The Goat-Gland
Transplantation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

5

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

Though dealing exactly with a surgical subject, this book is a
layman’s word to laymen. It is an attempt to say to the general public a
few things about this amazing work of Dr. J. R. Brinkley, of
Milford, Kansas, which he is debarred from saying for himself in this
simple form. He has under consideration a book of his own covering the
subject of Goat-Gland Transplantation, his experiments, successes,
failures, theories, and conclusions, which will probably be issued
during the winter of 1922, and in that book he expects to treat his
subject exhaustively with full medical and surgical detail, in a manner
acceptable to the medical profession. But, in the meantime, no
satisfactory effort has been made to tell the story to the general
public, except in the fragmentary form of occasional newspaper notices.
The author feels that the chief interest in this matter abides with the
patient rather than with the practitioner, or, if not the chief
interest, at least an equal interest. It seems proper, therefore, that
the subject should be briefly dealt with at this time, while it is yet
in its infancy, in such a manner that the general public may grasp the
essentials of what is being done in America in this new application of
endocrinology. Some attention is paid to the pioneer work of Dr. Frank
Lydston of Chicago in the transplanting of human glands into human
beings, but rather
6

by way of emphasizing the fact that Dr. Brinkley, with the choice of
human, monkey, goat, or sheep glands before him, chose the goat-glands
in preference to any other for his field of experiment and operation,
and has never for a moment regretted his choice, or seen any reason to
alter it.

Without any wish to enter upon a controversy, the author is impelled
to take some notice of the statement of Dr. Serge Voronoff of Paris,
who, during his recent visit to the United States, announced that he
pinned his faith almost exclusively to the glands of the anthropoid apes
as most suitable for transplantation into human beings, while he
lamented the natural scarcity of obtainable material. Dr. Voronoff is
credited with having performed over 150 transplantations upon rams, but
none whatever of goat-glands upon human beings, and not more than two or
three of simian glands upon human beings. His statement, therefore, that
successful transplantation of the glands of the goat into a human being
is “impossible, and cannot succeed,” is empirical, and entirely
unsupported by any experience of his own in the matter. Against it, and
completely confuting it, we set the clear conclusions of Dr. Brinkley,
backed by his unequalled record of over 600 successful transplants of
goat-glands into men and women, during the past three years. Since there
is no other human being who has had experience sufficient in this matter
upon which he may justly found an opinion, it seems to the author that
only one man, Dr. Brinkley himself, is qualified to speak
7

at all, and until members of the medical profession here and in Europe
have mastered Dr. Brinkley’s technique, and learned what to do, and how
and why, and what not to do, and why not, a dogmatic negative is
not the proper comment with regard to the question of whether successful
transplantation of goat-glands can be made upon human beings. If, after
learning what Dr. Brinkley has learned by laborious experiments,
continued for years, they find that their conclusions differ from his,
they will at least have earned the right to speak. But it is
unreasonable to suppose, in that event, that their conclusions would in
any way or degree differ from Dr. Brinkley’s conclusion that, in brief,
the implanting of the glands of the young goat into men and women is an
actual triumph of modern surgery and medical skill, which has resulted,
in hundreds of cases, clearly recorded, and filed for reference, in
rejuvenating both men and women; removing impotence from old men; curing
arterio-sclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, in every case treated;
curing five cases of Dementia Praecox out of a total of five cases
treated; curing six cases of Locomotor Ataxia out of six cases treated;
curing two cases of Paralysis Agitans out of two cases treated;
restoring normal conditions in one hundred cases of Psychopathia
Sexualis; bringing about the parenthood of barren women and impotent men
not yet past middle-age; restoring the function of menstruation or
regular periodicity to women who have passed through the change of life;
and, in
8

a word, making good in the cure of so-called incurables, and doing
something that was never done before, to our knowledge, in the history
of the earth.

It is not the intention in this little book to follow Dr. Brinkley in
exact detail through his amazing list of cases of all manner of diseases
cured by this treatment. His files are open to the profession at all
times, and the records may be consulted by the earnest investigator at
the hospital at Milford, Kansas.

The intention in this little book is to cover particularly that phase
of human longing which asks that the clock be turned back, and that old
age be deferred.

It is a fact beyond all gainsaying that Dr. Brinkley’s operation has
in truth cheated old age of its toll in very many cases of both sexes,
and the improvement, or rejuvenation, affects both the minds and bodies
of those treated by this method; and this rejuvenation is lasting to the
extent of the doctor’s observation. It would be presuming to say that it
is a permanent improvement. Upon that point no one has any right to
offer an opinion, because there are no facts upon which to found it. But
Dr. Brinkley’s earliest cases, operated upon three years ago, up to the
present time have shown no diminution whatever in the good effects
secured. Neither the women nor the men have lost any particle of their
increased vitality during this lapse of time. Who can say how long the
good effects will continue? Dr. Brinkley’s opinion is that the
improvement will run for possibly fifteen years, at the end
9

of which time he expects to re-operate upon any cases that show a
slowing-down in the life-processes, and believes that the introduction
of two new glands after that time will result in a return of the
vitality in full force as before. That is his guess of the probable
duration of the improvement, but it is quite possible that his estimate
errs on the side of conservatism. There is one assuring and comforting
fact, however, bearing on this point, which should be carefully noted
here, namely, when a retransplantation was made by Dr. Brinkley upon a
goat which had first been cured of old age by transplantation of new
glands, which was allowed to retain this new adolescence for a year, and
was then deprived of the glands, causing a speedy return to the
miserable condition of old age and its ills, and which was then
re-operated upon and given two new glands, the instant improvement was
every whit as noticeable and as perfect in this second implantation as
in the first. Now it is a reasonable inference from this clear-cut
result that Dr. Brinkley is right in his opinion that a second
transplantation of the goat-glands into a human being after a lapse of
years, when the first implant may be expected to have worn itself thin,
will result in the same improvement in the physical and mental condition
of either man or woman as took place upon the first implant. This is, in
fact, the basis of his theory that the normal age of man and woman today
can be surely extended from the three score and ten limit to possibly
twice that number of years. You are invited to consider what
10

this discovery of Dr. Brinkley’s operation, for it is no less than a
discovery, would have meant to the world in the prolongation of the
lives of those benefactors in all fields of human endeavor, Literature,
Science, Art, etc., if it had been known and understood when Shakespeare
wrote, when Darwin worked, when Rubens painted, and when Patti sang. It
will please your fancy to picture what might have been, but we have
before us the consideration of what is, and it is more than comforting
to know that we shall deal here with the hard cold facts of what is
being done today, and will be done tomorrow. This is no poet’s dream,
but the stern reality of a young surgeon’s work in hospital, extending
over three memorable years of achievement in a virgin field. Dr.
Brinkley has worked out his problem alone, save for the devoted aid of
his wife, who is also a licensed physician. He is today a poor man, and
expects to remain so, because he has refused every alluring offer made
him looking to the establishment of this Goat-Gland operation as a
commercial proposition on a big scale. He is governed by his ethical
vows, and retains his independence, but the world would call him a fool
for not turning his discovery to his greatest pecuniary profit. Since he
prefers to remain true to his ideals in this matter it is for us at
least to be thankful, and accord him the recognition to which the
scientist is entitled who puts his work above his profits.

Chicago, April, 1921.

11

CHAPTER I

DR. BRINKLEY’S THEORY

We are not privileged to be discursive in a little book which seeks
to hit the nail on the head in every paragraph, drive it home in every
page, and clinch it in every chapter, and there would be no excuse,
therefore, for sketching, even in brief outline, the history of the
various attempts that have been made, from Brown-Sequard, with his
Elixir, to Metchnikoff, with his benevolent bacteria of the intestinal
tract, to extract from Life its secret of human longevity. It has been a
long quest, and, in the main, fruitless, though it might be said in
fairness that Brown-Sequard’s method of using the expressed testicular
juice as a medicine, by mouth or injection, for the renewal of youth,
was probably the true parent of the present familiar method of using the
extracts of various glands, or the pulverized substance of the glands
themselves, notably the thyroid and the adrenal, as medicines to be
taken internally for the relief of various diseased conditions. The
constant objection to such form of medication is, of course, that when
the medicine is stopped the good results stop, so that a temporary
relief is the utmost that can be hoped for from the method. Genius is
synthetic, elliptic, sudden, but always clear and sure. Dr. Brinkley
began with a theory, and by no means a new theory. From the theory he
deduced rapidly,
12

and acted. The results of the acts proved the truth of the theory. That
theory has been variously stated, its most familiar form being, “In all
living forms the basis of all energy is sex-energy.”

Looking about for facts to confirm or disprove this assertion all
investigators have been faced with similar phenomena, such as:

When the male fowl is sterilized in order that he may grow big and
fat for the market later he loses his cock’s plumage and gains in
weight. In the psychic domain the changes are still more marked. The
capon is a coward, shunning the contest for supremacy. He does not
forage for the hens, inviting them to feed upon what he has found, but
looks after himself first and last. He is lazy, sluggish, and
selfish.

The stallion is a proud and beautiful animal, and Job’s description
of the war-horse “He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength,
He goeth on to meet the armed men!” with its context, is still the best
word-painting we have of the majesty of the horse in full possession of
his sexual powers. The gelding is tractable and useful, and the absence
of the fiery impatience of the stallion fits the gelding for man’s
use.

When men are castrated, as in the East, in youth, where they are
prized as custodians of the harem, they are fat, usually large of frame,
but short-lived. The growth of hair on the head is often scant; on the
face and body it is altogether missing. The voice is high, partaking of
a treble quality. When through surgical
13

operation or accident it happens that a man is deprived of the
testicular glands in youth, early manhood, or even middle-age, the same
changes follow as in the case of the eunuch, the hair on face and body
disappears, the voice changes from deep to high tone, and mentally the
man develops inertia and cowardice. Physically, he puts on fat almost
immediately.

When women have, for any reason, had their ovaries removed by
surgical operation, marked changes follow, which vary much in detail,
but carry certain general similarities. The face and body age rapidly in
appearance, and there is a slowing up of functions of the organs, with a
tendency to masculinity in tastes, behavior, feelings.

Noting these and many other phenomena, as many had done before him,
Dr. Brinkley concluded that the testes of the male and the ovaries of
the female performed corresponding offices for each sex, generating the
vital fluids which, when not fulfilling their primary object of
reproducing the species, were turned back into the blood and absorbed by
the tissues for the benefit of the individual’s physical and mental
processes. Normal activity of the secretions of the sex-glands,
therefore, meant, in Dr. Brinkley’s opinion, right nourishment for all
the cells of the body, and right functioning of all the organs of the
body. The strength and speed of the stallion in health were as much due
to the right action of the sex-glands as his full-arched neck, his
blazing eye, or his thick mane and tail. And since the capon and
14

the eunuch acquired a cowardice that avoided fatigue, effort, or
conflict, it was clear that the mental qualities were as directly
influenced by the testicular secretion as the physical. It followed that
the well-nourished brain, capable of sustained concentration and clear
thinking, must necessarily be the brain that was fed by the normal
activity of the sex-glands, and it also followed that since youth in man
and woman is the time of matured beauty of face and form in man and
woman, when sexual secretions are of normal activity, therefore, the
sexual secretions were mainly responsible for the development of matured
beauty of face and form. From this it was clear and evident that the
haggard face, the lined face, the over-thin or the over-fat body, phemonena
familiar to all of us in men and women who have passed their youth, were
due in the main to lack of nourishment of the body-cells by the seminal
fluid, with lack of proper functioning of the organs, and resultant lack
of proper elimination of waste matter from the system, producing that
condition of slowing-down of the machine which is a part of the aging
process of the body and mind of man and woman, as seen in all men and
all women today.

It is important always that you realize that though we may seem to
stress the physical improvement in human beings brought about by this
gland-transplantation, the more important change of the two is the
mental, and Dr. Brinkley’s theory that ALL ENERGY IS SEX-ENERGY means
exactly that the powerful brain equally with the beautiful face owes
15

its strength and vigor exactly to the right functioning of the
sex-glands.

We must not be accused here of running to extravagance. It is not
stated that all human brains are of equal power or can be developed to
equal power. It is stated that all human brains of unusual power are
brains that are well-nourished by the testicular secretions, and it is
implied, with full understanding of what this statement leads to, that
if, for any reason, there is an interference with this sex-gland
activity, the unusual brain will cease in a short time to be unusual in
its power, grasp, and faculty of clear, continuous thought. Similarly it
is stated that if this unusual brain, after losing its power of
sustained thinking, is again fed by the renewed activities of the
sex-glands, it will re-establish its power, and the mind will display
its former brilliance.

You see how amazing and far-reaching is the application of this
apparently simple theory that sex-energy is the basis of all human
energy.

