt water effect”, which has a beneficial effect on metabolism and thereby, as it were, “rejuvenates” the body.

Today, searches are no longer conducted on distant islands or unknown lands. They are carried out in dozens of laboratories of the largest scientific centers in the world, studying the properties of water and its effect on the human body.

People who were extremely concerned about maximizing their lives were, for the most part, endowed with wealth and power. They were looking for the shortest route. And such a path seemed to exist. The most ancient traditions and legends mentioned it - this is the “elixir of immortality”, which the gods tasted. IN different countries he was called by different names. The gods of the ancient Greeks used ambrosia, which gives eternal life, the Indian gods used amrita, the gods of the Iranians used haoma. And only the gods Ancient Egypt, showing majestic modesty, they preferred water to the other food of the gods. True, the same water of immortality.

No one came as close to the elixir of immortality as the alchemists, who, however, were looking for something completely different - ways to make gold. There was a certain logic in this. Immortality is a state that is not subject to change. Isn’t gold the only substance that is not subject to external influences? It is not afraid of alkalis or acids, it is not afraid of corrosion. It seemed that time itself was powerless before him. Does this metal contain some principle that makes it like this? And is it possible to isolate this substance from it or introduce it into the human body along with gold? “Whoever takes gold inside,” says one ancient Eastern text, “will live as long as gold.” This is the traditional basis of ancient beliefs: eat the eyes of an eagle - you will be like an eagle, eat the heart of a lion - you will be strong like a lion...

Gold was an indispensable component of various versions of the elixir of immortality. A recipe has come down to us, compiled by the personal physician of Pope Boniface VIII: one must mix crushed gold, pearls, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, topazes, white and red corals, ivory, sandalwood, deer heart, aloe root, musk and ambergris. (We hope that prudence will prevent readers from applying the composition given here too hastily.)

Not much simpler was another composition, which can be found in one ancient eastern book: “You need to take a toad that has lived for 10,000 years and a bat that has lived for 1,000 years, dry them in the shade, grind them into powder and take them.”

And here is the recipe from an ancient Persian text: “You need to take a man, red-haired and freckled, and feed him with fruits until he is 30 years old, then lower him into a stone vessel with honey and other ingredients, enclose this vessel in hoops and seal it hermetically. After 120 years, his body will turn into a mummy.” The contents of the vessel, including what became the mummy, could then be taken as a healing and life-prolonging agent.

Misconceptions that sprout in any sphere of human activity have brought a particularly abundant harvest in this area. In this regard, we can mention a French scientist of the 15th century. In search of the elixir of life, he boiled 2000 eggs, separated the whites from the yolks and, mixing them with water, distilled them many times, hoping in this way to extract the sought-after substance of life.

The obvious meaninglessness of such recipes does not yet indicate the meaninglessness of the search itself. Only that which was discarded as unnecessary became known. But if we judge the history of a particular science only by unsuccessful experiments and failed discoveries, the picture will probably be approximately the same.

Experiments in the field of immortality were distinguished by one circumstance - the complete mystery that surrounded the results. If we imagine that some of these attempts were completed successfully, that is, someone managed to somewhat lengthen their life, then, naturally, everything was done to ensure that this recipe did not become anyone’s property. If, after taking the drug, the object of the experiment lost his life, he could no longer tell anyone about his sad fate. Such a fate befell, for example, the Chinese Emperor Xuanzong (713-756). He went to his royal ancestors much earlier than expected only because he had the imprudence to take the elixir of immortality, prepared by his court physician.

Among the few about whom we know that, having taken the elixir, they considered themselves immortal, was one rich gentleman-philanthropist who lived in Moscow in the last century, whom everyone called simply by his first name and patronymic - Andrei Borisovich. In his old age, he began to indulge in various research related to the elixir of eternal life, guided mainly by his own intuition. And since a person is inclined to believe in himself more than in any other authority, it is not surprising that Andrei Borisovich was soon completely confident that he had finally found the composition he was looking for. Like many other seekers of the elixir of immortality, he chose to keep his discovery a secret. He himself believed so much in the effect of the composition that he really felt rejuvenated, he even began going to dances... Until his last minute, he had no doubt at all about his own immortality.

This case is reminiscent of the story of another Russian gentleman who lived around the same time and also believed in his own immortality. Even in his youth, while once in Paris, he visited the famous fortuneteller Lenormand. Having told him everything pleasant and unpleasant that awaited him in the future, Lenormand completed her prediction with a phrase that left an imprint on his entire future life.

“I must warn you,” she said, “that you will die in bed.”

- When? What time? – the young man turned pale.

The soothsayer shrugged.

From that moment on, he made it his goal to avoid what seemed destined for him by fate. Upon returning to Moscow, he ordered all beds, sofas, down jackets, pillows and blankets to be removed from his apartment. During the day, half asleep, he drove around the city in a carriage, accompanied by a Kalmyk housekeeper, two footmen and a fat pug, which he held on his lap. Of all the entertainment available at that time, his favorite was attending a funeral. Therefore, the coachman and postilion traveled around Moscow all day in search of funeral processions, which their master immediately joined. It is unknown what he was thinking about while listening to the funeral service for others - perhaps he was secretly glad that all this had nothing to do with him, since he did not go to bed, and therefore the prediction could not come true, and he would thus escape of death.

For fifty years he waged his duel with fate. But one day, when, as usual, he stood half asleep in the church, believing that he was attending a funeral service, his housekeeper almost married him to some elderly friend of hers. This incident frightened the master so much that he suffered from a nervous shock. Sick, wrapped in shawls, he sat dejectedly in an armchair, flatly refusing to listen to the doctor and go to bed. Only when he was so weak that he could no longer resist did the lackeys forcefully put him down. As soon as he felt himself in bed, he died. How strong was the belief in the prediction?

No matter how great the misconceptions and mistakes were, despite everything, despite failures and disappointments, the search for immortality, the search for ways to prolong life did not stop. Mistakes, ignorance, and failures were immediately ridiculed. But the slightest step towards success was hidden in mystery.

That is why information about the successes that have been achieved along this path is sporadic, scattered and unreliable.

There is, for example, a message about Bishop Allen de Lisle, a person who really existed (he died in 1278) and was engaged in medicine - historical annals call him nothing less than a “universal healer.” He allegedly knew the composition of the elixir of immortality, or at least some method of significantly prolonging life. When he was already many years old and dying of old age, with the help of this elixir he managed to extend his life by another 60 years.

Zhang Daoling (34-156), also a historical figure, the founder of the philosophical system of Tao in China, managed to extend his life for approximately the same period. After many years of persistent experiments, he allegedly succeeded in producing some semblance of the legendary immortality pills. When he was 60 years old, the chronicles report, he regained his youth and lived to be 122 years old.

Along with these are other messages of the ancients. Aristotle and other authors mention Epimenides, a priest and famous poet from the island of Crete. It is known that in 596 BC he was invited to Athens to offer purification sacrifices there. According to legend, Epimenides managed to extend his life to 300 years.

But this age is not the limit. The Portuguese court historian tells in his chronicle about a certain Indian with whom he personally met and talked and who was supposedly 370 years old at that time.

Similar evidence includes a book published in Turin in 1613 and containing the biography of one resident of Goa, who allegedly lived to be almost 400 years old. The years of life of one Muslim saint (1050-1433), who also lived in India, are also close to this figure. In Rajasthan (India), there is still a legend about the hermit Munisadha, who in the 16th century retired to caves near Dholpur and is hiding there... until now.

Roger Bacon, a medieval scientist and philosopher, was also interested in the problem of extending human life. In his essay “De secretis operebus” he talks about a German named Papalius, who, after spending many years in captivity among the Saracens, learned the secret of making some kind of potion and, thanks to it, lived to be 500 years old. Pliny the Elder also names the same number of years - it was to this age, according to his testimony, that a certain Illyrian managed to extend his life.

An example closer to us in time is information about the Chinese Li Canyun. He died in 1936, leaving behind a widow who was recorded as his 24th wife. Li Canyong is said to have been born in 1690, which means he lived to be 246 years old.

But the strangest and most fantastic message from this series is associated with the name of the Indian Tapasviji, who allegedly lived for 186 years (1770-1956). At the age of 50, as the Raja of Patiala, he decided to retire to the Himalayas to become “beyond human sorrows.” After many years of exercise, Tapasviji learned to plunge into the so-called state of “samadhi,” when life completely seemed to leave his body, and could go for a long time without taking either drink or food. Similar practices were reported by the British who served in the colonial administration in India. They talked about yogis who, having thoroughly cleansed their stomachs and intestines, covered their ears and noses with wax and plunged into a state reminiscent of insect hibernation. They remained in this state not for a day or two, but for several weeks, after which they were brought back to life with the help of hot water and massage.

Tapasviji's fate may not come as much of a surprise. Centenarians are known who naturally lived to 140-148 years of age. There is nothing fundamentally impossible that Tapasviji or someone else, using diet and other means, was able to push this limit back by several more decades. We will talk about the amazing testimony of Tapasviji himself.

Once, he said, on the spurs of the Himalayas he met an old hermit. He ate only fruits and milk, and looked unusually energetic and cheerful. But, most surprisingly, the hermit did not speak any of the modern Indian languages, speaking only in Sanskrit, the language of Ancient India. It turned out that 5,000 years had passed since he came here! He managed to extend his life to such limits allegedly thanks to a certain composition, the secret of which he owned. Reaching the age of 5000 years has not yet been “blocked” by any of the “long-livers” - neither in historical chronicles, nor in traditions, nor in legends.

However, no matter how fantastic such a message is, no matter how long the period of fifty centuries is, all this is not immortality itself, but only some approaches to it, distant approaches. That is why scientists and fanatics, philosophers and madmen so persistently continued to search for the elixir of immortality - a means that can grant eternal life. They devoted years, decades to this search. Sometimes a lifetime.

Alexander Cagliostro (1743-1795)

Many contemporaries believed that he possessed the secret of the elixir of immortality.

“The greatest charlatan and deceiver that history has ever known,” some say.

“A man who had unlimited knowledge and power,” others say

...A German provincial town with cobbled streets, traditional red tiled roofs and the inevitable Gothic style. Under one of these roofs, in the attic, in a fantastic environment of flasks, retorts and crucibles, sits a young man. He is busy with something no less fantastic than the situation around him - the search for the elixir of eternal life. However, the most amazing thing is that this man is none other than Goethe, young Goethe, who devoted several years of his life to a persistent search for the elixir of immortality. Not wanting to repeat the same mistakes, fall into the same dead ends and wander in the same labyrinths as his predecessors, he carefully studies the works of alchemists, looking for their most forgotten and hidden works. “I am secretly trying,” he wrote in those years, “to glean at least some information from the great books, before which the learned crowd half bows, half laughs at them, because they do not understand them. Delving into the secrets of these books is the joy of wise people and those marked by subtle taste.”

So the great poet, as an alchemist, a seeker of the elixir of immortality, finds himself on a par with rather strange people. One of them was his contemporary - Alexander Cagliostro. The greatest charlatan and deceiver that history has ever known - that’s what some thought. A man who possessed limitless knowledge and power, so others said.

If we decided to tell about all the adventures and adventures of this man, the pages allocated here would hardly be enough for us. In addition to the mystery of his origin and the unknown source of wealth, Cagliostro had another secret. “They say,” one of the newspapers wrote at that time, “Count Cagliostro possesses all the wonderful secrets of the great adept and has discovered the secret of preparing the elixir of life.” Was it not this rumor that made Cagliostro such a significant figure in the royal courts? So significant that the French king Louis XVI declared that any disrespect or insult towards this man would be punished on a par with lese majeste.

During Cagliostro's stay in St. Petersburg, society ladies, struck by the young beauty of his wife Lorenza, were even more amazed when they learned from her that she was over forty and that her eldest son had long been serving as a captain in the Dutch army. In response to natural questions, Lorenza once “let slip” that her husband had the secret of returning youth.

The strange charm inherent in Cagliostro, the mystery that surrounded him, attracted the attention of the Russian court to him. The Empress’s personal physician, the Englishman Robertson, not without reason, sensed a potential rival in the visiting celebrity. Using methods accepted at court, he tried to denigrate the count in the eyes of those who were close to the throne. The naive court physician hoped to fight Cagliostro with the weapon that he himself wielded best - the weapon of intrigue. However, the count preferred to “cross swords” on his own terms. He challenged Robertson to a duel, but an unusual duel - with poisons. Everyone had to drink the poison prepared by the enemy, after which he was free to take any antidote. With the firmness of a man who has no doubt of success, Cagliostro insisted on precisely these conditions for the fight. Intimidated by his strange confidence, Robertson refused to accept the challenge. The duel did not take place. Robertson may have heard rumors about an elixir of immortality that his enemy allegedly possessed - it is possible that he, like many of his contemporaries, believed in it.