It is, after all, only another way of saying that all things proceed
from a common source, that Life is One, that Mind and Body derive from
the same source, that energy is so much an integral of matter, that in
the final analysis matter is only static energy; since the atom is made
of molecules, and molecules of electrons, and electrons of electricity,
or energy.

In saying, therefore, that sex-energy is at the basis of all human
energy we may quite possibly be trending towards a solution of the
world-old question of what Life itself is.
16

Some day, without a doubt, we shall surprise this secret at its source.
At present we are fortunate to have discovered, through Dr. Brinkley’s
careful proving of his theory, that human energy, no matter whether its
manifestation be physical or mental, has a common base of supply, the
sex-glands, and that their activity determines a brilliant mentality, or
a dull brain; a state of health, or a state of disease; beauty of
form and feature and skin, or wrinkles, sallowness and ugliness. These
appearances and qualities are phenomena which have the same source, or
base. Many have felt this to be true. Dr. Brinkley alone has had the wit
and skill to find the means to solve the problem as it should be solved
to be of any value to humanity, namely, to discover how the inactivity
can be changed to activity, how the blood of man and woman can be
charged anew with the life-giving hormones, perhaps, or whatever may be
the name of that substance secreted by the sex-glands and used by the
blood to nourish all the cells of the body, which MUST be present in the
system if body and mind are to continue to function at their best.

16

DR. AND
MRS. BRINKLEY

17

CHAPTER II

THE PRACTICE. MEN

Dr. Brinkley began his experiments in gland-transplanting upon
animals in the year 1911, three years before the European War, using
goats, sheep, and guinea-pigs as his subjects. He ran beyond the limits
of his resources in this experimental work on animals, which was
interrupted by his enlistment in the army, and assignment to service as
First Lieutenant in the Medical Corps. Passed fit for Foreign Duty he
was nevertheless unable to get across to France, and remained, like many
another good surgeon, on duty in various southern camps.

Returning to civilian life he took up his quest again, varying a
general medical and surgical practice by continued observation and
experiment in gland-transplantations upon animals, leaning ever more
strongly towards the exclusive use of goats. About this time he heard of
the work of Professor Steinach of Vienna in grafting the glands of rats,
and producing changes in the character and appearance of the animals by
inverting the process of nature and transplanting male glands into
females, and vice versa, sometimes with success. He had followed with
the greatest interest also the experiments of Dr. Frank Lydston of
Chicago, who performed his first human-gland transplantation upon
himself, an
18

example of courage that falls not far short of heroism. But Dr. Brinkley
was never favorably impressed with the idea of using the glands of a
human being for the renovation of the life-force of another human being.
He was looking to the young of the animal kingdom to furnish him with
the material he proposed to use to improve the functioning of human
organs, and more certainly as time passed he drew to the conclusion that
in the goat, and in the goat alone, was to be found that gland-tissue
which, because of its rapid maturity, potency, and freedom from those
diseases to which humanity is liable, was most sure under right
conditions of implantation to feed, nourish, grow into and become a part
of, human gland-tissue.

Later we will dwell a little upon some of his results. It is worthy
of note in passing that his first experiment upon a human being was an
unqualified success. He transplanted the goat-glands into a farmer who
was forty-six years of age, happily married, but childless, and one year
after the transplantation a child was born, who was christened “Billy”
in honor of the circumstances responsible for his birth. By patient
selection Dr. Brinkley has found that the Toggenburg breed of Swiss goat
gives him the best possible stock to use in his gland-work. This choice
was forced upon him by results obtained by the use of other breeds. He
found that the Toggenburg goat gave him best results because the animal,
besides its sound health, carries none of that persistent odor which is
peculiar to male goats the world over,
19

and which, if shed abroad by a human being would make his neighborhood
unpleasant. He found that the best age of the male goats whose glands
were to be transplanted was from three weeks to a month. He found that
the best age at which to use the ovaries of the female goat was one
year, because, unlike its youthful brother, the female goat’s
sex-activities are not developed before that age.

His method of transplanting the glands into a man is by making two
incisions in the man’s scrotum under simple local anesthesia,
a practically painless operation, but from this point on the
technique varies according to the conditions presented by the case. No
two cases are exactly alike, and Dr. Brinkley performs no two operations
exactly alike. That is the reason, he explains, why, with the best will
in the world to teach his fellow-practitioners what to do and how to do
it, he is nevertheless unable to state in writing exactly what treatment
to use to cover all cases. It cannot be taught by correspondence, and,
simple though it sounds to hear it, it cannot be learned by attendance
at a few clinics. It is delicate in this sense, that if it is not
rightly performed in the individual case the glands will slough. That
means loss of time, loss of temper, and the waste of a perfectly good
pair of young goat-glands. Another very important thing which his
experiments have taught Dr. Brinkley is this: the glands on being
removed from the goat must immediately be placed in a salt solution
warmed to blood-heat, and they must be used on the human being WITHIN
TWENTY
20

MINUTES from the time they are taken from the goat. No such thing is
possible as keeping these glands in the refrigerator for twenty-four
hours, or anything of that kind, before using. The more quickly after
removal from the animal they are used the more likely they are to take
hold and grow. In his men cases he uses sometimes one gland, sometimes
two; sometimes the whole gland, just as it came from the young goat,
sometimes a part of the gland only, but he leans to the opinion that the
gland of the three-weeks-old goat gives best results if used entire,
without trimming. Sometimes he lays the gland upon the outside of
the human testis, connecting part with part; sometimes he opens the
testis by incision and lays the goat-gland within the cleft. Very often
there are adhesions which must be broken down before the goat-gland can
function rightly. Very often there are unsuspected hydroceles, forming
cysts in the testicular mass, which must be cut out, or there may be
varicocele requiring attention. The patient suffers very slight
inconvenience; the local anesthetic is enough to dull the pain even of
the breaking down of the adhesions, so that it is at its worst no more
than the pain of a toothache, and lasts a very brief while. Many of the
patients converse with the doctor while the operation is proceeding. The
pain is negligible. The doctor proceeds according to the condition, age,
etc., of his patient. He may ligate, that is to say, tie off, the tubes
that connect with one testis, or the other, or both; he may not ligate
at all. It will
21

depend upon the result sought, the condition present, and the age of the
patient. Suppose the patient is an old man in whom it is desired to
produce rejuvenation; the doctor then will ligate both sides, in order
that the new glands when they take hold, and begin to feed the testes of
the man, stimulating these to a new activity, may not be overtaxed to
the point of excess usage by the patient when he returns home and finds
himself in possession of a sexual vigor that has been unknown to him for
many years. This increase in sexual vigor invariably follows,
regardless of the age of the patient. The glowing letters on file in the
doctor’s office attest this. Here, for instance, is a letter from a man
eighty-one years of age, who says, “I feel like a boy of eighteen.
This is something I have not known for more than forty years. The
goat-glands have certainly done the work for me, but I wish, doctor, you
would fix it so that I could complete the sexual act,” etc., etc.

But this completion of the sexual act is exactly the thing that is to
be avoided in the case of these old men. Remember the theory in the last
chapter, “All animal energy is sex-energy.” The conversion of this
sex-energy into other forms of energy, physical and mental, is the aim,
and this aim would be frustrated if these old men were given full power
to do as they pleased with their new-found youthful vigor. You cannot
always trust them. That is the purpose of the ligating of both sides,
making the emission of the semen impossible. The life-force, then,
having no
22

other outlet, can do nothing else but reinvigorate the entire system by
pouring its precious fluids into the blood.

Suppose, now, the case is that of a man of fifty who is physically
run down, married, and anxious to be the father of a child. In such a
case, if the man is physically sound, Dr. Brinkley will do one of two
things. After the transplantation of the new glands he will either
ligate one side permanently, and allow one testis to carry on the work
of rejuvenation while the other can be used for procreation, or he will
ligate both sides and say to the man, “I am tying off both testes
because you will need to rebuild for at least one year before you should
think of becoming a father. But I am ligating with linen thread, which
does not dissolve, and if you come back to me in one year from now I
will remove the ligatures, one or both, and you will then be able to
procreate.” This is reasonable and wise talk, and the man makes no
objection. When the year of probation, as you might call it, has
expired, the man returns to the hospital, the ligature is removed, and
he goes home in a couple of days. These things are not fairy-tales, but
solid facts, amazing as they sound to you. There are five goat-gland
babies today among Dr. Brinkley’s patients that he knows of, four boys
and one girl. There are probably many more of whom he has heard nothing,
for patients have a way of moving out of touch after awhile.

23

CHAPTER III

THE PRACTICE. WOMEN

At Dr. Brinkley’s hospital, a beautifully appointed private
residence, it is a comfort to women patients to have the doctor’s wife,
herself a competent surgeon if necessary, at hand during the actual
operation. Mrs. Brinkley administers the local anesthetic, or the
general anesthetic, if that is called for, as it sometimes is. While the
bulk of the operations performed on both men and women are
gland-transplantations, a diseased condition of tubes and ovaries
has sometimes made a laporotomy necessary, and many major operations have
been successfully performed in the white-enameled operating room. At
such times a woman clings to the presence of a woman, and Mrs.
Brinkley’s kind and pleasant manner is usually sufficient to banish all
nervousness from the woman patient.

In ordinary cases of gland-transplantation into women, where the
patient is in good physical condition, with no disease of the organs,
the operation is as simple as in the case of the man. The speculum
discloses the condition of the vagina, and the insertion of the new
ovary is into the mucous membrane of the vagina, leaving the goat-ovary
about four inches distant from the woman’s. The only incision made is a
small one, about one inch long, painless under local anesthetic, the
purpose of the
24

incision being to get a blood supply for the goat-ovary. Sometimes one
ovary is implanted, sometimes two; invariably the new ovary is trimmed
to a reduction in size. Invariably it is implanted within twenty minutes
of its removal from the nanny-goat. Unfortunately for the goat, the
removal of her ovaries usually costs her her life. She mopes for a few
days, refuses to eat, and dies. She is always given a general
anesthetic, and the removal is painless at least, if fatal. Pursuing the
conclusions drawn from his long experience, Dr. Brinkley has found that
women derive more instant benefit from the glands than men with respect
to their awakened enthusiasm, improved appearance, and recovery of the
feeling of poise and well-being. Very noticeable is the change of figure
which follows the implanting of the new ovaries in the case of a fat
woman. The change is equally marked in the case of a fat man. A man
of abnormal weight, 250 lbs., lost fifty pounds in two weeks following
the operation, during which time he remained at the hospital, feeling
well and strong, but shrinking in girth amazingly. When he left the
hospital his clothes hung about him in bags and folds. The fat woman’s
spirits seem to rise as her weight decreases, and she feels as if she
had indeed regained the buoyancy of her youth.

Dr. Brinkley by no means asserts that the woman whose ovaries have
been removed by surgical operation will grow two new ovaries after the
transplantation has been made, but he cites the case of a woman whose
ovaries had
25

been removed by surgical operation some years previous, the uterus
remaining intact, in whom he implanted two goat-ovaries, and whose
periods shortly afterwards returned on a four-day basis, with
twenty-eight-day interval. He does not say that the goat-ovaries
transplanted into the woman have grown new ovaries, but there remains
the phenomenon of the renewed menstruation, and this is very difficult
to account for. In barren women, from twenty-eight to thirty-five years
of age, in whom he has found not a diseased, but an atrophied, condition
of the ovaries, the transplantation has invariably been attended with
success to the removal of the barrenness, the new glands evidently
bringing about the development of ova. Nor does Dr. Brinkley say that in
the case of a man who has had both glands removed by surgical operation,
the transplantation will produce new glands for the man, and yet he has
had two successes to offset several failures in this very result,
without any clue to why the success followed in the one case and not in
the other. The work is yet in its infancy stage, and Dr. Brinkley is the
first to admit that there is far more about it to be known than he has
yet succeeded in knowing. He is averse to experimenting upon women
patients at this stage of his knowledge, and has many times refused to
transplant the glands for women who have requested him to perform the
operation for them. One such case was at the hospital during the
writer’s visit there in April. She was a paralysis case, quite fat,
unable to walk except by putting forward
26

one foot at a time, supported by the arm of someone on each side of her.
She was driven to the hospital in an automobile, accompanied by her
husband and daughter, from the farm—two hundred miles away! Dr.
Brinkley strongly urged her not to have the gland operation performed at
all, but she insisted upon giving it a trial. It is too soon yet to
speak of results in this case, but in Dr. Brinkley’s view it is asking
too much of the glands to expect them to produce favorable results in a
case of this severity. Yet, at this time, there was in the hospital a
young woman suffering from Dementia Praecox, whose mother had been
watching over her for twelve years, and on whom the affliction of her
daughter had so weighed that she told the writer she wished God would
take one or the other of them, because it was more than she could bear.
This young woman had been confined in the State Hospital for the Insane,
and had been treated by specialists for many years, without any benefit
at all. There was some homicidal mania, much depression, and attempts at
suicide. She could not be left alone in her room for a moment. But the
day after the transplantation of the glands this young woman embraced
her mother, and talked so rationally to her that she called in Dr.
Brinkley, and with tears repeated what her daughter had just said. Dr.
Brinkley advised her that the results were altogether too sudden to
build upon. “There will certainly be ups and downs yet,” he said. “You
must expect good days and bad days, when you will doubt if your daughter
is any
27

better. But, to make a normal recovery, she ought to show an
alternation of good and bad days, with the good days gradually drawing
ahead and becoming more frequent and more marked. I look for her to
recover entirely in a year’s time, but she will always retain her
sensitiveness and a certain amount of hysteria, so that things that
would not bother you or me will hurt her grievously. You must be
prepared to expect this to happen. But I see no reason at all why she
should not in the near future become a happy wife and mother.” The
blessings of this good mother were a reward in themselves, and were so
received by the doctor and his wife. When such results as this are
obtained it becomes very difficult to draw a line and say, “The
goat-glands will do no good here.” Physicians of the best standing had
said to this poor mother before she took her daughter to Kansas, “So
you’re determined to try the goat-glands? You are wasting your time and
money. Brinkley is nothing but a fake. If there were any help for your
daughter we could cure her. We can do nothing. There is no help for
her!” This was repeated to the writer by the mother, and he vouches for
its truth. Is it not evident that a better understanding of the
goat-gland operation is highly desirable among physicians and surgeons
today?

Quite a frequent style of inquiry from women to the doctor runs like
this: “I am in good health, and in every way normal; age 35.
I want to remain as I am, and grow no older in appearance than I am
today. Do you think
28

that the goat-gland operation would keep me from getting any older?” To
this kind of inquiry Dr. Brinkley makes a stereotyped reply, something
as follows: “If you are today in good health I should not advise the
goat-gland operation, but would advise it in your case as soon as you
have passed the change of life, in ten or fifteen years from now.” To
the writer he said, “I cannot conscientiously advise this woman to
submit to this operation, because I don’t know that the glands would
advantage her in any way. They might, or they might not. I don’t
know. It is therefore experimental work, and I cannot take her money for
an experiment. I must have something definite in the way of
experience to go upon. There must be some evident condition of
ill-health to be set right. But, on the other hand, though I will not
advise these people to take the gland operation, there may be something
in her idea that the glands will arrest age and hold it back.
I have never been in a position where I could afford to experiment
on young and healthy human beings, and this point can only be settled by
such experiment upon healthy and young human beings. I should say
at a guess that the operation would do her no good, but you understand
that this is a guess only. I do not know anything about it. All
such things as this we shall learn by degrees by further experiment. At
present I am kept busy attending to cases of real sickness, or defined
conditions of arrest of function, where I have experience to guide me in
saying that the gland-operation will be of benefit, but, if I could
29

afford to perform a few of these experimental operations for nothing, at
no cost to the patient, I should be glad of the chance. There is so
much yet to be learned in this work.”

30

CHAPTER IV

DR. BRINKLEY’S OWN STORY

The New York American, issue of March 14, 1920, carried the
following articles:

GOAT GLANDS SUCCESSFUL

Head of Hospital Tells of the Curing of Sterility by the New
Discovery and of Control of Sex Through Simple Operation—Disease
and Insanity Also Banished.

By Dr. W. H. Ballou

Dr. J. R. Brinkley, head of the Brinkley-Jones Hospital and Training
School for Nurses at Milford, Kansas, has now furnished to the
scientific world what are termed “ample proof cases” that by
implantation of the fresh interstitial glands of the goat sterile people
may bear children of either sex desired. Already the town is filling up
with childless people waiting to be operated upon. Incidentally, cases
of insanity are cured within thirty-six hours after a simple operation.
Other diseases also disappear. Milford is a small town 150 miles west of
Kansas City. Here Dr. Brinkley has performed more than 100 major
operations, and more than 300 minor operations, each one a success;
cured more than 1,000 cases of Influenza, without losing a case; and
cured one “hopeless” case of sleeping-sickness.

The practice of Dr. Brinkley accords with the investigations of
glands by Professor
31

Arthur Keith, president of the Anthropological Section of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science. Professor Keith states: “The
interstitial gland has as much to do with the growth, in certain
particulars, as the pituitary gland has in general bodily growth. All of
the changes we see in children after they begin to grow, which bring to
prominence racial characteristics, depend upon the action of the
interstitial gland. If the gland is removed, or remains in abeyance, the
maturing of the body is prolonged or altered. Sex differences, the more
robust manifestations of males, are more emphatic in the white than in
either the black or yellow race. This is shown in the beardless face and
almost hairless body of Mongols and Negroes, and especially in Nilotic
tribes of Negroes with long, stork-like legs, which is a manifestation
of abeyance of the interstitial gland. As she grows aged, and her sexual
condition closes, woman assumes the coarser and more masculine
appearance, due to the loss of functioning of this gland. It is the
prime factor in differentiating the races of mankind.”

Kingsley affirms, in “Comparative Morphology of Vertebrates” that
“interstitial cells carries secretions in man which pass into the blood.
They apparently cause secondary male characters such as, among other
things, hair on the face and change of voice at the close of boyhood.
They govern most female characteristics.”

We are on the eve of a tremendous revolution, which must cause a
drastic revision of all
32

works on zoology, anatomy, genetics, physiology, and evolution in
general. The enormous investigations of glands and their secretions have
sprung up and focused since the middle of the World War period. These
investigations are rapidly resulting in a new surgery and a new practice
of medicine.

Discoverer of New Method of Rejuvenation Tells History

By Dr. J. R. Brinkley

My first operation was upon a husband in a childless family,
forty-six years old, and married for sixteen years. His wife was
forty-two years old. I transplanted in him the interstitial gland
of a male goat. His health improved almost at once, and he thereafter
looked and acted like a man many years younger. Within a year he was the
father of a fine baby boy. The father continues to retain his improved
vitality. The boy was named “Billy” in honor of the goat.

Next a young woman came to me for the operation. I found her
glands diseased, removed them, and replaced them with the interstitial
glands of a male goat. Her recovery was speedy. A year later she
gave birth to a strong boy baby, now four months old. These were but the
beginnings. Other women desired female offspring and have received the
glands of the female goat. There are now some twenty-five cases in the
hospital at Milford receiving goat-glands.

32

THE DEMENTIA PRAECOX CASE,
AND MISS LEWIS HEAD NURSE

33

Insanity Is Cured. In the hospital is a man who came from New
York City recently and received two male goat-glands upon his arrival.
During his past he had been in three New York Insane Asylums, and had
gone to the Mayo and other institutions. Nothing had been accomplished
for his case, and he had been told finally that he was incurable and
must remain a mental defective. He had decided to commit suicide if I
failed to remedy his condition. In thirty-six hours after the insertion
of goat-glands his temperature had risen to above 103 degrees, but
became normal twenty-four hours later, and has since remained so. His
mind has gradually cleared, he looks and feels younger, and is
contemplating marriage. The hideous dreams and nightmares which had
destroyed his sleep and rest for many past years have left him, and he
now eats and sleeps well. Apparently the cure is complete.

A case of Dementia Praecox, violent in character, was brought to me
as a result of the cure in the above case. Restraint was necessary, even
to the strapping of his hands, feet and body to the bed. He was in all
respects a typical insane asylum case, destined to remain under
restraint. The second day after two male goat glands had been inserted
he spoke to me, saying, “Doctor, won’t you please remove the straps so I
can rest comfortably? I am perfectly aware of everything now and
feel as if snatched from the grave.” We removed his shackles and on the
following day he called for books to read. He made a beautiful
34

convalescence and a perfect recovery. He is now with his wife and
children at home, transacting his business as a normal and sane man.
Since 90 per cent of insanity cases and 75 per cent of divorce cases are
due to diseased glands, I may be pardoned for holding out hope to a
vast, hopeless class, numbered at over 3,000,000 Americans.

Sterility Is Banished. As a rule the women who come to me for
treatment prefer to bear male children. In such cases it is essential
that they should receive the interstitial glands of the male goat. We
have in hospital at the moment, however, a childless married woman
of twenty-eight, who wishes devoutly for a female child. We found her
sterile of a natural gland and inserted the gland of a female goat. Her
transformation has been remarkable, and I am confident her first child
will be a girl.

You naturally ask about the future, which can only be premised. Women
who have received male goat-glands will continue to bear male children,
if any; those that receive the female goat glands will continue to bear
girl babies. The future carries a promise of much information to be
gleaned along this line. I cannot say what would happen if the
husband were to receive male goat glands and the wife female goat
glands. Their progeny might or might not be mixed. We will try it on any
sterile couple that desires, knowing positively that normal children of
one or both sexes will result.

Where substitution of glands of any character is essential, they
should be taken from the goat operated upon immediately before the
35

human implanting, and be inserted at once. Glands should not be taken
from the ape or other animal for human use. The goat is immune to
tuberculosis, He is a clean animal, full of health and vitality. Apes
are very subject to tuberculosis. One can never tell whether an ape is
diseaseless or not. It is generally unlawful to substitute our human
glands, and, even though they could be readily obtained, they are apt to
be infected with some disease.

The essential element of foods is the vitamin, a nitrogenous
substance of indeterminate nature. Without it we would starve, though
eating plenty of proteins, carbo-hydrates, fats, salts and water.
Nothing will sustain life if the vitamins are absent from the diet.
Goat’s milk contains these important substances in greater abundance
than any other animal food.

The Goat Reacts Like Human. The goat alone among mammals
reacts to poisons almost identically as human beings react, and the
poison gases of the war had precisely the same effect upon him as upon
the soldiers. So 1,500 goats did their bit in the war in an experimental
way. These points in his favor, and other similarities to man, are the
reasons which led me to select the goat as the best possible material in
this work. Goat-glands alone seemed to be harmonious and sympathetic
when transplanted into the human body. In other words, the hormones of
goat and man agree.

We still know less about the causes of hormones than the effects. On
account of the
36

mutual tolerance of goat and human hormones the goat gland speedily
attaches a blood supply in the human body, and cell by cell is replaced
so that it soon functions as the original gland would had it been
present and normal. The new gland is also exceptional in that it does
not have to be placed near or at the location of the proper human gland.
It can be inserted in any place where it is not liable to injury, even
in the hip in men.*

It should be noted that I do not claim to make old men young again,
or that I have discovered the secret fountain of youth. I am
engaged in the practical work of giving health, normality and progeny to
men and women who have been cheated out of their natural heritage.
I have named the process “re-creative gland operation” in
accordance with the belief now general among genetists and
anatomists that if the clock of time is ever to be turned back for
humanity it can only be through glandular transplantations. Glands have
proved much superior to any animal extract or serum in this class of
cases. Often in serums the poison elements are retained, but not the
nutritive. We use the whole goat gland, as a rule, because we do not
know in what part of it the hormones hide. The attempted
transplantations of kidneys have thus far failed because the kidney
product is waste matter, not live cells as in the case of the
interstitial glands.

*Author’s Note.—The date of this interview is more
than one year old, March, 1920. Today Dr. Brinkley implants the male
glands by incision in the acrotum of the man, and in no other place whatever,
having found this method of operation the most sure in results. Today he
uses only the male goat-glands for the man, and only the female goat’s
ovaries for the woman.

37

(From The Chicago Tribune, of date February 1, 1920.)

GOAT GLANDS GIVE BABIES TO CHILDLESS.

Woman and Three Men Become Parents After Transplantation.

Milford, Kansas.—A surgeon in this little Kansas town has
lifted from womanhood the curse of sterility.

He is Dr. J. R. Brinkley, chief surgeon of the Brinkley-Jones
Hospital of Milford.

For several years Dr. Brinkley has made a study of the
transplantation of the interstitial glands and its results. Two years
ago he performed his first operation upon a human being. Since then he
has circumvented nature four times, making it possible for three men and
one woman to become parents. He is awaiting results hopefully in four
other cases.

The most remarkable case is that of the woman. She is a young married
woman of Milford, who had been married several years and had despaired
of bearing children. About a year and a half ago she heard of Dr.
Brinkley and his success with interstitial gland operations. She went to
him and asked him if he could cure her sterility. Dr. Brinkley made no
promises—he never does. But he told her
38

the operation was a simple one, and that it would improve her health,
even if it failed to give her a child. She gladly submitted to the
operation.

Dr. Brinkley removed an interstitial gland from a live male goat. He
made a slight incision in the woman’s abdomen, inserted the gland and
stitched it in. In a week the patient was about her household duties
again. Six months ago she gave birth to a healthy baby. It was a boy.
The mother was the happiest woman in Kansas.

The surgeon had treated six other cases similarly, but all were
men—men who loved children and yearned for parenthood. Three of
the men are now fathers of healthy children.

In each case Dr. Brinkley had used male goat glands—and all the
babies were boys.