But the favorite of fate, Count Cagliostro, too often challenged her, too often made risky bets. In the end, he got "odd", and this card turned out to be the last one in his life. Cagliostro was captured by the Inquisition, imprisoned, where he is reported to have died in 1795, chained to the wall of a deep stone well.

Cagliostro's personal papers, as usually happened in such cases, were burned. Only a copy of one of his notes, previously taken in the Vatican, has survived. It describes the process of “regeneration”, or the return of youth: “... having taken this (two grains of the drug. - Auth.), a person loses consciousness and the power of speech for three whole days, during which he often experiences cramps, convulsions and perspiration appears on his body. Awakening from this state, in which he, however, does not experience the slightest pain, on the thirty-sixth day he takes the third and last grain, after which he falls into a deep and peaceful sleep. During sleep, his skin peels off, his teeth and hair fall out. They all grow back within a few hours. On the morning of the fortieth day, the patient leaves the room, having become a new person, having experienced complete rejuvenation.”

No matter how fantastic the above description may seem, it is strangely reminiscent of the Indian method of returning youth, “kayakalpa”. This course, according to his own stories, was taken by Tapasviji twice in his life. He first did this when he was 90 years old. Interestingly, his treatment also lasted forty days, most of which he also spent in a state of sleep and meditation. After forty days, he allegedly also grew new teeth, his graying hair regained its former black color, and his body returned to its former vigor and strength.

However, although we find references to such “regenerations” in ancient texts, medieval and later records, none of them mention the composition of the drug used.

Should this be surprising?

3. Living forever?

Have you heard of the Count of Saint Germain,

about which they tell so many wonderful things.

(A.S. Pushkin. Queen of Spades)

So many people tried to find the path to immortality that their efforts could not help but give rise to their own mythology. According to legends, some managed to find the door leading to immortality. Does this mean that they still live among people, carefully guarding their secret?

These legends, where truth is intertwined with fiction, were bound to appear. They are as inevitable in the history of human thought as the legend of Daedalus and Icarus - people who managed to fly into the sky on wings. The search for immortality could not have happened if there had not been mysterious rumors that someone had managed to achieve what he was looking for and cross the line that separated him from other mortals - so stories about El Dorado, the legendary land of gold, encouraged more and more daredevils to go to its search. People believed and were ready to believe that someone managed to achieve immortality, because this faith left hope and gave a chance for luck.

The famous Arab scientist Biruni wrote in 1000 about a certain Elias, who found the path to immortality in ancient times and allegedly continued to live in his time. Biruni called Elias "the ever-living one."

Among others who might be remembered in this regard, one of the first to come to mind is the philosopher of the Pythagorean school, Apollonius of Tyana (1st century AD).

In his earliest youth, he refused meat food, considering it “unclean and darkening the mind,” began to walk barefoot, did without a woolen dress, etc. Taking a vow of silence on himself, he kept it for five years.

In search of higher knowledge, Apollonius of Tyana went to India, famous for its hermits, scientists and secret sciences. On the way, a certain Damid joined him.

“Let’s go together, Apollonius,” he said. “You will see that I can be useful.” Although I know little, I know the road to Babylon and the cities along this road. I finally know the languages ​​of the barbarians, how many there are. The Armenians speak one language, the Medes and Persians speak another, and the Caduians speak a third. I know all these languages.

“And I, my dear,” objected Apollonius, “I know all languages, although I have not studied any of them.”

Damid expressed his surprise.

“Don’t be surprised that I know all human dialects,” the philosopher noted, “for I also understand human silence.”

Returning from India, Apollonius accomplished many amazing things that remained in the memory of his contemporaries. During the time of Nero, he visited Rome, visited Egypt, Sicily, Gibraltar.

He survived ten emperors, and when the eleventh reigned, Apollonius of Tyana returned to Rome as an old man of seventy. Here, by order of Emperor Domitian, he was captured and imprisoned. Wanting to show everyone the limitlessness of his power, the emperor ordered a trial of the philosopher to be organized in order to punish dissent itself in his person. On the appointed day and hour, the most distinguished citizens of the city gathered in a magnificently decorated hall. Apollonius was brought in under heavy guard. But in the midst of the trial, when false witnesses branded him, accusing him of being a black man and disrespecting the emperor, in front of everyone, Apollonius disappeared from the crowded hall.

On the same day, a few hours later, people who knew Apollonius personally saw him allegedly at a distance of three days' journey from Rome.

Soon after his strange disappearance from the Roman courtroom, Apollonius of Tyana showed up in Greece, where he lived at the temples. We do not know, however, either the time or place of death of this philosopher. This was not known to his contemporaries either. In the annals of history he is listed as “missing in action.” That is why, remembering the many other amazing things that this man did, rumor ascribed to him another quality - immortality.

For a number of centuries it was believed that Apollonius, having escaped death, continued to hide somewhere among people. A thousand years passed, and this rumor seemed to be confirmed. In the 12th century there lived a philosopher and alchemist who called himself Artephius. Many contemporaries believed, however, that Apollonius of Tyana was hiding under this guise. Two works signed by Artephius have reached us - a treatise on the philosopher's stone and an essay on ways to prolong life. It would seem, who, if not the great Apollonius, should write about these subjects? Not only contemporaries thought so. Three centuries later, when printing appeared and Artephius's treatise on immortality was published, the preface to it said that the author had special reasons for writing this book, since by that time he himself had already lived 1025 years. This work is replete with dark hints and omissions, as if the writer was trying to speak above the crowd to those few who could understand him. “You pathetic fool,” he writes in his address to the reader, “are you really so naive that you think that every word we say should be taken literally and that we will reveal to you the most amazing of secrets?”

Apollonius of Tyana (3 BC - 97 (?) AD), philosopher of the Pythagorean school

For a number of centuries, it was believed that Apollonius, having escaped death, continued to hide somewhere among people under a different name. “They tell all sorts of things about how Apollonius died - if he died...” – wrote Flavius ​​Philostratus

Of course, today it would not be difficult to reproach people who once lived with both gullibility and naivety. But let's not rush to do this. Who knows what those who will live as many centuries after us will be able to reproach us with? What seems incredible to us today did not seem so to the people who lived at that time. Apollonius of Tyana is not the only example of this. Stories also know other personalities who at one time aroused no less interest and no less willingness of others to believe everything incredible that was associated with them.

...In 1750 in Paris there was only talk about the Count of Saint-Germain. This was a strange person. There were rumors that the count knew the path leading to immortality.

Saint-Germain appeared suddenly, having neither a past nor even any more or less plausible story that could pass for the past. It was as if a door somewhere in the wall suddenly opened and this man came out. He came out only to disappear behind the same door again when the time came. Just as it was with Cagliostro, we know as little about himself and about the origin of his fantastic wealth as his contemporaries.

The count preferred not to talk about himself, but sometimes, as if by accident, he “let it slip.” And then it was clear from his words that he had to personally talk with Plato, with Seneca, know the apostles, attend the feast of Ashurbanipal, etc. Each time, however, he caught himself, like a person who had said too much. Once, when the count was in Dresden, someone asked his coachman if it was true that his master was 400 years old. He answered very innocently that he didn’t know for sure.

“...But in the one hundred and thirty years that I have served my master, His Grace has not changed at all.”

This strange confession found, however, no less strange confirmation.

Received in the best houses, the count charmed everyone with his manners, amazing erudition and extraordinary knowledge of the past. His appearance led to amazement and confusion among the elderly aristocrats, who suddenly remembered that they had already seen this man, had seen him a long time ago, in childhood, in the salons of their grandmothers. And since then, they were amazed, he had not changed at all in appearance.

It turned out that long before this man suddenly appeared in Paris under the name of Count Saint-Germain, he had been seen in England, known in Holland, and remembered in Italy. He lived there under different names and titles. And if it weren’t for the testimony of those who knew him well, one would really think that the Marquis of Montferat, the Count de Bellamy and the same Count Saint-Germain were different people. About a dozen pseudonyms are known under which this man appeared in different places and at different times. In Genoa and Livorno, he even pretended to be a Russian general with an almost Russian surname - Soltykov.

Some considered the count a Spaniard, others a French or Portuguese, and still others a Russian. But everyone agreed that the count’s age could not be determined. This was a time when stories related to the search for the elixir of immortality and the “water of eternal life” were still fresh in the memory of many. It is not surprising that there was a rumor that the count knew the secret of the elixir of immortality.

This secret of his was respectfully mentioned by the very respectable newspaper The London Chronicle in its issue of June 3, 1760, in connection with the Count of St. Germain's visit to London. The article, written in almost reverent tones, listed the count's high virtues and spoke of his wisdom, which revealed to him the secret of the elixir of eternal life. The “first lady of France”, the Marquise de Pompadour, begged him in vain for this elixir for her king and lover.

Count Saint-Germain (1710(?) – 1784(?))

He was a strange person. There were rumors that the count knew the path leading to immortality. This was a time when stories related to the search for the elixir of immortality and the “water of eternal life” were still fresh in the memory of many.

Saint-Germain showed up suddenly, having neither a past nor even any more or less plausible story that could pass for the past. Some considered the count a Spaniard, others - a Frenchman, others - a Russian

Cagliostro was a contemporary of Saint Germain. The records of the Inquisition court preserve a story recorded from Cagliostro's words about his visit to Saint-Germain. Cagliostro claimed to have seen a vessel in which the Count kept the elixir of immortality.

Saint Germain's departure from France was sudden and inexplicable. Despite the patronage of the Marquise de Pompadour and the greatest attention with which the king surrounded him, this strange man unexpectedly leaves Paris, so that some time later he suddenly appears in Holstein, where, completely alone in his castle, he spends several days. He allegedly died there in 1784.

But it was a most strange death. One of his contemporaries, who knew the count, called it “imaginary death”; he wrote that none of the gravestones in the area bear the name of Saint-Germain.

A year later, a meeting of Freemasons took place in Paris. A list of those who attended it has been preserved - there, next to the names of Mesmer, Lavater and others, there is the name of Saint-Germain.

Three years later, in 1788, the French envoy to Venice, Count Chalone, meets Saint-Germain in St. Mark's Square and talks with him.

During the years of the French Revolution, the count was allegedly identified in one of the prisons where aristocrats were kept. “The Count of Saint-Germain,” wrote one of them in 1790, “is still in this world and doing well.”

Autograph letter from Saint Germain

30 years after his “imaginary death,” the elderly aristocrat Madame Genlis, who knew the count well in her youth, meets this man on the sidelines of the Congress of Vienna. He had not changed at all, but when the elderly lady rushed towards him with joyful exclamations, he, maintaining courtesy, tried not to prolong the unexpected meeting, and was never seen again in Vienna.

One retired dignitary turned out to be much more cautious. In the last years of Louis-Philippe's reign, that is, when almost none of the people who knew Saint-Germain personally were alive, on one of the Parisian boulevards he noticed a man who painfully reminded him of his youth. It was Saint Germain, still the same as the dignitary knew him many decades ago. But the old man did not rush to the count with exclamations and hugs. He called his valet, who was waiting in the carriage, and ordered him to follow the man everywhere and find out who he was. A few days later the old man knew that this man was known in his circle under the name of Major Fraser, but, despite his English name, he was not an Englishman, that he lived alone and, except for two footmen and a coachman, did not keep any servants in the house.

Taking the greatest precautions, the old man turned to a private detective through a figurehead. But he could only add that the “major” has unlimited funds, the source of which, as well as about himself, is unknown.

Taking advantage of the fact that he now knew when this man went out on the boulevards in the evenings, the old man found a reason to supposedly meet him by chance. They even had dinner together a couple of times. As often happens with older people, no matter what the old dignitary talked about, his thoughts always involuntarily returned to the past.

- Yes, my young friend, the cafe once knew this better times. I don’t mean the cuisine or even the number of visitors, but those who have been here.

– Everything changed after the Convention.

– Yes, after the Convention everything changed. It seems that the Jacobins decided to set up their club here, and since then the walls themselves seem to have become different. But I once met the Marquis de Boify himself here. He came here with his cousin.

“The Marquis had two cousins, you mean Henri?”

- No, the eldest. His father or grandfather appears to have served in the War of the Spanish Succession.