Then this occurred to him:—

“If I transplant female goat glands maybe the babies will be girls!”
He decided to try it, and two months ago his opportunity arrived.
A woman came to him just as his first woman patient had come. She
was 28 years old, had been married six years, and was childless. Dr.
Brinkley performed the operation, using the glands of a female goat. He
is now awaiting results. “I do not say this woman will have a girl
baby,” said Dr. Brinkley today, “but I am experimenting. It may be
merely a coincidence that all the babies so far have been boys. So far
as I know, I am the first surgeon to experiment with gland
implantation in women. I am also the first to use goat glands in
preference to others.

39

“Unquestionably I have cured sterility in one woman, and I have
utmost faith that it can be cured in any other, so long as all of her
organs are not missing. The operation is a little more difficult than it
is in the case of men, but no more serious. Where a man recovers, and
can get about, in two or three days, a woman recovers in a
week.

“All of my patients are much improved in their general health as a
result of the operation. I wouldn’t say that this operation holds
the secret of eternal youth. I don’t know. All my patients have
been between the ages of 32 and 48, so that I cannot speak from
experience. I believe, however, that the operation will prolong
life; I know that it improves the health in every way. But I cannot
say that it will restore the bloom of youth to an old man’s cheek.
I am considering, however, an operation upon a man 80 years old who
came to me and asked for the operation. Whether he would be able to have
children as a result of it I do not know.”

None of Dr. Brinkley’s patients had been parents until they came to
him. Now the oldest of the babies is 13 months; another is 8 months and
a third is 6. Dr. Brinkley does not claim to be a specialist in gland
implantation; he is merely a practicing surgeon who has made a study of
the subject and is doing what he can to help unfortunate people. The
doctor’s modesty until now has hidden his remarkable discovery from the
world, but he is now writing a report on his results.

40

(From the San Diego, Cal., Union, of date, February 7,
1920.)

Scientists who formerly ignored Dr. Brinkley’s letters are now
writing to him asking him for exhaustive reports of his work. The
sarcastic attitude came largely heretofore from those who were unwilling
to believe that such operations of the highest scientific importance,
were being performed in an out of the way village that couldn’t be found
on a railway map.

Dr. Brinkley, who was graduated from the Medical Department of Loyola
University, and who has traveled over all the world, explained his
residence in Milford. After leaving the army he sought a location in a
small town, selecting Milford as the result of a newspaper
advertisement, and going there, found it to consist of less than 200
inhabitants. But the surrounding territory was rich and the farmers
prosperous, and in the isolated location he saw the chance of continuing
experiments begun at Bellevue Hospital, New York. Later he found himself
compelled to build his own hospital to care for the patients that
arrived, attracted by the news of the goat-gland operations. Dr.
Brinkley is 35 years old and has been a skilled surgeon for more than 15
years. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, the American Medical Association, the Missouri Valley Medical
Association, the Kansas Medical Association, and a Fellow of the
Clinical Congress of Internal Medicine. He is also a 32nd Degree
Mason.

41

In the treatment of pneumonia and influenza Dr. Brinkley uses serums
of his own invention. In the treatment of his cases of influenza last
year the reports of the health authorities of Geary County, Kansas, show
that Dr. Brinkley didn’t lose a single case. Milford is in Geary County,
and Geary County swears by Dr. Brinkley.

42

CHAPTER V

A YEAR OF DEVELOPMENT

The intention in offering for your perusal the preceding newspaper
accounts of Dr. Brinkley’s work in the opening months of the year 1920
was to show you what his views at that time were regarding the value of
the gland operation which he has since made his life-work. The Chicago
Tribune speaks of it as incidental to his general work as a surgeon. Dr.
Brinkley himself speaks of shortly beginning an experiment upon an old
man of 80. A year later he looked back upon a record of achievement
of the most astounding results in operations performed upon men of 75,
80, and even 81. During this past year he has perfected his technique,
implants the male glands exclusively into men and the female glands or
ovaries into women, and has definitely selected the scrotum of the man
as the only right place in which to introduce the goat-glands for the
transplantation. You are here viewing the development of a great
scientific discovery from the beginning of its employment upon human
beings. Nor is there any reason to suppose that the year 1922 will
produce no embellishment of value in the form of a wider application of
the method. Some very striking limitations have been established during
the past year’s work. For instance:

If the blood examination shows a positive
43

Wasserman test for syphilis it is useless to transplant the glands,
because they will certainly slough out. Active syphilis is antagonistic
to the goat-tissue. Even latent syphilis, showing a negative Wasserman,
is likely to produce a slough of the glands. Nothing should be concealed
from the doctor, of course, and yet it has happened at the hospital at
Milford that a patient on being questioned in advance of the operation
has emphatically stated that he had never contracted syphilis, and three
days later, after the transplantation, when the sloughing of the new
glands had shown something definitely wrong with the blood, this patient
admitted that he had not spoken the truth in the matter, but had
contracted the disease many years previously. On the other hand, in Locomoter
Ataxia, in which there is invariably a history of syphilis, the
goat-glands take hold without exception, the efficacy of the
transplantation in this disease, hitherto incurable by any means known
to man, being due to the power of the new glands to cause a dissolving
of scar-tissue, in the opinion of Dr. Abrams of San Francisco, who
investigated the remarkable results attained by Dr. Brinkley in his
cures of Locomoter Ataxia by the goat-gland operation.

If the goat-glands are transplanted into members of the Hebrew race
there follows invariably a high temperature persisting for several days,
after which the cure proceeds normally without any untoward occurrence.
Glands transplanted into a negro will slough, or, at least, they did so
in the one case on
44

which Dr. Brinkley performed the operation, for no apparent reason other
than a supposed racial antagonism to goat-tissue. No experiments have
yet been conducted upon Japanese, Chinese, Hindus, or our native
Indians. When the blood count shows high in white (leucocytes) and low
in red, the glands will slough, but the reverse condition does not hold
true. And now let us consider the case of Mr. Ernst, of Morganville,
Kansas, who is over 77 years of age, and who permits the use of his name
and address. One of the most curious features of his case is that when
he came for the operation his hair, white as snow, was thin on the
scalp, the color of the skin of the scalp showing through the hair, as
it frequently does in the aged. That was almost a year ago. Mr. Ernst’s
hair is now turning black all over the head, the scalp shows a
thickening in the growth, or an increase in the quantity of hair, and
you cannot now see the scalp through the hair. Mr. Ernst wrote an
excellent letter to Dr. Brinkley two months ago, and states that he has
no objection at all to its reproduction. When a personal story of this
kind is offered for use it is as well to use it in its original form,
but this so rarely happens in this work that for its uniqueness alone it
would be worth while to put it before you. With some notable exceptions,
the men patients who have been operated upon by Dr. Brinkley feel
ashamed of the fact. Not for anything would they let their friends or
acquaintances know anything about it. The veil of secrecy is, of course,
never lifted by the doctor. The women
45

patients have none of this false shame, apparently, but enjoy discussing
the results of the operation with their friends. It is, perhaps, natural
that a United States Senator, two of whom have been operated on with
much advantage to themselves, should shrink from the jocose remarks of
friend or foe and the curiosity of acquaintances. There is good reason,
in the case of a public man, for avoidance of notice in the matter, and
that is one of the advantages of having the hospital located in the tiny
village of Milford. If freedom from observation is the wish it is
certainly gratified there. Agreeing, therefore, on the whole, with the
reticence of the public man in this matter, we yet feel a certain
satisfaction in the robust avowals of Mr. Ernst. Follows his letter of
January, 1921:

“I am 77 years old, employed as commercial salesman by one of the
largest manufacturing companies of its kind in the world, and command a
good salary and the confidence of my employers. Since my operation at
Dr. Brinkley’s hospital I am now their free lance salesman, opening up
new territory and making good money. Any doubting Thomas may send me a
self-addressed envelope if he questions the genuineness of what I say
here about myself, and I will take time to answer him. First, the
operation is absolutely painless. For a number of years I was a martyr
to Sciatica and Muscular Rheumatism. I used every Patent Medicine I
could hear of, besides Osteopathy and Chiropractic, and innumerable
prescriptions from physicians, and received no
46

benefit at all. The sciatic trouble was bad enough, but to this you must
add loss of memory, hydrocele, kidney trouble, constipation, no
appetite, and insomnia. Most nights two hours sleep was the most I could
get, for the pains were incessant. I read in … the Kansas City
Post last Spring about Dr. Brinkley’s Goat-Gland operation, and
decided to try it right away. I was in such misery I would have
tried anything. Now I want to tell you, in the fewest words, that
the amazing truth is that I have not had a twinge of pain of any kind at
all since the operation, and have only a memory of my former suffering.
This is a marvelous thing. I have the feeling of a youth. Whenever
you want to hear from me I will write again and tell you what changes
have taken place in me as the result of this operation. If I was asked
to put a cash value upon the operation in my own case I could not do it,
but I can say that all I possess in cash would be a poor equivalent for
the difference the operation has made in my life. What is the difference
in cash value between a life that is worth living and one that is
constant misery? I don’t know how you would fix that value, but
that is the difference the operation has made in me.

S. H. ERNST.”

Dr. Brinkley has kept in close touch with Mr. Ernst, and received
other letters, not for publication, in which the old gentleman went
frankly into details of the change that had been wrought in him by the
operation in the matter of astonishing sexual vigor. For
47

obvious reasons such details, while of the greatest scientific interest,
cannot be more than hinted at in a book, and we must content ourselves
with the acceptance of the fact as a fact of interest to science, to Dr.
Brinkley, to the world of aged men at our doors, and to Mr. Ernst
particularly, rejoicing in his new-found vigor.

Apart from the genuinely happy tone of his letters to Dr. Brinkley,
the phenomenon of the darkening of the hair strikes most sharply on the
attention. Perhaps our satisfaction in this particular piece of evidence
of rejuvenation is due to the fact that it is an objective proof;
something visible to the eye, tangible; something for which we are not
required to take anybody’s opinion, but can trust our eyesight for the
fact of it. It is something in which the psychic factor, the feelings,
the imagination, the auto-suggestion, does not enter at all, and that is
why it is exceedingly well worthy of note. Looking back over the years,
and casting up in your minds all the people of sixty and seventy years
of age whom you have known, can you put your finger on a single one
whose hair turned in color from white to dark and at the same time from
thin to thick? You probably cannot. Nor can the writer. It is reasonable
to conclude, therefore, that the goat-glands alone have done this thing
in the case of Mr. Ernst.

48

CHAPTER VI

THE STORY OF CHANCELLOR TOBIAS

We must go to the pages of The Chicago Evening American of
date August 18, 1920, for the story of Chancellor Tobias, written by
Lloyd Lehrbas, of the American staff, with a brief introductory note, as
follows:

(Here is one of the most remarkable news stories ever published in
any Chicago newspaper. So startling is its detail that The Chicago
Evening American in the interest of absolute accuracy submitted it
to the person most concerned for his approval, so there can be no
question concerning the facts, scientific or otherwise. Other men and
women involved are not mentioned because the facts being established in
the most important case, it is not considered necessary.)

Goat interstitial gland operations have been successfully performed
on J. J. Tobias, Chancellor of the Chicago Law School, and
thirty-five other Chicago men and women by Dr. J. R. Brinkley, of Milford, Kansas,
who has been in Chicago for the past six weeks, performing the
operations every day.

An alderman, a well-known political figure, living on the Gold Coast,
a judge, a prominent real estate man, a newspaper man,
three women, one of whom is well known on the North Shore, and other
Chicagoans, have found the lost Fountain of Youth as a result of the
49

miracle-surgeon’s transplanting the revivifying interstitial glands of a
goat into their human bodies.

48

THE BRINKLEY HOSPITAL, MILFORD, KANSAS, U.
S. A.

The story of Dr. Brinkley’s knife magic is the story of a surgeon’s
study and experimenting for nine years, ending with the successful
accomplishment of the gland operation performed on thirty-six
Chicagoans, who are alive and healthy today.

The complete story, with laboratory data, the name of one of the
prominent patients, and an authorized interview with Dr. Brinkley is
told for the first time in The Evening American today.

Successful on Women. Proof that the operation has been
successful on women as well as men makes the story of increased
interest. Until now it has been the general conception that the
operation was successful on men only. A Chicago woman is now
supremely happy because, after years of hoping, the operation has made
it possible for her to become a mother.

Five months ago, Chancellor Tobias was, in his own words, played out.
His years of teaching in the Chicago Law School had reduced his
vitality.

Chancellor Tobias went to Dr. Brinkley’s hospital and submitted to
the operation in order to relieve arterial congestion in the brain,
caused by two attacks of influenza, a year apart. So serious had
become his condition and so severe the attacks of vertigo and high blood
pressure, that his attending physician informed him he was in imminent
danger of
50

death. The planting of the interstitial glands in Chancellor Tobias’
body relieved the congestion and fully eliminated the cause.

Purged of All Ills. Today he has dropped the years from his
shoulders, purged his body and brain of ills, and stands revivified.

“I feel like a youth again,” the aged chancellor said today. “I’m a
new man.”

The stories of the other Chicagoans who have been benefited by the
operation read like fiction. They were ill, they were old, they
apparently were beyond the skill of the surgeon’s knife, or spiritual
hope. Now from their own lips come paeans of glorification for restored
vitality and youth, all due to the humble goat and the surgical skill of
a country surgeon.

Tobias’ Own Story. Today I called at the law school in the
Monadnock Building to see Chancellor Tobias and get the story from his
own lips. The reports seemed too rosy. The facts seemed overstated. The
results appeared to me unduly magnified. But here was a prominent lawyer
who had the operation performed. Here was assurance there would be no
buncombe from him.

An alert, peppy, gray-haired man sprang up to greet me, his eyes, the
eyes of youth, his step firm and sprightly, his handclasp steady and
strong. And yet he was 71 years old!

“Do you really feel younger?”

Twenty-five Years Younger. Chancellor Tobias threw out his
chest, squared his shoulders,—and smiled. “I feel twenty-five
years younger. I’m a new man, strong, and good
51

for twenty years of work,” he replied. “I was ill, old, and played
out, but the operation has completely revivified me.”

“How does it feel to have been old, and then become young again?”

“Glorious!”

Was “Played Out.” And here is Chancellor Tobias’ story of the
fountain of youth.

“After teaching for twenty-five years in the Chicago Law School,” he
said. “I was played out. I suffered intense headaches. My
eyesight began failing. There was a constant ringing in my ears.
Dizziness came with increasing regularity. Mentally and physically I was
an old man. Then I heard of Dr. Brinkley.”

Chancellor Tobias went to Milford, Kansas, as a last hope in March of
this year.

On March 26 Dr. Brinkley selected a two months’ old goat and removed
the interstitial glands. They were placed in a solution at body heat and
taken to the operating room. Dr. Tobias was given an anesthetic. Dr.
Brinkley leaned over the operating table, made a quick, accurate
incision, planted the goat gland, and fifteen minutes later the
operation was over.

Eyesight Improves. “Four days after the operation,” the
Chancellor continued, “the headaches had disappeared, and my eyesight
was greatly improved. And seven days afterwards, I left the
hospital a new man.”

One month after the operation Chancellor Tobias wrote to Dr.
Brinkley: “I really feel twenty years younger. My health has
52

improved wonderfully. I have regained my lost vigor and vitality.
I’m a recreated youth.”

And today even Chancellor Tobias’ fellow faculty members, many of
them nationally famous attorneys, admit that Dr. Tobias has improved 100
per cent.

“Almost Unbelievable.” “I hesitate to speak of this,”
Chancellor Tobias said. “It is so wonderful it is almost unbelievable.
The public cannot appreciate what the operation means. There has been
some levity over the news of the gland operations, but it should be
treated with the greatest respect and admiration. The operation has been
a success on me so I am in a position to speak authoritatively. It is
one of the greatest things of the century.”

Among the other thirty-five patients who have been successfully
operated on are many well-known to thousands of people in Chicago. Here
are some typical Chicago cases omitting names:

Policeman ——, aged 60,
suffering from chronic diabetes and a general breakdown, which was about
to compel his retirement from the force. Operated on August 9. Left the
hospital yesterday feeling like “a new man.”

Alderman ——, aged 55, chronic
asthma sufferer. Operated on April 26. Asthma had disappeared by the
time he left the hospital. Declared he felt years younger and is now
completely revivified.

Mr. G——, newspaperman, aged
39. Suffered from complete nervous breakdown from overwork. Operated on
April 25. Resumed
53

work almost immediately, full of pep, and today is the picture of
health.

Judge ——, aged 58. Premature
old age from hardening of the arteries. Operated on April 28. Because of
his wonderful improvement in health has changed his mind about retiring
from the bench.

Operation Painless. “Ignorance about the gland transplanting
is almost universal,” I told Dr. Brinkley. “I know nothing of
it. Tell me how it is done, why you use goat-glands, all the whys and
wherefores, so the readers of The American will have some
authentic information. Is the operation painful?”

“No,” Dr. Brinkley replied. “It is a simple incision with very little
actual pain. In practically all cases a local anesthetic is used.
A general anesthetic is used only in exceptional cases.”

“How long does the operation take?”

“Fifteen to twenty minutes. It is as simple as grafting new shoots on
a fruit tree. No part of the human gland is removed. The goat-gland is
simply planted to take the place of the old gland.”

“And the hospital confinement?”

“One week, to rest the patient and allow the gland to begin
functioning without undue exertion.”

“Any danger?”

“None whatever. It’s like grafting on a piece of skin. There is
absolutely no danger.”

Eliminates Disorders. Lost youth is regained, according to Dr.
Brinkley, as a result of the revivifying fluid secreted by the
transplanted
54

gland, leading to the elimination of organic disorders that are
hastening old age.

Dr. Brinkley explained in detail:

“I began my experiments nine years ago, and began using goat-glands
three years ago in the interstitial gland operation because the
goat-glands resemble to a large degree the human glands in their
histological make-up. The interstitial glands and the blood, of a goat,
are a very close approach in their constituents to those of a human
being.

“Old people are simply broken down. The goat-gland secretes the fluid
that builds up the brokendown parts of the human body. Eyesight improves
50 per cent. If a man is underweight he will gain to normal, and if he
is overweight he will reduce to normal, showing that the goat glands
actually function.”

Chronic Diseases Cured. “Chronic skin diseases are cleared up.
Stomach trouble disappears under the new gland’s guardianship of the
body. I have the laboratory data, the scientific records, and the
actual revivified patients to prove it. The only unsuccessful cases are
certain people whose blood lacks necessary essentials, and they are
few.”

Dr. Brinkley gives Dr. G. Frank Lydston of Chicago credit for
performing the first gland transplanting operations.

Lydston Is Pioneer. “Dr. Lydston is the pioneer,” Dr. Brinkley
said. “He was the first man to transplant glands from a human to a
human. I have never transplanted anthropoid ape glands, as Dr.
Voronoff of Paris, and only in three cases human glands, as Dr. Lydston,
55

and I was not pleased with the results in those three cases. I was
the first to transplant goat glands. Dr. Serge Voronoff has performed
the operation on only two human beings. He failed to give Dr. Lydston
credit, although it is obvious he followed Dr. Lydston’s book.”

****

This completes Mr. Lehrbas’ interview. In the same paper, The
Chicago Evening American, a month later, date of September 15,
appeared the following account of another visit to Chancellor Tobias,
written by Edward M. Thierry:

J. J. Tobias, chancellor of the Chicago Law School, told me it was
none of my business how old he is. He’s got a goat-gland sewed into his
innards and I was trying to get some personal Ponce de Leon
statistics.

“I’m over 50,” Tobias conceded. “How much I won’t say. But I will say
my clock has been turned back from ten to twenty years! Just look
at me!”

He jumped out of his chair—er—friskily. That’s the only
expressive word. Tobias is little, thin and wiry. His face wrinkles up
and his teeth flash when he smiles. He has grey hair and talks with
quick jerks—as if his energy is running a race with his
tongue.

“I’m rejuvenated,” Tobias said. “Time will tell whether my goat-gland
will make me live longer. I had that operation on last March 26,
and I’m still living. I’m no decrepit old man, either.”

Tobias was operated on by Dr. J. R. Brinkley, who has caused a furor
in medical circles
56

through his many successful goat-gland operations.

Critics of Dr. Brinkley make Tobias tired. Get his goat, so to speak.
He says he knows what he’s talking about, for he was formerly lecturer
in a Chicago medical college.

“Seventy-five years ago my father had a little German machine,”
Tobias said, “called the ‘life waker.’ It was a disk as big as a dollar
with a lot of needles in it. You jabbed it into the small of the back
and waked life that way. We can laugh at that archaic system, for it was
crude. Now we’re more scientific. Witness the transplantation of
goat-glands.”

Tobias said he went to see Dr. Brinkley at Milford, Kansas, to
investigate his goat-gland discovery because of long suffering from
congestion of the brain arteries. Doctors had told him he was in danger
of death because of severe attacks of vertigo and a high blood
pressure.

“The operation,” Tobias said, “occupied about 20 minutes. Within
three hours after the operation the goat-gland began to function, the
congestion was relieved, and within three days the cause was
eliminated.

“I am a new man physically, with new mental vigor, and a new power of
sustained effort. I can distinctly sense the function of a new
gland in my body.”

It must have functioned muscularly, for when I left Tobias gave me a
knuckle-crushing grip which made it necessary to write this story with
my left hand.

57

These newspaper articles are printed here without change, in spite of
evident repetitions, because of their evidential value. It is an old
trick of the public press in the United States, and probably in Europe
also, to start a sensation with a blazing front page story, and in the
course of a few weeks follow it with a complete and sarcastic expose of
the whole matter as a baseless fabrication, piling facts on facts to
show that the first story was an ingenious piece of deception got up by
the subject with the purpose of making capital out of the credulity of
the public. There are no better detectives in the world than newspaper
men. They work for the love of it. An expose is dearer to the
detective-instinct in them than a laudatory article, and they leave no
stone unturned to get at the facts. When, therefore, after the lapse of
months, the newspapers of the United States repeat and confirm their
first stories about Dr. Brinkley’s work it means something to one who
knows their methods of working. Money cannot buy this sort of publicity.
There must be facts, and facts of value, and facts verified again and
again, before stories of this kind appear and reappear in the great
organs of publicity in all the big cities of the United States. How far
they carry, and how wide-reaching is the interest, will be understood by
the statement that the announcement of Dr. Brinkley’s work, printed
first in American newspapers, and copied in the English papers, has
brought him urgent requests to visit South Africa, Australia, Sweden,
Scotland, and many other
58

countries. From England in particular come requests from women that he
do not fail to make a journey to some part of Europe in the summer of
1921, in order that they may take the operation with a view to bearing
children. This he has arranged to do about June of this year, expecting
to find in England a climate during the months of June, July and August,
which will not be too hot to prevent him from transplanting the
goat-glands. He does not operate at his hospital in Kansas during June,
July and August, on account of the heat, having found that when the
outdoor temperature is high the glands will certainly slough. The high
temperature without seems to create a high temperature for the patient,
and the result is a wasted pair of good goat glands, with loss of time
and money to all concerned. In England in the summer it should be
necessary to wait a few days only for right climatic conditions to
present themselves, and be sure that they will do so. There are the
further matters of a supply of goats of the right Toggenburg breed,
a place to keep them, in close proximity to the operating hospital,
and the hospital itself, to be dealt with suitably in the shortest
possible space of time after arrival. The supply of goats can probably
be best procured direct from Switzerland through some London importer,
and the other matters will no doubt fall easily into place. The goats
must not come from a high altitude, or their glands will not contain a
right amount of iodine. This is curiously important. Dr. Brinkley cannot
use goats from Colorado for
59

that reason. If the doctor’s reception in England is cordial he will
probably make his visit there an annual summer affair of three months’
duration for some years to come, which would give him an opportunity of
keeping in continued touch with his English and European patients. The
English are a practical people, and less sensitive than we to, or more
careless of, ridicule, and they are likely to grasp the importance of
Dr. Brinkley’s work on the instant of his arrival, compelling a long
visit.

60

CHAPTER VII

PROFESSOR STEINACH AND THE RAT

Writing with vivacity and humor, Mr. Clarence Day, Jr., speculates
with so much whimsicality upon the possible effects of surgical
rejuvenation of men that one might overlook the keenness of his
observation in a hurried perusal of his article. For the sake of
preserving it for more leisurely study, and because the points raised
are really worthy of attention, the article is reproduced here in full,
with acknowledgments to The Literary Review, in which it first
appeared, of date November 20, 1920. Says Mr. Day:

Biologists really seem to be discovering ways of making men young
again. So far, it is like making men drunk; the state that is produced
does not last. But it looks as though they might succeed in adding a
chapter to life. I wish it could be added to the other end: to
youth instead of to the last flickers. But if we can renew and re-live
middle-age, that will be better still.

A man named Steinach, in Vienna, has been experimenting for ten years
with rats. Full accounts of his work were published last summer in the
great biological journal founded by Roux, and these were summarized and
discussed by the London Athenaeum, which is now the most
interesting of all English weeklies. It is from the Athenaeum’s
account that I am taking these facts.

61

Steinach has been studying the interstitial cells that fill in the
spaces between the tubules of the testes, in males, and between the
follicles of the ovaries in females. His reason for choosing these cells
for his experiments is that they are a well-spring of life. Furthermore,
since all our vital functions are interrelated, to make these cells
active gives the whole organism new life and strength. This is not the
only way of stimulating the organism, but it seems the most
powerful.