- It was his grandfather. Viscount de Poitiers. He was a wonderful rider. It couldn't have been better in his time. But it’s a pity he ended badly...

The dignitary slightly raised his eyebrow, which in his time and among the people of his circle was understood as an unpersistent question, which could either be answered or not noticed. His interlocutor chose to answer:

“The fact is that the Viscount’s father - he also served His Majesty Louis XIV - was not exactly dissolute in character, but one could never say what could be expected from him. He could, for example, invite you to hunt on his estate, and then, when you suffer for two days in a carriage on the way from Paris to his castle, it turns out that he himself went to Nantes or somewhere else...

“...But this is not the most important thing,” continued the one who introduced himself to the old man as “Major Fraser,” “someone at court advised the Viscount to write a valet from Saxony.” I won’t say what kind of valet he was, but there was probably no red-haired man at that time in the entire French kingdom. For some reason the Viscount was very proud of this, and one day at a dinner with the Dutch envoy he...

It was difficult to imagine that a person who was not an eyewitness to what he was talking about could speak like that. These were strange meetings, where it seemed that it was not the old man, but the younger interlocutor, who was reminiscing about the past. Even when it came to the most distant times and distant countries, it was impossible to escape the feeling that he was talking about what he had seen and heard himself. At one time, many who talked with Saint-Germain noted this same feature of his stories. The old man listened to the voice of this strange man, peered into his face and seemed to be transported half a century ago. Time had not been kind to him himself, and this gave him the bitter privilege of being unrecognized by those who might once have known him.

But in every slip, in every walk on the edge there is a great temptation. And one day, it was their second or third meeting, the old man could not stand it. He said that among the great men of his time he had the opportunity to meet and know Saint Germain himself.

His interlocutor shrugged his shoulders and started talking about something else.

That evening they parted earlier than usual, and the “major” did not come to the next meeting. When the dignitary began to make inquiries, it turned out that he and his servants had gone to an unknown location.

During the years that he had left to live, the retired dignitary constantly wondered whether his strange interlocutor had returned. But he never came to Paris again.

There are two more later reports associated with the name of Saint Germain. He allegedly appeared again in Paris, already in 1934. And the last time - in December 1939. Since, however, by that time there were no people left who were personally acquainted with the count, it is difficult to consider these messages sufficiently reliable. However, this reservation can be made in relation to everything connected with the name of Saint Germain. And not only him.

Let us, however, try to imagine the impossible. Let's say that out of tens, hundreds and thousands of people who were looking for the elixir of immortality, one of them managed to find some means of prolonging life. (The fact that an increase in life expectancy is, in principle, possible is not denied by modern science.) Having made this assumption, let us ask ourselves the question: how would a person behave if he was convinced that such a remedy was really in his hands? Obviously, he would have to make a difficult choice: either hide from people what he knew, or make it public. As we know, the latter did not happen.

True, we forgot about one more possibility - about renouncing immortality. No matter how strange this thought may seem at first glance, this is exactly what King Solomon did, as legends say. When he was offered the elixir of immortality, he refused to accept it because he did not want to outlive those who were close to him and whom he loved. This legend, which is based on the sad idea that immortality can turn out to be a cruel burden, even a curse, in some ways anticipates the parable of Agasphere.

Tradition says that when Christ was led to be put to painful execution, he carried the instrument of execution, a heavy wooden cross. His path to the place of crucifixion was difficult and long. Exhausted, Christ wanted to lean against the wall of one of the houses to rest, but the owner of this house, named Agasfer, did not allow him.

- Go! Go! - he shouted to the approving exclamations of the Pharisees. - There is no need to rest!

“Okay,” Christ unclenched his parched lips. - But you, too, will walk all your life. You will wander in the world forever, and you will never have peace or death...

Perhaps this legend would have been forgotten in the end, like many others, if after this, from century to century, a man had not appeared here and there, whom many identified with the personality of the immortal Agasfer.

The Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti wrote about him, the same one whom Dante wanted to place in hell in his “Divine Comedy”. In 1223 Bonatti met him at the Spanish court. According to him, this man was once cursed by Christ and therefore could not die.

Five years later, he is mentioned in an entry made in the chronicle of the Abbey of St. Albana (England). It talks about a visit to the abbey by the Archbishop of Armenia. When asked if he had heard anything about the immortal wanderer Ahasfer, the archbishop replied that he not only heard, but also personally spoke with him several times. This man, according to him, was in Armenia at that time, he was wise, he had seen a lot and knew a lot, in conversation, however, he was restrained and talked about something only if he was asked about it. He remembers well the events of more than a thousand years ago, remembers the appearance of the apostles and many details of the life of those years that no one living today knows about.

The next message dates back to 1242, when this man appears in France. Then silence reigns for a long time, which is broken only after two and a half centuries.

In 1505, Agasfer appears in Bohemia, a few years later he is seen in the Arab East, and in 1547 he is again in Europe, in Hamburg.

Bishop of Schleswig Paul von Eitzen (1522-1598) talks about the meeting and conversation with him in his notes. According to his testimony, this man spoke all languages ​​without the slightest accent. He led a secluded and ascetic life, had no property except the dress he was wearing. If anyone gave him money, he would give every last coin to the poor. In 1575 he was seen in Spain; here the papal legates at the Spanish court, Christopher Krause and Jacob Holstein, talked with him. In 1599 he was seen in Vienna, from where he was heading to Poland, intending to reach Moscow. Soon he actually appears in Moscow, where many allegedly also saw him and talked with him.

In 1603 he appears in Lübeck, which was attested by the burgomaster Kolerus, the historian and theologian Kmover and other officials. “Die 14 Januarii Anno MDCIII,” says the city chronicle, “adnotatum reliquit Lubekae Suisse Judacum ilium immortalem, que se Christi crucifixioni interfuisse affirmavit” (“Last 1603, on January 14, a famous immortal Jew appeared in Lubeck, whom Christ, going to the crucifixion, doomed for redemption").

In 1604 we find this strange person in Paris, in 1633 in Hamburg, in 1640 in Brussels. In 1642 he appears on the streets of Leipzig, in 1658 - in Stamford (Great Britain).

When the eternal wanderer reappeared in England at the end of the 17th century, skeptical Englishmen decided to check whether he really was who they thought he was. Oxford and Cambridge sent their professors, who gave him a biased examination. However, his knowledge of ancient history, in the geography of the most remote corners of the Earth, which he visited or allegedly visited, were astounding. When he was suddenly asked a question in Arabic, he answered in that language without the slightest accent. He spoke almost all languages, both European and Eastern.

Soon this man appears in Denmark, and then in Sweden, where traces of him are lost again.

However, we find mention of this mysterious person later. In 1818, 1824 and 1830, he or someone posing as him appeared in England.

We cannot know, we cannot say today what the initial fact is behind the legend of Agasphere. The famous physician and scientist of the Middle Ages, Paracelsus, wrote in one of his treatises: “There is nothing that could save the mortal body from death, but there is something that can postpone death, restore youth and prolong the short human life.”

4. Through the barriers of time

The idea of ​​maximizing human life extension today is increasingly associated with science. One of the first to come to this conclusion was Roger Bacon. “The human body,” he wrote, “can be freed from all irregularities and continue to live for many centuries.” R. Bacon had in mind a meaningful, targeted effect on the human body.

Another famous scientist of the past, Benjamin Franklin, also believed that over time such an impact would be possible. He stated that in the future people will be able to live more than a thousand years. This was said in the years when people lived by candlelight and rode in carriages, when the best minds did not have the slightest idea about the things now known to any schoolchild.

An even greater optimist about the possibilities of science was the 18th century French humanist philosopher Condorcet. He believed that the life expectancy of a person, increasing from century to century, could eventually approach infinity, that is, immortality.

K. E. Tsiolkovsky thought about the problem of human immortality. “Life has no fixed length and can be extended to a thousand years,” he wrote. “Science will sooner or later achieve an indefinite extension of life.” The famous English scientist J. Bernal also believed that over time people will comprehend the secret of endlessly extending their lives.

The basis of this hope is not simply the deification of science, which, they say, can do everything, and if it cannot today, then it can tomorrow, and not the blind desire of a person to live as long as possible, but the idea of ​​​​the fundamental possibility of unlimited extension of the life of an individual.

At the end of the last century, the German zoologist August Weismann came to the conclusion that the death of an individual is not at all an inevitable ending determined by his very biological nature. According to him, if immortality is practically possible for single-celled organisms, then in principle it is achievable for humans.

According to the American physicist, Nobel Prize winner R. Feynman, if a person decided to build a perpetual motion machine, he would be faced with a ban in the form of a physical law. In contrast to this situation, in biology there is no law that would assert the obligatory finitude of the life of each individual. That is why, he believes, the only question is the time when the human body can get rid of doom.

The famous Soviet scientist, president of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR V.F. Kuprevich also believed that human immortality is fundamentally achievable.

Some are even trying to name the time when this will become possible. Thus, the English scientist and writer A. Clark believes that immortality will be achieved by 2090. Of course, this is a bold forecast. Because it is one thing to claim that a problem is solvable in principle, and another to name specific deadlines for its solution. True, courage is needed nowhere more than in science. And the problem of immortality, having ceased to be an object of individual searches, is increasingly becoming a problem of science. That is why today we can name the main directions of this search.

External factors. A number of researchers consider the main factors determining a person’s life expectancy to be his immediate environment, occupation and lifestyle.

Some of these researchers are trying to find a certain pattern by studying the lifestyle of centenarians, their inclinations, etc. And indeed, interesting facts come to light. Thus, of those who lived over a hundred years, 98 percent of men and 99 percent of women were married; 61 percent of them worked in agriculture, 16 percent in industry. And only 4 percent of the long-livers were mental workers. It would seem that this comparison convincingly suggests that plowing the soil is much more beneficial for the body than writing poetry or doing higher mathematics.

But is it? The numbers do reflect certain patterns, but don’t they just reflect the picture of professional employment as it was a hundred years ago, when today’s long-livers chose their occupation. In other words, if out of 100 people approximately 61 were engaged then agriculture, 4 – mental activity, then this ratio was generally preserved among centenarians. Thus, these figures do not answer the main question: what is the reason for the long life of people?

When Democritus, who also lived over a hundred years, was asked by his contemporaries how he managed to lengthen his life so much and maintain his health, he answered that he achieved this thanks to the fact that he always ate honey and rubbed his body with oil.

Of course, Democritus could argue that many did this in his time, but it did not bring such brilliant results to any of them. Consequently, as in the previous example, it turns out to be difficult to establish a direct connection between lifestyle and its duration.

There are also attempts to trace the relationship between diet and longevity. At one time, I. I. Mechnikov believed that the cause of aging was self-poisoning of the body by microorganisms living in the human intestine. To suppress their destructive effect, he suggested eating a glass of yogurt every day at night.

Obviously, there is a certain connection between nutrition and aging of the body. This is confirmed by experiments by employees of the Institute of Physiology of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences. Having introduced a special diet for experimental rats, they achieved amazing results: two-year-old rats, which were considered to be in “senile” age, began to behave like young three-month-olds. But most importantly, their bodies were reported to show no changes associated with old age.

Nobel laureate Linus Pauling claims that “with proper nutrition and a few vitamins, you can slow down the aging process and extend your life by an average of twenty years.” The results obtained on experimental animals give rise to even bolder predictions.

Dr. Cleve McKay from Cornell University has been conducting similar experiments for more than a quarter of a century. By forcing mice to fast two days a week, he ensured that their life expectancy increased by one and a half times. When he reduced their diet by a third, their life lengthened by almost half.

These laboratory results correlate very clearly with what is known about the lifestyle of centenarians. Soviet gerontologists conducted a survey of 40,000 people who lived to a ripe old age and maintained good health. It turned out that they all showed moderation at the table. American gerontologists identified the same trait in South American centenarians living in the Andes region.

And researchers highlight another feature of centenarians – the predominance of good feelings and positive emotions. They do not come from anger, frustration or hatred. They are not jealous. The heart of each of them is always filled with the joy of life, gratitude for every new day of life. They rejoice at the happiness, luck, and success of others just as if it were their own happiness, luck, and success.

However, some object, perhaps life expectancy does not depend on nutrition, emotions, or occupation. Everyone’s body has a certain biological clock, and no matter what we do, we can neither slow down nor speed up its pace. And everyone’s bell arrow stands at its own mark: for some it’s earlier, for others it’s later. And this “sooner” or “later” is supposedly laid down from birth.

The idea that lifespan is programmed to some extent, perhaps genetically, is supported by some observations. The fact that there are families in which from generation to generation live to an old age has been noticed for a long time. Gerontologists sometimes recall such a legend in this regard. In 1654, Cardinal d'Armagnac, walking down the street, noticed an 80-year-old man crying. To the cardinal's question, the old man replied that he was crying because his father had beaten him. The surprised cardinal said that he wanted to see his father. They presented him with an old man of 113 years old, very vigorous for his age. “I beat my son,” said the old man, “for disrespecting his grandfather. He passed by him without bowing.” In the house the cardinal saw another old man, who was 143 years old.

The idea of ​​genetic programming has also received experimental confirmation. When they began to select long-lived rats, they managed to obtain a certain breed with a maximum life expectancy. Moreover, this quality turned out to be hereditary.

But if the biological clock is really embedded in our body and counts down the destined days, months and years of our existence, the temptation to get to it is great. And when you get there, stop or at least slow down their progress. A similar attempt was made. True, not in relation to a person.

Once a female octopus lays her eggs, her days are numbered. Gradually she begins to lose her appetite, becomes increasingly lethargic and dies after 42 days. Everything happens with such an inevitable sequence, as if some kind of clockwork mechanism was actually operating. And this mechanism was discovered. Behind the eye sockets of the octopus there are glands, the functions of which until recently remained unclear. It turned out that these were “glands of death.” When one of them was removed, the lifespan of the female octopus was extended by two months. When both were removed, her life was extended by another eleven months.

But although scientists believe that this discovery may indicate ways to extend human life, nature, one must think, is not so simple that it can be so easily bypassed. Indeed, a human cell, both in the body and outside it - grown in a test tube - has a certain, strictly measured lifespan - 50 divisions. After which she dies. All efforts, all attempts to increase the number of divisions were unsuccessful. These experiments convinced gerontologists: the clock of life, inexorably keeping track of time, is located in the chromosomes, in the nucleus of every cell.

New elixir of immortality? The famous Russian scientist V. M. Bekhterev studied the problem of immortality. I. I. Mechnikov worked hard on this problem, trying to obtain a certain serum that would stimulate the activity of cells and thereby rejuvenate the entire body. In fact, it was one of the variants of the same elusive “elixir of immortality,” only at the level of science. Some semblance of such a serum was produced by the Soviet academician A. A. Bogomolets. This composition increased the stability of the aging body and actually produced a certain rejuvenating effect.

The Swiss doctor P. Nigans strove for the same goal, but in different ways. He tried to rejuvenate the body by injecting it with serum from the tissues of newborn deer.

It turns out that various compositions have some rejuvenating properties. Thus, in experiments conducted at the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute, mice were injected with royal jelly from bees. As a result, the life expectancy of the test subjects doubled!

Soviet scientists developed the drug NRV - petroleum growth substance. After taking NRV, performance increased, gray people's hair darkened, tissue metabolism improved, etc. However, during long-term testing, this version of the “elixir of youth” did not justify itself. (Currently, NPV as a stimulant is approved only for external use.)

But most of all hopes and expectations for returning youth and prolonging life are associated with hormones. When thyroid hormone was administered to older people, the results were amazing: literally rejuvenation of the entire body began. However, the beneficial effect was short-lived.

One of the researchers working in this area, the American physician Robert A. Wilson, has set himself the noble but difficult task of restoring youth to women. He developed a complex course of treatment, including a certain diet, taking vitamins and salts in combination with an injection of the female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone. Allegedly, he managed not only to stop the age-related changes occurring in the body, but also to cause something like a reverse process. And what is especially important is that these changes affected not only the general condition, but also appearance, to which women, not without reason, attach so much importance.

For several years now, one of the Swedish clinics has been successfully working with the hormone thymosin. Experiments on mice exceeded all expectations and hopes. The hormone slowed down their aging process so much that time seemed to stand still for them. Hormone injections were also given to patients. A correspondent who visited the clinic met a woman there who looked to be about 60 years old. It turned out that she was actually 89 years old. The doctor himself involved in these experiments believes that systematic administration of the hormone could increase life expectancy to 130 years.

In light of these facts, it does not seem an exaggeration to report a “rejuvenating hormone” for some insects, which was isolated in one of the laboratories. The introduction of this hormone can ensure that the insect remains at a “young age” for an unlimited time. This discovery, like others discussed, gives hope that sooner or later a similar hormonal composition can be found for humans.

But perhaps, others say, it’s not hormones at all. We cut branches, they say, without touching the roots. The roots of aging lie elsewhere - in the fact that over the years, a large number of fragments of molecules with a high electrical potential, the so-called “free radicals,” accumulate in the body. They cause unwanted and irreversible changes in the body. If only we could find a way to neutralize them...

And now messages have been received about the first steps. The simplest remedy was used - preservatives used in industry to prevent oil spoilage. Experiments on mice showed that individuals from the experimental group lived almost one and a half times longer than those from the control group. In relation to humans, this means that life could be extended to an average of 105 years. Modest result? Maybe. But this is just the beginning. If we learn to neutralize “free radicals,” some scientists believe, human life can be extended to several centuries.

There are other directions too. And they promise even more.

Here is a man who is not much different from others. It's probably no different at all. And only by accidentally touching his hand, you can feel that it is unusually cold. Feel it - and not attach any importance to it. Or - to give, if we know what this could mean. If we know about the experiments that are currently being conducted to artificially lower body temperature.

If you introduce a solution of sodium and calcium into the thermostat of our body - the hypothalamus - you can regulate the temperature of the entire body in a certain way. By performing this manipulation on monkeys, it was possible to reduce their body temperature by as much as 6°C. At the same time, the monkeys themselves did not freeze, were neither sleepy nor lethargic - no side effects were noticed.

Now it’s time for humans and experiments on humans.

But why, what is the point of this?

The meaning is still the same - prolongation of life. If you lower a person’s body temperature by just 2°, their life expectancy will increase to an average of 200 years. At a body temperature of 33°, a person is expected to live about 700 years! According to the researcher, “If the thermostat is adjusted to a lower temperature, there is no reason to assume that we will feel differently than at 37°, we will react to changes in external temperature in exactly the same way as we do now.”

It is assumed that the remedy for such a reduction in temperature will be produced in the form of pills that everyone can buy. When? Typically, the period from the discovery of a drug to its mass production and sale is 5-6 years. If this discovery is tested on volunteers and proves itself, perhaps such a drug will begin to be produced in the coming years.

There is no contradiction in the very many paths along which the search for a new “elixir of immortality” is taking place. One path illuminates the search on another path, in another direction. By the year 2000, some futurologists believe, about 40 different methods of life extension will be put into practice.

Experimental results recent years and decades - don’t they say that the messages of the ancients about the “elixirs of youth” and eternal life are not such fairy tales? Perhaps some memory was reflected in the evidence that has reached us, some echo of reality was preserved?

With someone else's body. At one of the foreign research institutes, a scientist demonstrated a strange frog. It wasn't her appearance that was strange, it was her behavior that was strange. Instead of jumping into the water, as anyone else would have done in her place, she began to look for a hole in the ground to burrow into. And her other habits were unusual for the frog tribe. This strange behavior was explained in a rather unexpected way.

“We transplanted the brain of a toad into the head of a frog,” said the scientist. - And here is the result: the frog moves like a toad...

This experiment was carried out in 1963. At that time, many believed that although such experiments could be successful in lower animals, they were doomed to failure in higher ones. But this misconception was refuted when the Soviet experimental doctor Professor V.N. Demikhov managed to transplant the head of one dog onto the body of another. The creature created in this way from two individuals did not have impaired normal reflexes. It lived, however, not for long - two or three days.

The experiments of Professor Demikhov caused a great resonance in the scientific world. Commenting on his achievement, the famous American neurosurgeon R. White wrote that “for now, these works appear to be almost impossible to duplicate in humans, although in principle such a possibility should be recognized.”

This possibility largely depends on how successful the transplantation of other human organs - kidneys, liver, heart - will ultimately be. If the problem of tissue incompatibility can be finally resolved, the way to experimentation in this area will be open. In any case, today the question of what would be more expedient is being discussed in research circles - whether to transplant the entire head or just the human brain. According to R. White, a brain transplant may be preferable. “The assumption arises,” he said in an interview with Literaturnaya Gazeta, “that the brain, the most noble organ of the human body, may not be subject to the process of rejection to which less important, less “noble” organs are subject.” Theoretically, it is already possible to imagine in the future people whose brain, the bearer of their individuality, will pass from one body to another many times.

A space rocket separates and discards its stages one after another in flight in order to throw a small capsule into space as far as possible. So is man. One by one, he will discard the bodies that have grown old and become unnecessary to him. But each such action will take him further and further along the straight line of time - from century to century and from millennium to millennium.

The life of one person and her memory will encompass entire eras of human history. It is quite clear that the thinking and perception of the world of such a person will be very different from the thinking and perception of a modern person with his life limited to several decades.

Everything that happened before - collisions of political struggle, wars, diplomatic intrigues, etc. - all this will be in his eyes, in the words of K. Marx, just “the prehistory of humanity.” And somewhere out there, in this “prehistory”, generations will remain irrevocably on whose labor and blood the foundation of the society of the future was laid. That future, which we are powerless to predict in its entirety, but with a vague premonition of which the prophecies of even the distant past were filled. Isn’t that the future the author of “Apocalypse” wrote about almost two thousand years ago – about the days when “there will be no more death; there will be no more crying, no crying, no sickness”?

We talked about the possibility of unlimitedly prolonging the life of an individual by transferring his brain, that is, his consciousness, from one body to another. It is possible, however, that at some stage a person will be able to completely abandon the body given to him by nature. It is suggested that in the near future an almost complete set of artificial organs of the human body will be created: artificial lungs, artificial hearts that will work more reliably than real ones, artificial arms and legs controlled by human biocurrents, etc. In Moscow, one research institute has already a model of a human hand has been created that can be controlled and manipulated using biocurrents. If you clench and unclench your hand, the impulses that are removed from your hand and sent to its artificial copy force it to repeat your every gesture, every movement. What if, having gained the opportunity to replace fragile and short-lived parts of his body with similar devices, a person someday learns to look at the body he inherited from birth as some kind of barbaric atavism, as a painful reminder of his animal origins? Perhaps, some believe, in the future a person will be as easy to part with this superfluous appendage of his “I” as today he parts with his appendix. The container of his individuality, his consciousness - the brain - will acquire a stronger and more reliable shell. It will be a body constructed from synthetic materials, obeying orders emanating from the human brain placed within it. Individual components and parts of this “body,” like the rest of it, will be replaceable and therefore practically eternal.

To denote this form of symbiosis between man and machine, American scientists M. Klypes and N. Klinei even created a special term - “cyborg”. Some believe that it is in this form that intelligent life from Earth will spread throughout the most remote spaces of space.

Indeed, the advantages of cyborgs compared to people burdened with a body are obvious. First, and most importantly, it has an almost unlimited lifespan. Secondly, cyborgs will not need an atmosphere, so they will be able to live in airless space - on the Moon, on asteroids, on planets with an atmosphere of methane or carbon dioxide, where a person, obeying the needs of the body, could not exist for a moment. Thirdly, cyborgs do not need food. The only thing they need is to obtain energy from some external source to maintain the biological conditions of the brain.

A brain living separately from the body is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Laboratory experiments were carried out on the isolated brains of monkeys and dogs. The brain was placed in conditions that ensured the maintenance of its vital functions. And it turned out that all the readings of the isolated brain differ little from the readings of the brain under normal conditions. Consequently, if it were possible to bring information into this isolated brain, and transmit impulses addressed to various parts of the body to artificial (and already existing) models, the first version of the “cyborg” could be created.

The ability to freely design one’s body will open up the most unlimited prospects for a person. Are two legs really the most convenient design for movement? Are two arms enough, and wouldn't it be better to replace them with a dozen tentacles located throughout the body? Isn’t it an omission of nature that a person does not distinguish ultraviolet or infrared rays, that he sees only what is happening in front of him, but not behind or from above? Or a question about contacts. Without resorting to radio or telephone, people can make contact at a distance no greater than the capacity of their vocal cords. Obviously, this is not the limit of what is desired. Cyborgs will probably be able to communicate over vast distances using VHF or other communication channels. Evolution, which would take nature hundreds of centuries, will take place in laboratories in a matter of years or even months.

Although work in this direction is being carried out quite intensively, it is difficult to say when, after what period of time, the pictures drawn by us will begin to acquire the features of reality. According to R. White, transplanting a human brain into another body will become possible only in a few decades. This is a very cautious forecast. Oddly enough, when it comes to the timing of the proposed discovery, many scientists show similar skepticism and restraint. None other than A. Einstein, when asked whether people will be able to release the energy of the atomic nucleus in the coming centuries, exclaimed:

– Oh, that’s completely out of the question!