An old rat is like a senile old man; he is bald and emaciated, his
eyes are clouded, his breathing is labored. He stays in one place, with
bent back, and has small interest in anything. If you cut one of his
genital ducts, however, which is a comparatively slight operation, it
has the effect of making the interstitial cells multiply actively. Waves
of life flood his being. Within a few weeks he is transformed. These
currents restore and rebuild him; skin, muscle and mind. Both in looks
and behavior he is indistinguishable from other strong rats.

He has cast off old age. Senility, which sets in with men when they
are from sixty to eighty years old, begins after twenty to thirty months
in a rat. He is then about through. But when an operation is performed
on a senile rat he gets from six to eight months’ new life. In other
words, the addition to his normal span is 20 to 30 per cent. That would
be a large fraction of life for a man to live over again. The rat lives
it vigorously, eagerly, back in his prime.

62

When senility again comes upon him it is in a modified form. His
organism as a whole is in better shape. It is his mind now that tires.
As Steinach has already cut one or both of his genital ducts, that
method of stimulating his cells cannot, of course, be repeated. But
another operation is ready. Some unfortunate young male is deprived of
his testes by Steinach, and these are implanted forthwith in this hoary
old rat.

A second spell of active life follows, not so long as the first. It
ends in acute psychic senility. The rat goes all to pieces. It is as if
the brain, twice restimulated to emotion, curiosity, keenness, had
approached the very limit of its running, and was completely
exhausted.

Steinach has not yet tried whether a third rejuvenation is possible.
That remains to be seen. He lives in Vienna, and everything there has
come to a stop. He has no assistants, no funds, with which to conduct
further experiments. “May happier lands or cities carry the work on,” he
writes at the end.

It seems as though some rich American ought to stake the old boy.

****

Steinach has naturally found it more difficult to give new youth to
females. But here, too, he has in a measure succeeded. X-ray treatment
and ovarian transplantation are the methods employed.

As to human experiments, there is a colleague of Steinach’s named
Lichtenstern, who has operated on numerous men and women
63

with apparent success. There has not been time yet to measure how long
their new lease of life is to be; but they have regained the joy of life
they had lost—strength and powers of work. Still, all this needs
confirming.

In a rat it is the sexual impulses that are directly reanimated. He
again knows the fevers of courtship, the conflicts of marriage; and
whether he is glad to repeat these commotions depends on the rat. In
man, however, the sexual impulses are more or less sublimated, so that
the new energy may appear in any of the other forms of psychic activity.
Whatever such faculties he has in him once more grow strong.

****

How wonderful it would be if we could at least prolong certain
lives—great writers like H. G. Wells and Conrad, great
artists, great doctors. But in practice, the men who would get hold of
this would be John D. Rockefeller and W. J. Bryan. The rich uncle
would walk in and tell his hopeless heirs he had been to see Steinach.
Senators would live forever. The world would grow harder for youth.

Even were we able to control all this, and reserve the boon for the
best, would it work? Say we did choose the right men—is it not too
intimate a suggestion that we should set a man of science upon them,
prepared with a little knife to slice one of their genital ducts? Men
have fought all these years for the right to live. Have they no right to
die? Must an old man who is needed by the public be condemned to live
on, his aged cells stirred and
64

restirred while we glean his brains bare? Some Socrates of the future
may yet envy that other his hemlock.

****

This, we say it regretfully, is the end of Mr. Day’s article. It is
admirable fooling. We will not pay his wit the poor compliment of taking
him seriously at the last and pointing out to him that it was Heine who
said, “Nobody loves life like an old man!” There will be no need of
insistence to urge the old men, useful or useless, to submit to an
operation to renew their youth. But it is to be hoped that they will
never be asked to submit to the cutting of the genital duct. It seems to
the writer that The Athenaeum must have misconstrued Dr.
Steinach’s experiments in some degree, inasmuch as it is difficult to
conceive of the operation of severing a genital duct as conducive to
cell-formation. However, probably ligating is meant instead of severing.
But this is not the point really brought out by Mr. Day’s clever
article. The real point is, Is it likely that if Mr. John Jones takes
Dr. Brinkley’s goat-gland operation for the renewal of his youth, and
thereby adds thirty years to his life, and at the end of this thirty
years of friskiness undergoes a second transplantation of glands,
thereby gaining twenty years more, and at the end of this twenty years
takes the operation a third time, securing a further lease of gaiety for
ten years, will the final years of Mr. John Jones be years of acute
psychic senility, as observed by Dr. Steinach in his rat? To the writer
it seems a non sequitur.
65

The cases are not parallel. The rejuvenated rat appears to regard his
acquired vitality as impelling toward revelry and excess. It is
necessary to emphasize the point that the pith and marrow of Dr.
Brinkley’s discovery is that since it is clearly shown that rejuvenation
is accomplished by the restoration of activity to the sex-glands,
therefore the preservation of this rejuvenation MUST depend upon the
CONSERVATION of the seminal fluids, and cannot depend upon any other
single factor whatever. It has been already explained that Dr. Brinkley
puts it out of the power of the rejuvenated man to destroy the good that
has come into his life, and protects him against the danger of yielding
too freely to passionate impulse, by preventing the escape of the
rejuvenating agent. The means of nourishing the body and brain being
therefore insured as to supply, it is not reasonable to suppose that the
nerve-cells of the rejuvenated man can fail to receive their proper
nourishment for many succeeding years, and, passing by the rat as a
fallacious parallel, we cannot see any good reason why the human body
and brain, either under the guidance of self-control, or surgically
safeguarded against the waste of excess, should not function at their
best for fifty years of added life, with very possibly another fifty
added to that. The real crux of the matter is the resistive quality of
tissue, which is approximately 200 years for such organs as kidneys and
heart, and, say, 150 for nerve-substance.

64

THE OPERATING ROOM AT THE BRINKLEY
HOSPITAL

66

CHAPTER VIII

A WEEK AT DR. BRINKLEY’S HOSPITAL

The writer, approaching the age of 54, and finding himself in
first-class physical and mental condition, except for a high blood
pressure, which was certainly the prelude to a later arterio-sclerosis,
decided that he would be doing himself a service, and put himself in a
better position to write with some authority upon the effects of the
goat-glands, if he took the operation.

On Saturday, April 16. 1921, Dr. Brinkley operated on him at the
hospital, Milford, Kansas, transplanting the glands of a three-weeks old
male goat. He remained in bed Saturday and Sunday, got up and went for
an auto drive on Monday, and passed an uneventful week at the hospital,
returning to Chicago on Saturday. He experienced a marked increase in
mental energy, which might have shown itself also as increased physical
energy if it had been put to the test. This feeling of added pep, snap,
energy, or what you please to call it, could be psychological in its
origin if it were not for the fact that it is continuous, with no
set-backs. Every student of psychology is aware that auto-suggestion has
the power to bring out latent energy, raise the drooping spirits, and
generate a feeling of well-being. But the student, if he is a reasonably
close observer, is also aware that these improved
67

states of feeling have an annoying habit of being offset by
corresponding periods of depression, and though he may persist in his
effort to lift himself out of the black moods with such success that he
finally arrives at a higher tone-level mentally, with a corresponding
physical improvement, there is indubitably a strong sense of effort
needed for this good result. When, therefore, the writer finds himself
working long hours day after day with no sense of mental fatigue, but a
certain unusual gaiety of heart accompanying the successive days, as if
life were on the whole rather a lark, he, being accurately
introspective, and not easily deceived into optimistic conclusions, is
forced to give the whole credit for this change of spirit to the
functioning of the new glands, and he is confirmed in this conclusion by
the fact that the high blood pressure, which was noticeable enough
before the operation, cannot now, ten days after the operation, be
detected by him at all. Ten days is all too short a time in which to
write of details in a matter of this importance. He expects to be able
to confirm improvement in eyesight by the middle of May, and will be in
a position to speak at greater length on the matter after the summer has
passed. The intent of this chapter is to give a brief account of
something he saw at Dr. Brinkley’s hospital during the week of his
treatment.

Two weeks before his arrival a man suffering from locomotor ataxia
had been carried in, unable to help himself at all. When the writer saw
this man and talked with him he was up
68

and dressed and walking about, without a cane, and he left for home
after a total stay of something less than three weeks. In parting from
him the doctor said, “You are on the high-road to complete recovery.
I expect to hear that you are getting stronger every day. Practice
in walking will bring back to you the old confidence and banish the
helpless feeling that you are sure to fall. You see that you can control
the motions of your feet and legs now as you could not before. Sensation
has returned to the soles of your feet, and you can now turn yourself
over in bed, which you could not do before without assistance. This
means that the brain, spinal cord, muscles and will are co-ordinating
again. This means that the goat-glands are actively working, dissolving
scar-tissue, and bringing you back to health. But it is asking a good
deal of a pair of goat-glands to do as much as they must do in your case
to bring about complete recovery. I would rather give them some
extra assistance. If you will come back to me, therefore, next Fall, to
this hospital, I will put two new goat-glands into you; and I
believe that with this extra help you will go right through to a
complete cure without any trouble. The operation will not cost you a
cent. I am anxious only to complete the good work. I may be
wrong at that, and it is possible that the glands you have now will be
enough to do the work, but if they do not, come back here for two more
next Fall. Don’t forget.”

This man had been everywhere for relief, and had taken every
treatment known for his
69

disease, with no results whatever, as he told the writer. “This is the
first time for twelve years,” he said, “that I have had any feeling in
my feet. I am surely going to get well at last.”

In another case of the same disease the patient, when he came to the
hospital, was taking morphine daily to relieve the lightning-pains. He
could not stand upright with his eyes shut without falling, and if
spoken to suddenly was likely to lose his balance and fall. He had not
walked without a cane for several years. Twenty-four hours after the
goat-gland operation he said that the pains had left him, and
voluntarily stopped the morphine. In two weeks he was walking five miles
before breakfast, without a cane to help him. He left the hospital a
cured man. There has never been a case of true locomotor ataxia cured by
any means whatever, in the history of man, until this Kansas surgeon,
Dr. Brinkley, found the cure for it in this transplantation of
goat-glands. Ataxia is an after-math of syphilis, in ninety-nine cases
out of a hundred, and it is a question, which no layman can solve,
whether the cause of the ataxia is in the disease, or in the mercurial
treatment used to combat the disease. Another age, following this, may
decide that the disease, syphilis, is less destructive of human tissue
than the cure, Mercury. However that may be, the fact remains that
goat-glands will cure Locomotor Ataxia, and they are apparently the only
means of cure hitherto discovered.

The writer talked with some of the townspeople of Milford regarding
Dr. Brinkley’s
70

work. Their attitude was detached, but on the whole affirmative. They
could not, as they put it, doubt their own eyesight, implying that they
would do so if they could. They had seen case after case carried into
the hospital, and they had seen those same people walk out and go their
way to their homes. It was queer, they said, and wagged a critical head.
So true is it in all parts of the earth that a prophet hath honor save
in his own country! Here and there, however, the writer found a townsman
who had nothing but words of praise and admiration for Dr. Brinkley’s
work. These always proved to be people who had had some relative under
Dr. Brinkley’s care at the hospital, and they were intelligent men who
could give their reasons for their conclusions. They were proud of the
lustre which Dr. Brinkley’s Goat-Gland work was shedding upon the name
of their village. Most of the townspeople, however, seemed to think that
Dr. Brinkley should be proud of the town. Their engaging surliness of
demeanor with regard to the miracles being performed in their village
was a fascinating study to a city man, who saw here at its best the
typical small-town attitude towards the big local thing. It is not
peculiar to Milford. It is universal. It is as true in England and
France and Belgium and Germany as in any little town in the United
States. What do you suppose the country villagers thought of Fabre, the
great French naturalist, probably to be hailed by the next generation as
the greatest figure since Darwin? Without doubt they thought him mad,
and if kindly,
71

pitied him, or if savage, despised him. Meanwhile it is quite certain
that the work of Dr. Brinkley has put the town of Milford, Kansas, on
the map, and, if you do not find it on the railroad map you may some day
consult, it will help a little to say here that you go from Kansas City,
Missouri, by the Union Pacific Railroad to Junction City, Kansas, and
from that point change to a little branch line which carries you to
Milford. The depot at Milford is about a mile from the village itself.
You will find an auto at the depot which will carry you to the hospital,
where you will be met by Dr. or Mrs. Brinkley, or Miss Lewis, the Head
Nurse, and where you will be very comfortable if you decide to make a
stay of a week or so for personal reasons. The food is good, and the
Kansas air fresh and bracing and plentiful. Winds are indeed common, but
the village is safely out of the track of the Kansas cyclones, and the
storm cellar is unknown. The hospital is spotlessly clean and a marvel
of completeness in equipment. The preparations for the gland
transplantation are simple but thorough; a test of spermatic fluid,
a blood test, a test for blood pressure, a blood count,
and a purgative the night before the operation, with no breakfast on the
morning of the operation. You will eat a good lunch in bed, however, on
that day, and miss no meals afterwards. Briefly, the writer can say
honestly that the pain of the operation is no more than the twinge of a
toothache.

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CHAPTER IX

SUMMARY

Dr. Brinkley’s employment of the goat-glands for the past three years
of continuous operating, therefore, has proved to his satisfaction and
to that of his patients that the testes in men and the ovaries in women
furnish a secretion which has the property of a revivifying fluid when
restored to the system by the currents of blood and lymph. In that
commonly fatal condition of the arteries which follows rapidly upon the
state of blood pressure known as hardening of the arteries, or
arterio-sclerosis, a practically incurable condition hitherto, the
results obtained by the goat-gland transplantation are miraculously
swift. When the arteries are, as the doctor puts it, “as hard as
pipe-stems,” they grow in a few weeks, sometimes in a week, soft and
pliable. The change, according to Dr. Brinkley, is brought about in the
walls of the arteries themselves, and is not a process of dissolving the
accumulations or deposits of calcareous material within the arteries.
The change is in the material of the walls of the arteries, producing a
return of the condition of elasticity, permitting expansion and
contraction as in youth.

It is a favorite theory with some modern writers that the physical
change from youth to age is accompanied in the body, and in a sense
caused by, the deterioration in the quality of
73

the cells of the body, and they call this change a breaking-down process
by which the finer and more highly differentiated cells, such, for
example, as the nerve-cells, and others which have high and complicated
duties to perform, are displaced by cells of an inferior type, which
they name conjunctive cells, much as the common sparrow drives away the
songbirds from the home garden and, usurping the place of the songbird,
substitutes a wretched twitter for the golden notes of the warblers
which once delighted our ears. The common cells, also, on usurping the
place of the nobler cells, are unable to perform the difficult duties of
the latter, and the result upon human organism is disorder, decay,
disease, etc., contributing to, if not causing, the condition of old
age. This is an ingenious but not convincing theory. Our knowledge of
histological processes is too incomplete at this stage to permit its
acceptance as fact. It assumes too much to be known which is quite
unknown. Moreover, it refutes itself upon examination in this
particular, and in several others, that if it were true that these
inferior cells are on the lookout to invade instantly any part of the
human organism in which there was a breaking down of nerve-tissue, for
example, then it would be impossible to build new nerve-tissue to take
the place of that which was destroyed, because its place, according to
this theory, has been already taken by an intruder who cannot be
dislodged. But new nerve-cells are constantly being rebuilt, and
constantly being put to use in the organism. If this theory were true,
then
74

a brain in middle age would be unable to function because of the
impossibility of renewing its cells.

A much more reasonable and probably true explanation of the cause of
old age is the gradual disappearance of animal matter in the bones and
tissues, and the corresponding increase of the mineral matter in the
bones and tissues, amounting to ossification of cartilage, whereby the
supple cartilage, losing its animal content, becomes practically bone by
deposit of lime particles. This would also account in a common-sense
manner for the fragility of the bones of the aged, the brittleness being
due to calcareous deposits in the substance of the bone itself, in
excess of the normal mineral contents of the bones in youth. The
function of the seminal fluids, therefore, appears to be to restore to
the aging tissues this property, this animal matter, which when in its
right ratio and proportion in the cells of the organism produces the
condition of youth. The action of these seminal fluids, therefore, seems
to be two-fold, a dissolving and a nourishing. The distinction
should be clearly made that the action is NOT merely stimulating. The
stimulation of a nerve-cell is a temporary excitement. We speak of the
stimulation of alcohol, and this illustration gives a clearer view of
the difference between the nourishing action of the seminal fluids and a
stimulating action than we could obtain by the employment of many words.
It is interesting to remember that while it is possible to increase the
mineral particles of soda, potash, lime, iron,
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silica and magnesia in the blood and lymph, it is practically impossible
for us to increase the animal contents of the cells by any method of
medication or dieting known to us. Only Life can produce this change in
the cells, and only this method of gland-transplantation has furnished a
means of impressing Life into service to work for us in this matter. To
produce the effects which are needed to rejuvenate a body that has
increased its mineral matter at the expense of its animal matter we
require the co-operation of glands made active, because only the glands,
in the marvelous chemistry of the body, are able to compound the animal
substances required to nourish the cells, tissues and organs of the
body, and to dissolve and remove those injurious substances of a mineral
nature which have accumulated in excess in cells and tissues, usurping
the place of the animal matter in the cells because of the inactivity of
function generally, and the poor elimination of waste matter, as the
years pass. This is the re-creative and rejuvenating work of the gland
secretions. It is beyond us to say exactly what these secretions consist
of. We know the importance of their presence in blood and lymph only by
the disasters that follow their absence. The thyroid gland and
parathyroids, for instance, seem to be connected by some close sympathy
with the activity or non-activity of the interstitial glands, and the
atrophy of one is often accompanied by the atrophy of the other. The
subject is still hidden in darkness to the extent of insufficient
knowledge on our part of the exact constituents
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of the active agents in the secretions of the testes, thyroids,
suprarenals, pituitary and other glands. Time and further opportunity
for experiment are needed to show to what extent the goat-gland
transplantation can be used to remedy goitre, epilepsy and the graver
lesions of paralysis. The use of the goat-glands is too recent to admit
of anything but speculation on these points. There would seem to be no
good reason to doubt that if the male organs of a young goat do
rejuvenate the atrophied testes of a man, which Dr. Brinkley has
abundantly proved they do, the thyroid gland of a young goat might be
expected to restore the atrophied thyroid of a human being. This again
is only conjecture, Dr. Brinkley’s work up to the present having been
confined to the transplantation of testes and ovaries. But he expects to
find time during the present year to satisfy himself of the results of
such important experimental work as is here indicated. It is possible
that his visit to Europe this summer may be the means of enlarging his
field considerably, although it would appear that if he had six pairs of
hands and could keep all employed in continuous service he could
scarcely cope with the demands upon his time which any and all countries
of the earth may be expected to make when his work is known. In ten
years, no doubt, gland-transplantation, particularly goat-gland
transplantation, for the renewal of youth in man and woman will be so
usual as to occasion neither wonder nor hilarity. But we are not living
ten years from now, but at this present
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moment, and Dr. Brinkley’s operation to-day is a marvel, a wonder
and a joy. There is a satisfaction in being in the van. It is fine to be
the first to do a big thing, especially if that big thing is something
of the most practical value to humanity. Mankind has always crowned its
great generals, its great destroyers of life. Here is a man who comes
forward to preserve life. That is his mission, if you like. Certainly it
is his life work. It is a noble work. The question in the writer’s mind
is, What will they do to him? How will they take him in England? Will
they applaud, or crucify, or neglect? Probably they will show him
something of the generous hospitality of England, and leaven this with a
plentiful sprinkling of ridicule, because the subject of the goat lends
itself to humor of the obvious kind. But it is our belief that the hard,
practical common sense of the Anglo-Saxon will lead them to make the
utmost use of this opportunity of his visit, and, having got him, it is
to be expected that they will know enough to keep him. This is quite as
much their opportunity as his. While they sharpen their wit upon the
sacrificial goat and make merry, they are pretty sure to make full use
of his knowledge and skill while they have him with them, and might make
things so pleasant for him that he might say, when the summer is over
and he looks back upon the white cliffs of Dover, returning to his own
country, “This is a good land. I have enjoyed the trip. I like
the people. I will return next summer, and for many summers
thereafter.”

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CHAPTER X

THE SPARK OF LIFE

By J. R. Brinkley, M.D., C.M., Ph.D., Sc.D.

Chief Surgeon, Brinkley-Jones Hospital and Training
School for Nurses, Milford, Kansas

(Written October, 1920)

For many years scientists have believed that a part, or all of the
glands of the human body influenced longevity. They believed our glands
contained the “life spark.” Men for hundreds of years have been seeking
the “fountain of youth.” Ponce de Leon when he landed in Florida and saw
the beautiful springs and flowers thought he had found it, and so
announced to the world. Long ago we learned that the pituitary gland
influenced growth and development. For instance if the pituitary gland
over-functioned we had Giantism. If it under-functioned the opposite was
the result—a dwarf. If the thyroid gland was at fault we would
have either the low mentality commonly spoken of as cretinism, or
myxedema. We found that by feeding children the fresh gland substance a
marked improvement would be obtained and sometimes a cure. Some years
ago there was a surgical craze which called for the removal of the
women’s ovaries. It was thought that many nervous troubles, including
epilepsy, etc., were due to diseased ovaries, so the surgeons removed
ovaries just about as promiscuously as tonsils and teeth are now taken
out.
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After a while they found a woman without ovaries was about ruined, so
something had to be done, and ovarian extracts and substances were fed
to the unfortunates. Good results were obtained so long as the feeding
process kept up, but if the feeding was stopped, the miserable symptoms
returned. One factor was always in evidence, that a woman who had no
ovaries never menstruated again. Premature change of life (menopause)
resulted. Ageing took place early. A loss of interest in the
pleasant things of life existed. As a wife or companion for the home the
woman was worse than useless. Her life was so miserable that all who
came in contact with her were made miserable, also. She was unsexed, and
one of the “sparks of life” had been taken away. She assumed
characteristics of the male. If the testes of a man are removed he will
assume the characteristics of a woman. Many changes will take place. His
mind is no longer clear, he tires easily, cannot concentrate upon any
subject, and has marked loss of memory and of physical well being. The
things that once appealed to him are now undesirable. The opposite sex
are repulsive and he shuns their society. A man or woman who
suffers the premature loss of their glands of regeneration will become
more or less defective mentally and their life will be materially
shortened.

At one time a favorite expression was, “A man is as old as his
arteries.” We know better than this now. A man is just as old as he
feels, when said feeling is directed to his sex organs. The first sign of old age is impotency, and more men are
reaching a premature impotency
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than ever before in the history of the world. Their glands are burning
up, as it were. After impotency is well on its way arterio-sclerosis or
hardening of the arteries is noticed, then the mental inefficiency, as
well as physical weakness. Right on the heels of impotency comes
prostatitis. I was taught in medical school that nearly all men
suffered from an enlarged prostate and prostatitis: that it was one of
the diseases of “old age”; that we were heir to it and might expect it
to show up after the age of 45. I was also taught that
arterio-sclerosis was another disease of old age, and all men were heir
to it. However, we are beginning to awaken to a few things. We are
approaching the dawn of a new day. We are beginning to understand the
whys and wherefores. While I have been criticized and called everything
under the sun, except an angel, I expected as much, and I am ready
to face the world with my facts; not theories. I have a long and
hard fight before me yet.

The cures that I have effected by gland transplantation up to the
present time are enough to justify me for all of my work and efforts
along this new line of science. Should I never operate again,
I feel justly repaid and know that I have started something that
will go on and on and live forever. Gland transplantation for the cure
of disease within the next ten years will be as common as the removal of
a diseased appendix is now. You can hardly pick up a daily paper without
reading an account of some surgeon performing a wonderful operation of
transplanting bone or tissue from some animal to replace that which was
diseased
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in the human. Why not borrow what we need from the animal? We use their
flesh for food. We also use their gland substances in the fresh or dried
form to supply our bodies with whatever we may not possess.

80

THE TOGGENBURG GOATS

My first efforts in gland transplantation were directed towards the
cure of sterility. A man came to me who had been impotent for
sixteen years. Every known means had been used in his case. My
experiments in the use of glands from animal to animal, led me to
believe that if the gland from a goat could be transplanted into the
human body this impotency and sterility could be overcome. This man was
willing to try anything as he was 46 and his wife was 42. They were very
anxious for a male child. Twelve months after the transplantation I
delivered his wife of a 10-pound baby boy, who is alive and well today.
In appreciation of what the goat glands had done for them they named the
baby “Billy.” He lives within four miles of me now. This first case
being a wonderful success encouraged me to experiment with humans on a
larger scale. Willing subjects were not easy to obtain. After obtaining,
it was difficult to operate. The operation or experiment could not be
performed in any of the general hospitals. Ethics as well as country and
little town gossip forbid such work. It was necessary for me to build a
hospital of my own so that my experiments could be carried on without
the public or profession knowing anything about them. If good results
were obtained I could announce to the world; if none were obtained the
matter could be dropped. After four male children had been
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born, due directly to gland transplantation, the news leaked out, and
has swept the world like wildfire. While I was transplanting glands for
sterility, other beneficial effects were noted by me as well as my
patients. Now, since I have transplanted glands into more than 600 men
and women it is an easy matter to give some comprehensive statistics.
A complete record is kept of each case and follow-up letters are
used so that we are in a pretty fair way to estimate just what we are
doing. Five cases of insanity have been cured to date. The great
difficulty in obtaining insane people for operation is, they are
confined in a state institution, and the authorities will not permit
their removal, especially when their loved ones tell the “higher ups”
they wish Dr. Brinkley, “the gland man,” to transplant goat glands. “Oh,
no, it’s all rot and will never do!” However, we have operated upon five
cases and have cured five cases. After awhile we will break down this
great wall of prejudice, and insane people will be ordered out for this
operation. At present when habeas corpus proceedings are all that will
obtain the release, and gland transplantation is the object, not much of
a chance exists. I am going to mention one of our very interesting
cases, as the man lives only about 15 or 20 miles from me in Dickinson
County, Kansas. His name is Lon Jones, and his case is known far and
wide within the state of Kansas. My writing about Mr. Jones will not be
the betrayal of a professional secret. He is anxious for the world to
know about it. Some six weeks or two months before I was called to see
him he was stricken suddenly, insane. He had mounted his horse and was
driving
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his cattle home for the night when it was noticed by others that he
acted “queer.” He began to whip and fight his steed as well as the
cattle unmercifully. He dismounted or fell off his horse and at first
was thought unconscious. A physician was called, another, and
another, and his case was diagnosed as Dementia Praecox. Violent in
character. He wanted to kill his doctor, or commit some rash act. One of
the first acts was to try and give away all of his land and stock as
well as corn and feed.