This was said just ten years before the first atomic bomb exploded.

Reproducing copies of themselves. Oddly enough, everything turns out in such a way that in the scientific search for immortality, a person’s ally and assistant turns out to be not so much a traditional guinea pig or monkey, but a frog. It was she who paved the first path to brain transplantation. She also showed another path leading to immortality - the reproduction by an individual of a copy of himself.

Each of the cells that make up a living being stores in its nucleus all the genetic information necessary for the formation of a new organism. This information seems to be dormant, and until recently all attempts to activate it were in vain. Several years ago, scientists at Oxford University in England managed to do this. During the experiments, a new individual was grown from an intestinal epithelial cell of an adult frog, which was, as it were, a biological twin of the first. It was a copy, differing from the original only in age.

The experiments caused a sensation “because,” as one newspaper wrote, “they imply that, at least in theory, mass production of identical twins is possible. Including human twins.” According to the director of the International Laboratory of Genetics and Biophysics in Naples A. Buzzati-Traverso, “by applying this method to humans, that is, taking cell nuclei from an adult (of which he has an almost unlimited number) and growing them in cells lacking a nucleus , we could raise any desired number of individuals genetically identical to us; we could, in a certain sense, ensure our immortality, since this operation could be repeated an unlimited number of times.”

This means that a person, when he reaches, say, 80 or 90 years of age, would be able to repeat himself, reappearing as a newborn. However, no matter how exact a copy the double is biologically and externally, it will be endowed with its own consciousness. In this sense, it will be a different individual, and his memory, his joys and sorrows, love and dislike will be far from the prototype.

True, the famous Soviet scientist P.K. Anokhin put forward a hypothesis according to which the hereditary transmission of information received by a person during life is fundamentally possible. In this case, the “copy person” will carry within himself the memory of everything that happened to the “original” and will store it within himself as memories of his own life. In this way it will be possible to achieve complete identity of individuals. The chain of individual consciousness, moving from body to body, will not be interrupted. The memory of the life of past, already aged and non-existent bodily shells will be as continuous as our memories of a day lived yesterday, a month ago or last year.

Through the cold to eternity. What the gold miners at one of the mines in Kolyma found that day looked the least like a nugget. But the excitement and controversy that the find caused was greater than if they had actually stumbled upon a gold mine. From a transparent block of ice, raised from an eleven-meter depth, a strange creature, frozen into it as if into glass, looked at the seekers. Small, about 10 centimeters long, it was as if alive.

But the most incredible thing happened when the ice melted. This creature - it turned out to be an amphibian, a Siberian salamander - moved, opened its beady eyes even wider and tried to scurry somewhere to hide from the people surrounding it.

The amazing discovery was reported to the Zoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Soon the guest from the permafrost, alive and in good health, was in Kyiv. Typically, the lifespan of a salamander is 10–15 years. If it turned out that this specimen was older, it would mean one thing: it really spent a certain number of years in this block of ice, deep underground. The well-developed radiocarbon dating method made it possible to answer this question. The age of the salamander brought from Kolyma was close to 100 years. This means that at least 85-90 years ago this creature found itself frozen in a block of ice and time seemed to have stopped for it.

But it turned out that 100 years is far from the limit for such a leap through time. It was possible to revive the Chidorus crustacean, which had lain in suspended animation in the permafrost for 20,000 years!

Until recently, many were sure that this could only happen to cold-blooded animals, but not to mammals, and certainly not to humans. However, maintaining this confidence becomes more and more difficult every year.

To confirm the fundamental possibility of returning to life after “deadly freezing,” American researchers conducted an experiment with dogs. Twelve dogs were frozen and brought back to life after two hours in this state. 30 minutes after revival they could walk, then drink water, and after a few hours they could eat food.

From time to time, such experiments, against the will of people, are carried out by chance.

...Late at night, Leningrad driver Vasily Sh. was returning home. On one of the deserted streets he suddenly felt ill, he fell into the snow and lost consciousness. It was 30 degrees below zero. When an ambulance picked him up in the morning, his pulse was no longer palpable. The chin, hands and feet were covered with frost and a crust of ice. There was ice in my mouth. Doctors declared “fatal freezing.”

Nevertheless, everything was done to bring the victim back to life.

“First, Sh. was placed in a warm bath,” Professor L.F. Volkov told the correspondent, “then he was given cardiac and tonic drugs, and then he was put on a bed under a frame on which electric lamps were mounted. Thanks to energetic warming, the patient began to feel better. Now he’s already walking, he’s in a great mood.”

This case is far from the only one. One must think that only a small part of such incidents ends up on the pages of the press. And an even smaller proportion of them attract someone’s attention and remain in memory.

In the winter of 1987 in Mongolian steppe the boy is cold. He lay for 12 hours in the snow at 34 degrees below zero. His body turned into an ice statue. There was not the slightest sign of life - no breathing, no pulse.

Apparently, Mongolian doctors had experience in dealing with such situations. After some time, a pulse appeared, not even a pulse - a barely noticeable beat, two beats per minute. Many hours passed before breathing appeared and the resuscitators heard the boy's faint groan. A day later he moved his finger, then his hand. The heart began to work smoothly and more often, returning to normal. And after another 24 hours the boy opened his eyes. Consciousness returned completely to him. Treatment procedures and observations continued for another week, after which the boy was discharged and sent home with the conclusion: “There are no pathological changes.”

Obviously, in a state of suspended animation, somewhere deep in the frozen cells, under a layer of numb muscles, a weak spark of life glows. The challenge is to not let that spark go out. To be able to bring a person back to life not only a few hours or days later, but years or even centuries later.

Theoretically, a person, plunging into suspended animation, can program his awakening for the twenty-fourth, twenty-eighth or thirtieth century. He may wish to wake up in a thousand years or two thousand. If today he is terminally ill, he can stipulate the conditions for him to be unfrozen when a method of treating his illness is found.

This is what, for example, the American James Bedford, a 73-year-old professor of psychology, did. His body, from which the blood was pumped out and replaced with a special liquid, was placed in a freezer where chilled liquid nitrogen continuously circulates. The professor's decision to go frozen into the future caused an understandable resonance. Some journalists joked: “Well, Bedford will be surprised when he remains dead!” Nevertheless, after him, several hundred more people went “through the refrigerator into eternity” in the USA and Japan. In special cryonics centers, enclosed in transparent capsules that flow around liquid nitrogen, cooled to -360°, equally alien to both life and death, they float along the waves of time into the future.

Professor Paul Segal has developed a method that allows a “client” whose hours are numbered to imprison himself in a freezer before clinical death occurs. “He will stay there,” says the professor, “until science can overcome his illness and provide him with a new life.”

Several dozen French people also decided to follow this example. Each of them always carries with him a blue card on which the following text is printed: “I, the undersigned, wish that in the event of my death my body should be immediately frozen and preserved at the lowest possible temperature.”

The main thing, however, is not that immersion in suspended animation will allow a person to overcome enormous distances in time and live in different centuries or even millennia. Many will wish to travel to the future, driven not only by purely tourist interest and curiosity. By embarking on this journey in the freezers, they will hope to enter a world that will come closer to solving the problem of immortality, and maybe even solve it.

It must be said that very few people can afford such a trip. Today in France the right to be frozen costs 128,000 francs. It is not surprising that the first 40 French people who decided to buy a chance at immortality are millionaires.

Just as the ancients did not imagine the afterlife as anything other than a repetition and continuation of their daily existence, so today many in the West cannot imagine that the future society would not be a copy of the current capitalist world. The ancients placed next to the deceased everything that they believed he might need in the afterlife. In the same way, those who today decide to go through the cold storage chamber into the future try to get a decent bank account. It turns out that in order to wake up as a millionaire in 300 years, all you need to do is put $1,000 in the bank today. Three percent per annum in a hundred years will turn this amount into 19,000, in two hundred - into 370,000, and by the time of the expected awakening, each such inhabitant of the refrigeration chamber will, according to calculations, already have $7,000,000.

It seems, however, that by that time the millions prepared for future use for the future life will be as practically useless as today those stone axes and spears that the ancients carefully placed in their graves. Money that has lost its meaning can, of course, be abandoned. But what to do with the equally atavistic spiritual baggage that will inevitably accompany a person trying to enter the future through the door of the refrigerator?

The society of the future seems to us to be a society of unprecedented rates of evolution - not only scientific, technical and social, but, most importantly, moral. And the more intense this process is, the more subsequent generations will differ from those who lived before them. Let's imagine what will happen if, during this accelerated evolution, people achieve immortality. Generations will no longer replace each other, they will be layered one on top of another, until the people of their time find themselves buried under the layers of those born long before them.

Does it follow from this that the immortality of the individual and the evolution of humanity are mutually exclusive?

In the Soviet Union, during one of the sociological studies, a group of 1224 people were asked to answer, in particular, the following question: would they agree to personal immortality if they knew that progress on Earth would stop as a result?

Over 90 percent of those surveyed rejected the immortality bought at such a price.

One must think that in the future this point of view will be shared by an increasing number of people. They will find the strength to renounce personal immortality in order for all of humanity to move closer to the heights of intellectual and moral evolution, for this is precisely the meaning of the continuous progress of mankind. V. M. Bekhterev wrote in his work “The Immortality of the Human Personality from the Point of View of Science” that the goal of the evolution of society is the creation of “a higher human being in the moral sense.”

However, the number of years is perhaps not the only and not the main measure of human life expectancy. On one of tropical islands Charlie Chaplin was once present during an interesting conversation. The American tried to find out from the old Aboriginal man how old he was.

– When was the earthquake? - asked the old man.

“Twelve years ago,” answered the American.

– Well, by that time I already had three married children.

“I lived to see two thousand dollars,” and explained that this was the amount that he managed to spend during his life.

The countdown is carried out here not in abstract astronomical units, showing how many times the Earth has circled the Sun, but in the events of concrete human life. This view is unusual in European thinking, but is common among other cultures.

In the future as we get closer human civilizations this view may be understandable to the majority. Then, when asked about age, a person will name what he has achieved, and not the measure of his biological existence. Perhaps this is the true age of a person - his spiritual age.

Then in response to such a question a person will be able to say:

“I have cured a thousand sick people.”

“I grew fifty crops.”

– I raised three children.

In the infinitely distant future, having approached the heights of his evolution, man will perhaps acquire the moral right to exist forever. Then immortality will not be a reward for the tricks of the human mind, but the biological crown of its entire moral evolution.

But if so, if a person can take advantage of immortality only at the highest stages of his development, then why all the past searches, discoveries and findings? Why the efforts of modern science and even the science of the foreseeable future? Doesn't it follow from the above that all this is meaningless?

It would seem that such a conclusion suggests itself and lies on the surface. However, like much that lies on the surface, it is false.

As you know, the uprising of Spartacus did not eliminate slavery. The jump of “Smerda Nikita” on homemade wings from the bell tower did not lead to the creation aircraft. The Viking voyage across the Atlantic many centuries before Columbus did not discover America.

Why today, when we talk about the history of the revolutionary struggle of the masses for freedom, the history of aeronautics or the history of geographical discoveries, do we remember these events? Events that seemed to have no continuation and led to nothing.

The fact is that each of them, even without ending with a specific result, was a step in the development of the spiritual and moral qualities of a person. Therefore, the blood of Spartacus was not shed in vain, discoveries that were ahead of their time, rejected and forgotten were not in vain. High feats of mind and heart were not in vain, even if no one knew about them and they did not change the world. All these were steps in the development of humanity.

The same steps are essentially the search for immortality, its possible achievement and even the renunciation of immortality in the name of life and improvement of all humanity.

If a person comes to physical immortality as a result of his evolution, this immortality may not arouse the same interest in him and will not seem as valuable to him as it seemed yesterday and as it still seems today. Because the norms, assessments and criteria of a perfect person will be in many ways different from our ideas today.

It can be assumed that the ancients actually knew some means of extending life, and even for a very significant period. It can be assumed that the searches of modern science will eventually open up ways to extend life by decades, maybe centuries. But no less legitimate is another, perhaps the main, thought - the thought that none of this is needed, that there is no need to seek immortality, because man was originally endowed with it. And not in some allegorical or figurative sense, but literally.

Just as a magnet is more than just a piece of metal that our eyes perceive, a person is also something more than his physical appearance that is accessible to our senses. In addition to the biological system of the body, researchers believe, there is a certain structure - a biological field surrounding the human physical body, penetrating and filling it (“bioplasma”, in the terminology of Doctor of Biological Sciences V. M. Inyushin).

In the book of the Soviet philosopher A.K. Maneev, “Philosophical Analysis of Antinomy in Science,” a large chapter is devoted to this issue. Citing the words of Heraclitus, “The power of thinking is outside the body,” the author expresses an idea that may seem strange to someone who is not familiar with the whole course of his reasoning: the structure that generates thought is the biological field - “the field formation of biosystems.” Accordingly, the entire life experience of a person, the situations that he experienced, all the words that were spoken to him and that he heard - all this is recorded by his biological field and stored in the form of peculiar holograms, “which may be evidenced, in particular, by the phenomenon memory of highly organized beings."

In other words, the “field structure” - the repository of our memory, the generator of thinking - turns out to be, as it were, the bearer of human individuality, our “I”. An important conclusion follows from this situation.

Radiated fields, continues Maneev, can exist regardless of their source. Let's say the radio transmitter goes silent, and the radio waves continue to rush through space, carrying the information that was contained in them. Or: a star has long gone out, but its light continues its path in space, carrying a wide range of data about a body that physically no longer exists, but which continues to exist, as it were, for the observer. “It is just as possible,” Maneev believes, “the existence of a biofield, “emitted” during the death of an organism, but still retaining all the information about it.” In other words, the death of the physical body does not mean the disappearance of the field formation, which is the bearer of human memory and individuality. Consequently, the scientist concludes, one can ask the question “about the fundamental achievability of individual immortality by emerging biosystems, since it is considered possible on the basis of the specific stability of biofields.”

Scientists of various specialties are studying biological fields today - doctors, biologists, engineers of a wide range of profiles. The main idea that is present at scientific conferences devoted to this problem is that we are only at the very beginning of the journey. Maneev's hypothesis is perhaps one of the steps on this path full of the greatest surprises.

We talked about the problem of immortality, about the search for ways to it in ancient times, in our days, about the likely directions of these searches in the future. They also said that human immortality may exist in some form - regardless of our efforts, thoughts and tricks. There is another possible train of thought that argues in favor of this.

As you know, our Universe is expanding. This process began 15-22 billion years ago, when the entire mass of the Universe was compressed, as if squeezed into a certain point, the “original drop of space.”

We do not know why, for what reasons this state was disrupted and what is designated today by the term “big bang” occurred. Scattering, expanding in all directions, matter pushed aside oblivion, creating space and beginning the countdown of time. This is how modern cosmogony sees the formation of the Universe.

However, the expansion of the Universe cannot be infinite. It will continue only up to a certain point, after which the process will reverse - the galaxies will begin to approach each other, converging again to a certain point. Following them, space will contract, compress into a point. The result will be what astronomers call today the “collapse of the Universe.”

What will happen next, after the Universe returns to the “cosmic egg” state and shrinks to a certain starting point? After this, a new cycle will begin - another “big bang” will occur, “neo-material” will rush in all directions, expanding and creating space, galaxies, star clusters, planets, life will arise. This, in particular, is the cosmological model of the American astronomer J. Wheeler, a model of an alternately expanding and “collapsing” Universe. The famous scientist Kurt Gödel mathematically substantiated this model.

How does modern cosmogony represent these processes? The famous American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate S. Weinberg describes them as follows. After the compression begins, nothing will happen for thousands and millions of years that could cause alarm to our distant descendants. However, when the Universe shrinks to 1/100th its current size, the night sky will radiate as much heat to the Earth as the daytime sky does today. In another 70 million years, the Universe will shrink tens of times more, and then “our heirs and successors (if there are any) will see the sky unbearably bright.” And in another 700,000 years, the cosmic temperature will reach 10 million degrees, stars and planets will begin to turn into a cosmic “soup” of radiation, electrons and nuclei...

A universe that “collapses” into a point and expands again, does it repeat previous cycles? Not necessarily, some cosmologists answer. If at the time of the formation of a new Universe the physical conditions differ even in the slightest way, this next Universe may not contain the carbon necessary for the emergence of life. Cycle after cycle, the Universe can arise and be destroyed without giving rise to a single spark of life. This is one of the points of view. She affirms the “discontinuity of being.”

The other assumes the evolution of the Universe from cycle to cycle. Every time, according to the already mentioned astronomer J. Wheeler, at the moment of compression, a certain qualitative leap in the Universe occurs. And its subsequent development takes place in different ways each time. This is sort of an “evolutionary” point of view.

And finally, the third point of view comes from the possibility that each cycle is a repetition of the previous one and all that came before it.

Repeating the previous...

At the moment of the “collapse of the Universe”, its “convergence” to a point, matter, as is known, does not disappear. “...It is logical to assume,” wrote V.I. Lenin, “that all matter has a property essentially related to sensation, the property of reflection...” If matter does not disappear, then the information that it seems to “reflect” does not disappear either, that is, it carries within itself. This is information about galaxies, planets and the creatures that lived on them. When a new Universe arises, it can perform the same role as the original genetic information during the emergence of an organism. In other words, the role of the program.

The idea of ​​eternal repetition, the eternal return of people, events and everything that exists has almost always been present in the human mind. We find it in the East, in Chinese texts dating back to the 2nd century BC. Even earlier, in the 4th century BC, the Greek philosopher Eudemus of Rhodes told his students: “If you believe the Pythagoreans, then someday I will talk to you with this same stick in my hands again, just like now, sitting in front of me, and everything else will be repeated in the same way...” Another ancient philosopher thought the same thing: “In another Athens, another Socrates will be born and marry another Xanthippe.” In this eternal repetition of everything that once was, everything will again come full circle, and “new wars will begin again, and again the mighty Achilles will go to Troy” (Virgil).

Do you know the feeling when something happening is perceived as if you had already seen it all, as if it had all already happened? Sometimes, when you arrive in a foreign city, some square that you have never been to suddenly seems strangely familiar. This feeling, known to many, even has a term – “already seen.” As shown by special surveys conducted abroad, the feeling of “already seen” was experienced to one degree or another by approximately 15 percent of people.

There was such an episode in the life of L.N. Tolstoy. Once while hunting, young Tolstoy, chasing a hare, fell over the head of his horse. When, staggering, he stood up, it seemed to him that all this had already happened: once upon a time, “a very long time ago,” as he said, he was also riding a horse, chased a hare, fell...

Once traveling from Strasbourg to Drusenheim, Goethe for a moment felt himself in a kind of somnambulistic state - he suddenly seemed to see himself from the outside, but in a different dress, which he had never worn before. Eight years later, he passed this place again and was surprised to find that he was dressed exactly as he had once dreamed of it.

Evidence of this kind, and a lot of it could be cited, is not yet proof of the repeatability of everything. And can there be such evidence? But this evidence is at least food for thought. In addition, when combined with other facts and observations, they line up, as it were, in a common chain. How are the words of Christ, supposedly spoken by him on the eve of the crucifixion, lined up in this common chain: “All this was” (“All this was”).

What is said on these pages has, as it were, two levels of perception: logical-evidential and intuitive. Logical-evidential is the concept of a “pulsating Universe”, a model of closed time that exists in the Universe, time that moves in a circle. The intuitive plane of perception is the feeling of “already seen,” sometimes symbols and the language of art. This is how the poet felt, how he understood it. He spoke of a swarm of atoms that formed to form a particular person:

This swarm circled without beginning
And it will circle endlessly,
And there was a moment of pier
Features of my face.
……………………
Can't atoms again
To form into something like you and me?
(I. Selvinsky)

Gorky once spoke to Blok about this, half jokingly, half seriously:

-...Several million years later, on a gloomy evening in the St. Petersburg spring, Blok and Gorky will again talk about immortality, sitting on a bench in the Summer Garden.

Back in the 20s of our century, when scientific knowledge was only taking its first steps in cosmology, Albert Einstein stated: “Science cannot provide absolutely reliable arguments against the idea of ​​eternal recurrence.”

If each Universe reproduces, repeats those that came before it, matter is located in space each time, forming the same clumps - the same galaxies, stars, planets. Then everything that has happened, what is happening, and what is yet to happen is inextinguishable, indestructible, and remains forever. How immortal and abiding forever are all those who live now and who once lived, because in the constant repetition of the cycles of the Universe, the doors of life will be opened to them again and again, letting them into the world, as it has been countless times.

* * *

But everyone's days are coming to an end. Including those who once sought immortality. And if anyone ever achieved it, in the end he would have to ask the question: what will I do in my endless life, how will I fill my limitless existence? Probably everyone would find their own answer to this in accordance with their inner inclination, as people have found at all times. True, as for internal inclination, are we always aware of it ourselves? Even when we talk about such seemingly traditional things as the distribution of female and male roles.

The idea that a man should be courageous and brave, and a woman should be tender and fragile, is not so immutable. It can be recalled that in the past, women were characterized by a much more “masculine” set of qualities - courage, physical bravery, and even cruelty. The bearers of these qualities were, for example, the Amazons - female warriors, about whom a lot of historical evidence and legends have been preserved. Getting to know them raises many questions, which turn out to be very difficult to answer.

For many years people have been trying to find the source of eternal youth. There were rumors about a source of living water, which was supposedly located on one of the islands in the Eastern Sea. The servants of the Chinese emperor tried to find this source, but without success. Then the rumors moved the source to India, where many searches were also carried out by residents of China.

Centuries passed, and here their paths invisibly crossed with the paths of the Jesuits and Catholic missionaries. One of these missionary travelers, writing from India in 1291, sadly complained that his many years of searching had been in vain. By the way, at that time the opinions of theologians about where the source of living water was located differed: some were inclined to believe that the search should be continued in India, others, citing vague passages of the Holy Scriptures and omissions of ancient authors, named Ceylon, and still others, Ethiopia.

But when His Majesty’s Admiral Christopher Columbus discovered new, unknown lands overseas, hopes for immortality followed the conquistadors and merchants to the West.

The Italian humanist Pedro Martyr, who lived in those years and personally knew the great navigator, wrote to Pope Leo X: “North of Hispaniola, among other islands, there is one island at a distance of three hundred and twenty miles from it, as those who have found it say. On the island there flows an inexhaustible spring of running water of such wonderful quality that an old man who drinks it, observing a certain diet, will after a while turn into a young man. I beg, Your Holiness, do not think that I said this out of frivolity or at random; This rumor has really established itself at court as an undoubted truth, and not only the common people, but also many of those who stand above the crowd in their intelligence or wealth also believe it.”

Searching for the source

Is it any wonder that among those who believed in the existence of a source of eternal life was a noble Castilian hidalgo Juan Ponce de Leon? He was already over fifty when, from old Indians living in Puerto Rico, he learned about some country located in the north, where there was a source that bestowed eternal youth. It was said that several years before, many Indians from the island of Cuba went in search of her and not one of them returned. Do we need any other evidence that they managed to find this country?!

Other Indians objected: is it worth going on such a long journey when among the Bahamas there is also an island where exactly the same source of youth and eternal life flows.

Ponce de Leon was not the only Spaniard to hear these stories. But he was the only one who decided, at his own risk, to equip an expedition to search for the island. Of course, if the rumors concerned gold, funds and ships would immediately be found, and a crowd of volunteers would not be long in coming. But it was not about wealth, but simply about immortality. True, Ponce de Leon himself was already at that age when people begin to understand the relative value of gold and the absolute value of life.

That is why, having invested all his funds in the purchase of three brigs, Ponce de Leon recruited a crew and at dawn on March 3, 1512, he ordered the anchors to be raised amid cannon fire. The sun shines brightly, foreshadowing good luck, the morning wind inflates the sails, and the flotilla sets off. How many such ships were equipped in those years to search for new lands, spices or gold! But these were marked with a special sign. The one who led them was called not by words, not by power and not by wealth. Eternal life and eternal youth—that’s what he was looking for. And for a long time, until the ships turned into three points on the horizon, a crowd stood on the shore and looked after them.

Exploring the Bahamas

The weather and luck were favorable for sailing, and soon the green islands of the Bahamas archipelago appeared in the distance. Each of them was replete with quiet bays and channels, convenient for anchoring ships. And each could turn out to be exactly what they were looking for. In the mornings, boats descended from the ships and, cutting through the blue surface of the lagoon, headed to the shore. Those remaining on board were jealous of those who had a happier fate that day. But no one awaited their return with such impatience as the captain himself. In the evenings, the boats sailed up to the ship on which he was located, and with a quiet knock of wood on wood, they froze at the tarred side. Boatswain Crooked Juan accepted the spoils - copper flasks, flasks, bottles and vials filled with water from all sources that could be found on the island.