It was unsafe for his wife and children to be near him. Men remained
with him, day and night. Finally his guards had to tie him in bed. His
arms and feet were securely fastened, as well as his body, to a heavy
iron bed. Application for his entry into the state institution had been
made when I was called. With the assistance of neighbor men he was
conducted into my hospital here. Immediate gland transplantation was
performed, and three days after said operation he asked me to remove his
irons so that he could rest comfortably. He informed me that he was in
his right mind and we need have no further fear of him. Soon afterwards
he was permitted to roam around the building and over town. He went home
more than a year ago and is transacting his business as a sane man
should. No evidence of his former trouble has occurred. He did not know
until the day that we discharged him what my line of treatment had been.
Another notable case was that of a man who had spent 11 years of his
life in three state institutions for the insane in New York. He
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left here entirely cured and is now holding an important position in New
York City. Another case was that of a young man who became insane
suddenly. His first act was to try and murder his father and mother, his
greatest bitterness being directed towards his mother. He attempted to
kill me when I approached him, and it was necessary to open a bottle of
chloroform and stand at a safe distance and throw the anesthetic in his
face and eyes. Less than a week after the operation he was in his right
mind, and has been so since. Another case of a young man who became
insane and was violent. He secured a number of rifles and shotguns and
barricaded himself in a corn field. When he learned I had been sent for
he was worse than ever, and if it had not been for his mother I would
have been killed. I operated upon him immediately, and for one week
after the operation I could not visit him. However, he soon was in his
right mind, and when it was told to him what he had done he went to
Indianapolis, Ind., and secured a position. His shame was so great that
he could not remain where he was known. After two years he returned home
and resumed work where he had left off. The fifth case was just as
interesting as the above.

I have operated upon and cured 5 cases of locomotor-ataxia. It is almost
impossible for me to get cases of locomotor-ataxia. When a man writes me he
also asks his family physician, who very quickly informs him “there is
nothing to it; it’s all bunk!”

My cases have ranged in age from 18 to 75 years. My patients that are
from 60 to 75
85

years of age write me they feel as they did when they were boys 18 years
of age. I have transplanted glands for almost every conceivable
disease and have received splendid results in almost every case. All
cannot be cured, but all of them can be greatly benefited. At this
writing I have with me as a patient a noted United States Senator from
Washington, D.C. He has been treated by Dr. Cary T. Grayson, the
president’s personal physician, as well as taking 3 years of treatment
at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is depressed and discouraged. He speaks of
suicide. He has been operated on only two days and I venture to say that
before his week is passed he will be a different man.

My greatest number of men come for impotency, next for prostatitis,
and many for a general improvement in health. Many come with but one
purpose—to prolong their lives. I believe that those who
receive gland transplantation will live much longer than without it.
Possibly as much as from 10 to 25 years can be added. Then successive
transplants can be made, and we have no idea how long they will live.
Their skin takes on the appearance of youth. I know that after the
ovaries have been transplanted into women who have none their menses
return on a 4-day period regularly. Women who had passed the menopause
have a return flow. Hardening of the arteries as well as high blood
pressure are returned to normal in 100 per cent of the cases. Eyesight
is improved from 50 to 100 per cent. A well-known judge was
operated upon by me a short time ago, and his eyesight was so much
86

improved that he could no longer wear glasses of any kind. Men who had
not heard for 16 years write me that since gland transplantation they
can hear the tick of a watch. In women a development of the bust is
noted and the wrinkles disappear from their cheeks. Chronic constipation
is cured as well as old chronic skin diseases, such as psoriasis,
eczema, etc.

With the best will in the world I am unable to describe on paper just
how my fellow practitioners should perform this operation, because I
never meet with precisely similar conditions in any two cases.
I can say positively that I do not know just what I shall do until
the case itself is under my hands in the operating room. The operation
is simple in itself, but in my early days of operating I made a number
of mistakes because I was on new ground, and there was no authority from
whom I could learn the technique. Now, after my six hundred operations
have taught me what to do and how to do I am able to avoid these earlier
mistakes, and as a consequence I hardly ever have an operation that is
not a success. Not very many months ago I was called to San Francisco to
re-operate on a number of cases which had gone wrong in the hands of a
fellow practitioner. I re-operated on these cases successfully. The
surgeon who had performed the operation in the first place is skilful
and experienced in all lines of surgical work, but in this particular
line of transplanting of goat-glands into human bodies in such wise that
the tissue of the goat will blend with and nourish the human tissue no
living man except
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myself has had the necessary experience to teach him through his
successes and failures, what to do and how to do it. Nor should I be
successful if today, in spite of all the work I have done with the
Goat-Glands, I should relinguish the goat-gland in favor of the
human-gland or the monkey-gland. Results have taught me that I made a
wise choice in pinning my faith to the young goat as the healthiest
possible animal from which tissue could be used for transplanting into
human bodies. The goat is immune to practically all diseases. The human
being and the monkey, on the other hand, are liable to tuberculous or
some tropical disease. For his splendid work with human glands I give
full credit to Dr. Frank Lydston of Chicago, who was not only the
pioneer in this use of human glands, but actually made his first
transplantation upon himself. This is but another instance of that fine
confidence in our beliefs and convictions which is typical of the
medical profession as a whole. In the use of the human-gland Dr. Lydston
is as supreme as I am in the use of the goat-gland, and you must
understand that in saying this I am not throwing bouquets at myself in
idle vanity. I have a clear cold reason for saying this.
I have devoted my life to this particular work, and have brought it
to a point where I can speak with authority upon it. I foresee that
because of the marvelous results obtained by the transplanting of the
goat-glands at my hospital there will be a great awakening of interest
in this operation on the part of the public and the medical profession.
A great many operations of a similar character will be performed
88

not alone in this country, but all over the world. A great many of
these operations will be unsuccessful because the experience of the
operator will not have taught him what to do under certain unusual
conditions, or rather, what to do under any and all conditions. In the
face of an unsuccessful operation this work will be blamed, and the
theory upon which I work, namely, that the sex-energy is the basis of
all human energy, physical and mental, will be given a setback, and
scouted as untrue. But I am constantly proving its truth by the results
I get, and find its confirmation in the effect of successful goat-gland
transplantation in both men and women. Therefore I am urgent in saying
that the work must be rightly done in the first place to obtain right
results.

Briefly, the operation for men means that the glands of a three
weeks’ old male goat are laid upon the non-functioning glands of a man,
within twenty minutes of the time they are removed from the goat. In
some cases I open the human gland and lay the tissue of the goat within
the human gland. The scrotum of the man is opened by incision on both
sides under local anesthetic. Conditions of the case may show that there
are adhesions of tissue which must also be broken down before the new
gland can function. I find that after being properly connected
these goat-glands do actually feed, grow into, and become absorbed by
the human glands, and the man is renewed in his physical and mental
vigor.

The operation upon women means that the ovaries of a female goat not
more than twelve months of age are removed and inserted into
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the woman. If the woman’s organs are sound and merely inert and
atrophied, the new ovary will find its way to its proper position and
begin the work of restoring the arrested functions, so that the act of
menstruation, for example, which has ceased because of the atrophic
condition of the woman’s ovaries, begins again and continues on a normal
twenty-eight day period. The effect of the new glands upon women is even
more noticeable, if such a thing were possible, than upon men, since in
their case the rejuvenation is more striking in the changed appearance.
But though I claim much, and with good reason, for this operation,
I warn against undue expectations. In many cases I advise against
the operation as a sure waste of time and money. In many cases I explain
that the results will be experimental only, there being nothing in my
experience to warrant assurance of success. For instance, in blindness
and deafness I have no faith that this operation will remove the disease
in spite of the fact that in almost every case operated upon there is
great improvement in the sight and hearing. But I have no certain
knowledge why this improvement followed. It partakes, therefore, of the
nature of an accident. In the case of very fat people the operation
trims them down to normal weight. Very thin people are built up to
normal weight by it. Barren women and impotent men become mothers and
fathers. But in no case do I permit a grandfather or grandmother to
entertain the hope that they may be rejuvenated to such an extent that
they can procreate again if they wish. This is mere romance, with which
I have nothing to do. Nor
90

do I advise a young woman of forty who has not reached the menopause
stage to take the operation if she is in good health, in spite of her
belief that the goat-glands will enable her to remain indefinitely
young. This is experimental work, and is not in the same class as the
case of the same woman who has just passed through her menopause and
ceased to menstruate. By all means I advise the latter to take the
operation because I feel that it will rejuvenate her. If a woman has had
both ovaries removed by surgical operation, will this operation grow new
ovaries for her, and enable her to become a mother? At this stage of my
knowledge my answer is, “Certainly not.” If a man has lost both glands
by surgical removal will this operation grow new glands for him? Nine
times out of ten, “No.” The tenth time, “Yes.” I do not know
why.

I can use only a certain breed of goat, a Swiss milk goat, and
only animals of a certain youth. My goats cost me about $75 each on an
average, and that is one reason why it would be impossible to conduct
this work as a free surgical clinic might be conducted, unless the
undertaking were specially endowed with funds to meet the expense.

Some time in the month of June I expect to make a trip to London,
England, and will be away possibly until the end of August. Even the
month of May in Kansas is sometimes too hot for this operation to be
successfully performed, and I make it a rule to suspend operations
entirely throughout June, July and August. Experience has taught me that
when the outdoor temperature is high the operation
91

will almost certainly be unsuccessful, and on account of the cost
involved, as well as for the saving of time and trouble for the patient,
it is in the highest degree unwise to go contrary to this rule. If the
glands are transplanted during very hot weather they will almost
certainly slough, which means re-operating later.

In many cases that are brought to me I do not operate or even advise
that the goat-glands be transplanted later. I cannot go into
details of such cases in these pages, but might cite the case of a man,
syphilitic, who was sent to me. Certainly I have never made the
statement anywhere, at any time, that this operation would cure syhpilis. The
man is being treated now for syphilis, and should not have been sent to
me at all.

I quote the case of a woman of forty, who is normal in every way, and
the picture of health at the present time. Her desire is that she may
never grow to look any older than she does at this moment, and she asks
me if this gland-operation will hold her at the point she has now
reached. Frankly, this is pure experiment. I do not know. After
another ten years of work in this gland-surgery I might be able to give
her a definite opinion, but not at this stage, seeing that my oldest
cases go back only three years. On one point only I can speak with
positiveness, namely, if I cannot answer this question there is no man
living who can answer it, because I am the only man alive who can give
an opinion on this work that is founded on first-hand knowledge. We
learn in this work only by experience, and we draw just conclusions only
from quantity of
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experience. No other man alive has had this experience in sufficient
quantity to justify him in forming a conclusion derived from his facts.
This is my answer not only to those who listen to encouraging advice
regarding the effects of this operation tendered by surgeons who are
embarking in this goat-gland operation, but also to those general
practitioners who inform patients asking their opinion in the matter
that the operation is useless because the glands are certain to slough,
I hold that they are not qualified to speak on the subject because
they have no knowledge. I have the most positive knowledge that
when the operation is rightly performed the glands do NOT slough, and my
knowledge is founded upon the hard facts of much experience. In another
ten years I shall know more than I know today because I shall have added
to my facts, and among those facts there may be some which confirm the
hope of the woman of forty alluded to above that this gland
transplantation may hold the condition of youth steady as something
static, which will not be suffered to pass. At present I do not know,
and if I offer an opinion it is to be understood that it is only a
guess. My guess, then, would be that in this case the operation would be
a waste, producing no effect whatever, neither adding to nor detracting
from the condition of health and normal function which is present
today.