Long after the crew had gone to bed and the watchmen had taken up the night watch, the lantern in the captain's cabin continued to burn. The oil crackled in the wick, and then reddish reflections shuddered on the copper flasks, polished to a shine in rough sailor pockets. Ponce de Leon lined them up on the table in front of him and slowly tasted the contents of each flask. They said that just a couple of sips are enough, that the transformation begins instantly.

The next morning, other sailors, those whom the lot pointed to, dismantled the empty flasks and went overboard along hemp ladders into the rocking boats. And while the captain looked impatiently at the sun, again waiting for the evening to come, the sailors, huddled under the awning, once again told each other everything that they had heard from those who had gone ashore. If there is heaven on earth, then it should be here on these islands. The forests here are full of game, and the quiet rivers are filled with fish that you can catch with your hands right off the shore. But most importantly, it was fertile land, abounding in fruits and, what is most surprising, actually no one’s land. Because it was impossible to take seriously the timid Indians, who fled as soon as they heard the approach of the Spaniards. Could they have dreamed of such a land, of such a land, born among the rocky fields of Andalusia or the sun-scorched plains of Castile?!

Crooked Juan did not interfere in these conversations. As he passed by, he didn't even listen to them. But not because he did not know about them or did not realize the inevitable development of events that, he knew, would follow all this.

And again, long after midnight, the light was on in the captain's cabin. And again, after the team had gone to bed, muffled voices were heard for a long time from the cockpit. No matter how quietly Crooked Juan walked, every time he passed by, the voices died down. But Juan only grinned in the darkness. Tomorrow morning, as always, he will know everything. It was not for this reason that he sailed the seas for seventeen years and escaped the gallows three times, so as not to learn to see what was happening under his nose. And Juan learned one more lesson from what he saw and which would have been enough for perhaps a dozen other lives - never rush and never join either side until that very minute, the last minute, when the scales of fate will come into motion. And only then he, Crooked Juan, a moment earlier than everyone else, should understand what fate wants. And then, as has happened more than once, he will grab his pistols and be the first to shout: “Hurray for the captain!” or “Captain to the yard!” But every time is exactly what is needed to end up with the winners.

True to himself, Crooked Juan was in no hurry this time either, although everything seemed to be clear and the fate of the insane hidalgo seemed predetermined.

So they moved from island to island, and no one complained, because each time the new island turned out to be even more beautiful than the one they had to leave. But the inevitable events that Juan had foreseen were about to unfold when an episode occurred that mixed everything up.

Gold in a flask

In the evening, when the captain, as always, retired to the cabin with his flasks, Crooked Juan was missing one flask. Someone, having boarded the ship, did not give it away as usual, but kept it for himself. Why? The captain will hardly notice it. Juan was the only one on the ship who knew. This gave him an extra card in the game, and that's where he decided to go.

The one who did not give up his flask actually risked little. But did he really think that if this became known, Crooked Juan would not figure out who did it?

The next morning Juan knew who it was. To do this, it was enough to subtract from those who were on the shore those who came to take the flasks. Rodrigo, nicknamed Little Fox, was the one left behind. Once again, Juan did not rush things. He only made sure that on that day the Little Fox got a job at the rear stern, on the poop deck, away from the others. Rewinding ropes is not a very easy job, especially when the sun is directly overhead and there is no protection from it. Juan waited patiently until the shadow of the mast became as short as the thought of a fool, and only then slowly moved towards the poop deck. The little fox did not immediately notice the boatswain, but having noticed it, he began to rewind the thick tarred rope even more quickly. Juan came very close, so that there was almost no space between him and the sailor. Juan knew what he was doing.

- Is it hot, baby?

Only now the Little Fox risked straightening up.

- Hot? - Juan put on a smile on his face that could only seem sincere to the last idiot. Maybe you can find a sip of water? - And he extended his hand to the flask that hung on the Little Fox’s belt, extended his left hand, precisely his left.

He still continued to smile when his body barely had time to dart to the side, dodging the blow. At the same instant, his right hand, also as if of its own accord, against his will, shot up, and the knocked-out knife entered deeply into the deck boards. But it was not for nothing that the Little Fox was younger than him. The next moment he was ahead of the boatswain. There was only a splash overboard, and the Little Fox, making wide strokes, was already quickly swimming to the shore.

The shore, however, was not close, and Juan knew that the Little Fox would not be able to swim like this for long. He managed to think this in a split second and in the same split second he was glad that he had made him work all morning - now he is no longer the same swimmer. And a split second later, Juan’s voice boomed on the deck, and the sailors rolled into the boat overboard one after another. Juan decided not to say anything about the flask for now, let them catch him first.

“This scoundrel tried to kill me,” he hastily explained, but the captain only pursed his thin lips and did not answer. Juan understood why: he had committed the impudence of being the first to turn before the elder spoke to him.

The escape

For an attack on the boatswain, Little Fox was given shackles and work on the galleys. He knew this and swam with all his might. But the distance between the boat and the swimmer is getting shorter and shorter. However, the distance between the swimmer and the yellow strip of sand where the shore began was reduced even faster. Ponce de Leon pushed the captain's cocked hat onto his forehead so that the sun would not blind his eyes. Now it became clear that the boat was really lagging behind; the rowers in it had completely stopped working with the oars. Squinting his eyes, Juan saw the captain's thin Castilian mustache twitch angrily. Of course, he is a hidalgo and a noble gentleman, but he does not understand the guys who sail with him. He doesn't understand at all. And Juan allowed himself to remark respectfully:

- Mr. Captain, he won’t leave. The guys are just playing with him. They want to play.

But the captain didn’t even look at him: he had committed insolence again.

And the sailors really “played” with the fugitive. When it seemed that he was about to reach the shore, the oars suddenly flashed, the boat rushed off and a minute later found itself between the Little Fox and the surf. Then she froze again, moving slightly away from the shore and driving the Little Fox into the open sea. He apparently understood this and now barely flaps his arms just to stay on the water. But the boat was moving faster and faster, and he had to hurry to prevent the distance from closing.

Then, it seemed, the boat fell behind again, and Little Fox managed to go around it and head towards the shore. This was repeated several times, but even from the ship it was clear that the fugitive was already exhausted and would not last long.

When they tried to repeat this fun again on the boat, he began to sink. Now the rowers leaned on the oars with all their might, but when the boat almost overtook him, the Little Fox emerged for the last time, his hand suddenly rose out of the water, and he threw something that glittered in the sun away from him. A second later the boat was already above the place where the Little Fox had just been, but he did not appear again.

The captain turned questioningly to Juan. Now he had to speak or throw up his hands. Juan spoke and thus chose his fate.

“Mr. Captain, this sailor hid his flask last night.” Today, when I asked for it...

Crooked Juan had never seen a person turn so pale at once.

“A boat,” the hidalgo unclenched his dry lips. There were no more boats on the ship. There was only a two-seater boat, and Juan sat on the oars himself.

When they finally reached the boat with the sailors waiting for them, everyone began to point out the place where the Little Fox had thrown his flask. - Fifty reals to whoever finds it. You had to be born rich and have a string of rich ancestors behind you to say it the way it was said.

— Fifty reals? “Like an echo,” Juan asked. It was a condition. Juan regretted that he was not an ordinary sailor and could not now dive into the water after the others. In his entire life he had never, not only held in his hands, but even seen such money. And in life he had everything.

They finally found the flask. The one who succeeded in this raised it high above his head and shouted so that the captain could see it and the others would not take the find from him.

Juan only held the flask for a moment before handing it over to the captain, but that was enough for him to understand what was in it. And having understood, he was afraid that the captain would realize that he knew. This discovery shocked him so much that his hands did not obey him well, and he barely rowed to the ship. But the captain didn't notice anything. The captain had no time for him.

Riot

That evening, the muffled chatter in the sailor's quarters continued longer than usual. On the other two ships, Juan knew, it was the same. And when at dawn the captain suddenly ordered to raise the sails and weigh anchor, a riot broke out on all three ships.

The team did not want to sail further. They will settle here, on these lands, they will plant grapes and olives, grow wheat - everyone here will become a noble lord. Let whoever wants to sail with this crazy hidalgo, but not them, not them! Crooked Juan knew that he would stay with them. But not for the purpose of harvesting crops or raising sheep here. He will do something else here - and the later the others find out about it, the better. The moment he took the flask out of the water, his hand could not be mistaken. The water couldn't have weighed that much - there was gold in the flask!

And Juan understood and knew one more thing, something that the others had not thought through and did not have time to understand: if they stay here, they do not need witnesses. He felt that the moment was approaching when the scales of fate would tremble and begin to move. These people did not have a leader, in a minute they will become one. And then, drowning out all the hubbub and screams that rushed from the decks of the three brigs that had come together, he shouted as he only shouted his commands during a storm:

- Captain to the yard!

At first everyone fell silent, but then several voices took up:

- To the yard! Captain to the yard!

And already everyone screamed, roared, bleated:

- Captain to the yard!

Because everyone knew: after these words there was no turning back. And this meant the end of all doubts and hesitations. Someone was hastily dragging the rope, adjusting the loop as they went, someone was already dragging the captain in a torn and wrinkled jacket onto the barrel. Now everything was decided by moments. If the captain can be pulled up before anyone hesitates, there is at least one voice against him, then the job is done and he, Juan, can congratulate himself. If the one with the rope had not hesitated, maybe this would have happened. But the captain suddenly raised his hand. And then everyone fell silent. “So, even now, even under the noose, he still remained a captain for them,” Juan managed to think. And one more thing: “You can’t let him talk.”

But the captain had already spoken. And from how calm and authoritative his voice sounded, Juan realized that he had lost.

“Let the one who wants to dig into the ground stay here,” said the captain. “That means he doesn’t deserve anything better, nothing else.”

“To the yard,” Juan tried to shout, but everyone shushed him, and he bit his tongue.

“Sailors, I, Ponce de Leon, will make sure that your former masters, everyone with whom you served, will bow to your waist and lie at your feet.” There will be no people in the world richer than you. Let them bring the flask that I have in my cabin...

“Look,” he raised the flask over his head, “this is gold.” I neglected him...

And from his elevated position he began to throw small nuggets at the feet of those standing on the deck.

“I’m abandoning him because the day will come when you will also abandon him as unnecessary.” For every sip of youth-restoring water, you will be paid more gold than your pockets can hold. Sailors...

Crooked Juan made a slight movement to get to the ladder, but several hands were already tenaciously holding him.

- Hurray for the captain! - someone shouted.

- Hooray! - the others echoed.

A few minutes later Juan was already in the stocks below, in a deaf and damp hold. The days dragged on, and for him they were indistinguishable from the night. He no longer hoped for anything, expected nothing. He no longer became furious when another sailor, bringing food, tried to place it so that he could not reach it. Or he deliberately tried to splash the half mug of water he was allotted for the day. Sometimes he thought about what the royal alcalde would sentence him to - to the gallows or to the galley. But for some reason this didn’t really bother him, as if what happened had happened not to him, but to someone else, whose fate was actually quite indifferent to him.

Therefore, when one day (or night) the hold hatch rose and they came for him, Juan could not know what it meant. He could not know that long weeks of fruitless searches had passed. That now, driven by impatience, the captain himself went down to the shore and walked around all the sources he could find. Hypnotized by his faith, the crew fervently combed island after island, and each failure only strengthened everyone’s hope: if not today, then tomorrow.

But the captain now knew the price of this devotion and this faith. The safest thing, he believed, was to get rid of the instigators as quickly as possible, without waiting to return to Puerto Rico. He landed several people on the islands along the way. Today it was Juan's turn.

Left for dead

The sailors pulled him out of the boat and threw him onto the pebbles near the surf. Then, when the boat had already sailed, they remembered that they had not left him a box of provisions and a pair of knives, as the captain had ordered. They didn’t want to row back, so they simply threw their cargo into the sea.

But despite all this, Crooked Juan survived. And he not only survived, but also outlived the noble hidalgo, owner of three large ships, Ponce de Leon.

Meanwhile, the ships continued on their way, and one day at dawn they discovered a flowering island, which could not be compared with anything they had seen before. It was Palm Sunday (“Pascua Florida”), and the captain named the land, which he took to be an island, Florida.

But no matter how peaceful and beautiful this land seemed, cut through by hundreds of small streams and rivers, the Indians who lived here turned out to be just as warlike and irreconcilable. They cared little about what motives the aliens were motivated by and what they were looking for. They met white strangers, as they were accustomed to meet enemies who encroached on their hunting grounds and huts. In one of the skirmishes, the captain himself was among the wounded...

Many other adventures and disasters befell the Spaniards while the ships continued their long journey. Eventually, battling hostile trade winds, they returned to the port they had left many months before. Ponce de Leon, not without profit, sold his ships and returned to Spain.

Return to Spain

In Madrid they already knew about the hidalgo’s courageous attempt to find the water of eternal life. He had scarcely arrived and settled down at the inn when a messenger appeared demanding him to the king's palace.

The king looked with curiosity at the man who, in fact, might have been lucky. And then, standing here, he would hold the bottle of water of eternal life brought for his king. And he, King Ferdinand of Aragon of Spain, would become the first (and perhaps the only) Christian king to live forever.

In any case, it is not the hidalgo’s fault that this time he was unlucky. The king listened favorably to the story of Ponce de Leon and showed him signs of his favor and attention. Respectfully leaving the audience, Pones de Leon was no longer the same as he was when he entered the high arches of the hall. With a wave of the royal hand, he became “his excellency”, the governor of the “island of Florida” he discovered...

Emperor Qin Shi Huang

The king of Spain was not alone among other monarchs in his secret hopes for immortality. Could the ruler, being unlike other people in everything, really be equated with them even in the face of death? Chinese Emperor was probably the first who tried to rebel against the inexorable law of existence. History also knows other rulers who, each in their own way, tried to proclaim their immortality. The Western Roman emperors-co-rulers Arcadius and Honorius (395-408) promulgated an edict proclaiming that from now on, when addressing them, subjects should no longer say “your majesty,” but “your eternity.” The main argument was the following: “Those who dare to deny the divine essence of our personalities will be deprived of their positions and their property will be confiscated.”

For his subjects, this argument was, naturally, very convincing. But not for nature.

In the same way, at one time his subjects were sincerely confident in the immortal essence of Emperor Augustus. And even earlier, Alexander the Great was revered as immortal by the peoples of the countries he conquered.

And isn’t it a mockery of fate: the natives who lived in the vicinity of that same Puerto Rico, from where the brave hidalgo Ponce de Lion went in search of immortality, were themselves convinced that the Spaniards who conquered them were immortal! That is why the proud Indians endured all the oppression and arbitrariness that the conquistadors inflicted. And indeed, is it possible to imagine an enterprise more senseless and hopeless than an uprising against immortals?

Revolt against the immortals

As often happens, the “discovery” began with doubt. There was a local leader who doubted that the cruel white gods do not know death. In order to test this, it was decided to conduct a rather bold experiment. Having learned that a certain young Spaniard was going to pass through his domain, the leader assigned him an honorary escort, to whom he gave appropriate instructions. Following them, the Indians, when crossing the river, dropped the stretcher and kept the Spaniard under water until he stopped struggling. Then they pulled him ashore and, just in case, apologized long and floridly to the “white god” for daring to accidentally drop him. But he did not move and did not accept their apologies. To make sure that this was not a trick or a pretense, the Indians did not take their eyes off the body for several days, now watching it stealthily from the tall grass, now approaching it again and repeating their apologies for the umpteenth time...

After this, the Indians became convinced that their conquerors were mortals like themselves. And having become convinced, in one day and hour they raised an uprising throughout the entire island, destroying and expelling every last one of the Spaniards. True, not for long.

As for Ponce de Lyon, he - a man who sought immortality - ultimately died from a wound he once received in Florida. “In this way,” the author of an ancient Spanish chronicle edifyingly notes, “fate destroys human plans: the discovery with which Ponce hoped to prolong his life served to shorten it.”

A few years later, Crooked Juan was removed from the island by a brig that happened to be passing by. No one believed the story he told. But the name of Ponce de Lion was known at that time, the fact that Juan sailed with him aroused the interest of several very elderly (and equally wealthy) Spaniards. For several years, Crooked Juan served as something of a guide on expeditions organized by them. But Juan's trouble was that he was not endowed with imagination. Therefore, the information that he possessed about where to look for the water of eternal life quickly depleted. And soon after that he himself got lost somewhere in the seaside taverns and taverns of the New World.

Also irretrievably lost in the past are the names and fates of many others who, like Juan or his reckless captain, went in search of the water of eternal youth. But were these searches really so crazy?

Ponce de Leon's search for the fountain of eternal youth may be a legend, but the underlying idea - finding a cure for old age - is very real. People have been trying to crack the code of eternal youth almost since the beginning of humanity. We tried everything we could imagine, from magical objects and epic journeys to sacrifices and drinking blood (we also invented monsters that live forever by drinking blood). It was only a matter of time before science would get involved in this search, and, you know, it still managed to take some real steps in this direction. The Scientific Quest for Immortality Aging, at the molecular level, makes no sense. Our bodies are constantly creating new cells and rebuilding our natural defenses, but we still age. Entropy takes the best of us, and we accept it as inevitable, even though science has made huge strides forward, increasing our life expectancy. Life expectancy has risen over the past century, and people in developed countries can live to about 80 years, up from 47 years in 1900. This increase is due in large part to advances in curing childhood diseases, but it has also led to an increase in chronic diseases in old age. Heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease are serious problems, and each of them is treated individually or not treated at all. It would be much easier to just swallow a pill and activate the body's resources.

Scientists are well aware of these problems and are constantly testing various methods to restore the vitality of the human body. Restoring homeostasis - or the body's ability to independently stabilize its systems in response to stress such as exercise, hot or cold weather, high or low light - is the main focus. The human body is first and foremost a complex biological machine, and advancing age is essentially a mechanical problem that must be dealt with. And if the solution to this problem is to keep people healthy and disease-free for as long as possible, then science has a very good chance of coping with it. The biggest villain that prevents us from living long is the enzyme telomerase. Discovered by Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn (who won a Nobel Prize for her discovery), telomerase repeats DNA sequences at the end of a chain of chromosomes that cover each chain and determine the beginning of the next. It is responsible for telling our cells when to stop growing, and every time it covers a chain, a small part of the cell's information about how to rearrange itself is lost. As a result, scientists are looking for ways to prevent the loss or activate telomerase when it cannot fight aging at the molecular level. However, science did not always know that telomerase was the problem, so other solutions have been proposed throughout scientific history. Aviator Charles Lindbergh tried to cheat death by finding a way to replace our organs with machines like the ones doctors use in modern medicine to temporarily replace lungs. Cloning, cyborgs, nanotechnological cell restoration and 3D printed organs are a continuation of Linberg's line of thought, which can hardly be called incorrect. In any case, all of these methods rely primarily on replacing body parts rather than stopping aging.

Science fiction writers often propose uploading a human brain into a computer and thereby achieving immortality, and real world science says it's entirely possible. So-called “whole brain emulation” will allow scientists to advance us towards this form of immortality, and in the future create neural devices that will work with the human body in the same way as our brains, and therefore create an “eternal brain”. Science fiction has also given us the idea of ​​cryogenically preserving the human body by slowing down metabolism and conserving resources - in other words, freezing. But this measure is more protective than solving the problem. Current Research Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have successfully reversed the effects of aging and old age diseases in mice by infusing the blood of young mice into old ones. Specifically, they found that blood from a 3-month-old mouse reversed age-related declines in memory, learning, and brain function in an 18-year-old mouse (the equivalent of a 70-year-old human). The scientists also found that when they injected only plasma into old mice, they increased endurance and motor function, becoming on par with their 3-month-old counterparts. Scientists were even able to identify a chemical signal, a specific protein, that acts as a master regulator of the brain and whose activity increases with young blood. However, the fact is that there is no specific mechanism or drug that will solve all problems with aging - and this is what scientists plan to find when they start experimenting with people. Silicon Valley is the main center of scientific work on aging. Google created Calico Labs to work on reversing aging and creating drugs to help our biology. Human Longevity is focused on creating a database of 1 million human genome sequences by 2020 to improve the fight against aging. The Palo Alto Longevity Prizes, each worth $500,000, were awarded for "innovations in restoring the body's homeostatic capacity" and "promoting longevity of stable and healthy life." The stated goals of all such companies are to develop methods to combat aging and the diseases of old age specifically, but in reality they all bring us closer to immortality. Why is Silicon Valley involved in this? Aubrey de Gray, one of the industry's pioneers, believes that successful anti-aging medicine has the potential to become "the largest industry ever, with massive profit potential."

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The film begins with two sailors pulling an old man out of the water, who is found with documents from the ship of Juan Ponce de Leon. Together with the documents and the old man, the sailors go to Cadiz to the palace of King Ferdinand VI. The king understands that de Leon managed to find the legendary Fountain of Youth and therefore orders preparations for the expedition.

Meanwhile, Captain Jack Sparrow travels to London to find the impostor posing as him. According to rumors, the double was recruiting a team to search for the Fountain of Youth. But first, Sparrow saves his former assistant Joshamee Gibbs from the gallows and they try to escape, but fall into the hands of the royal guard. Jack is granted an audience with King George II, who wants him to lead his expedition to the Source before the Spaniards find it. The expedition will be led by Jack's old rival, Captain Hector Barbossa, who serves in the British fleet, having lost Jack's ship, the Black Pearl, and his leg along with his crew.

Jack manages to escape from the guards, not without the help of his father, Captain Teague, who warns Jack about the trials on the way to the Source. Soon Jack discovers an impostor - it turns out to be Jack's former lover - Angelica, who is the daughter of the famous pirate Edward Teach, nicknamed Blackbeard, who knows voodoo magic and witchcraft. Jack is forced to join Blackbeard's team and lead them to the Source. Gibbs, who stole the map from Sparrow to avoid being hanged, burns it, leaving Captain Barbossa no choice. He decides to take him with him so that he will also lead them to the Source.

Aboard Blackbeard's ship, Queen Anne's Revenge, Jack learns of a ritual: water from the Well must be drunk from two silver bowls that belonged to Ponce de Leone. A person who drinks from a cup containing a mermaid's tear gains the life of a person who drinks from another cup, draining their body. Blackbeard, fearing a prophecy that he would suffer death from a one-legged man, plans to use the Fountain to break the spell and sets a course for Foam Bay. There he traps one of the mermaids, with whom the captive missionary falls in love and names her Siren. Blackbeard sends Jack Sparrow to retrieve the cups located on de Leon's ship. Having reached the place, Sparrow discovers Barbossa and an empty box with bowls there: the Spaniards have already gotten ahead of them.

It turns out that Barbossa's true goal is revenge on Blackbeard for the “Pearl” and for the leg that he was forced to cut off in order to escape. Jack and Barbossa team up against Blackbeard and steal the cups from the Spanish camp. Meanwhile, Blackbeard tricks the Siren into shedding a tear, and, leaving her to die, forces Philip to come with him. Sparrow returns with the cups and Gibbs, who has joined him in helping Captain Barbossa. Jack sets a condition for Blackbeard: return his compass and release Gibbs in exchange for the cups and the opportunity to continue on the path to the Source. Blackbeard agrees and Gibbs leaves them with Jack's compass.

Near the Spring, Blackbeard and his crew are attacked by the English and Spanish fleets. As it turns out, the Spaniards have completely different plans for the Source: they are here only to destroy it, believing that immortal life can only be given by God. During the long battle, Barbossa stabs Blackbeard with a poisoned sword, and Angelica accidentally wounds her hand with the same sword. Barbossa demands Blackbeard's magic sword, his ship and crew. Mortally wounded, Philip returns to save Sirena from death. The Siren finds the cups thrown by the Spaniards into the deep waters, gives them to Sparrow and returns to the dying Philip to save him.

Angelique intends to sacrifice herself for her father, but Sparrow tricks them and Angelique unknowingly drinks from the cup containing the Siren's tear, thus killing the treacherous pirate and saving herself. Jack and Angelique confess their love for each other, but Jack, implying that she may be seeking revenge for her father's death, takes her to the island, hoping that a merchant ship will pick her up. Angelica tries in every possible way to keep Jack and begs him not to leave her. She even says that she is pregnant with his child. But Jack floats away. Jack finds Gibbs, who has used Sparrow's compass to locate all the captured ships that Blackbeard has magically shrunk and bottled, including the Black Pearl. It remains to figure out how to return the ships to their current size.

Post-credits scene

After the end credits, there is a short scene in which Angelique, who is on the island, finds a Jack Sparrow voodoo doll made by Blackbeard, washed ashore by the waves, which was thrown into the river by the zombie quartermaster during the search for the Source.

 

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