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diff --git a/78989-0.txt b/78989-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd0fa5f --- /dev/null +++ b/78989-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,915 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78989 *** + + + + + LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 648 + Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius + + The Facts About + Rejuvenation + + Morris Fishbein, M. D. + + HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY + GIRARD, KANSAS + + + + + Copyright, 1926 + Haldeman-Julius Company + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +THE FACTS ABOUT REJUVENATION + + +THE APOTHEOSIS OF MEDICINE + +The medicine of the past was a medley of superstition, faith, theory +and tradition, lightened by gleams of accurate observation and +logical thought. The medicine of today is a science founded on actual +observations of the manifestations of disease in man and in animals, +in both living and dead bodies. The medicine of an early day was based +largely on intricate hypotheses as to the causes of disease. There +was no systematic search in the unknown in any way comparable to the +steady, steadfast progress of medical science resulting from research +during the last fifty years. The medicine of a previous epoch included +only the physician who treated the individual patient. The medicine of +today has changed this old profession, whose only function was the care +of the individual sick man, into a dozen professions, which include not +only the care of the individual patient but also the study of disease, +its prevention, the attack on disease, and the care of the public +health. + +No doubt everyone can remember the family physician of some twenty or +thirty years ago, who made his diagnosis largely by asking about the +progress of the disease from the time the patient first noted symptoms, +and by the use of such information as he could acquire with his unaided +senses. It must not be thought, however, that the information which +the physician acquires in this way is the less scientific because +it depends merely on the use of the hand, the ear and the eye. More +than one hundred years ago, two physicians made observations as to +the way in which changes within the human body could be discovered by +the use of these simple methods. Auenbrugger, in Austria, studied the +sounds that occur when the human chest is thumped. Everyone knows that +when you thump a cask that is half full of water the lower half will +sound different from the empty half. Indeed, an experienced Negro can +tell you the relative state of ripeness of a watermelon by a similar +test. And Auenbrugger used this simple method to ascertain when the +lung might be solidified by pneumonia, when the chest cavity might +contain fluid or pus as a result of some infection, when the heart was +enlarged beyond the normal limits as a result, perhaps, of overstrain +or disease. And when all of these things were carefully written down as +a result of thousands of observations made by physicians all over the +world, it became possible for those educated in this method to know, +with a fair degree of accuracy, the condition that existed within the +patient’s chest. + +A little later, in Paris, a physician named Laennec, while walking to +the hospital, noted two boys at opposite ends of a log, one listening +and the other scratching the log with a pin. He found that the boy +listened because he could hear the sound transmitted through the +log. The outcome of this simple observation was the discovery of the +stethoscope, the device which the physician employs to determine the +sounds that go on within the human body when the organs function. On +listening to the heart in which one of the valves has given way, one +may hear gurgling and murmurs which are the result of physical changes +in the heart. On listening to the lungs, one may determine whether +the little spaces are filled with air, as they ought to be when the +patient breathes, or whether some disease has consolidated the lung +and made breathing impossible. These observations are just as regular +and certain as any mathematical formula; they are as scientific as the +observations made by an engineer; they are as definite as the diagnosis +of a broken valve or a carbon-choked cylinder in a motor car. + +The textbooks in medicine of some fifty years ago were an unusual +conglomeration of the accumulated facts of the centuries and of +accurate observations made by careful physicians, mingled with queer +ideas as to why things were as they seemed to be and unestablished +rules based on the wrong interpretation of only partially understood +phenomena. There was, for instance, certain knowledge that the bark +of the cinchona tree, from which quinine comes, would stop the chills +and fever of malaria. There was not, however, the fact, later shown +by Laveran and by Rosa, that malaria is caused by an organism in the +blood which is transmitted from one person to another by a mosquito. It +had been observed that mercury would benefit syphilis, but no one knew +that syphilis was caused by a spiral organism which may be transmitted +from one person to another. It was known that certain drugs, such as +digitalis, would slow the beat of the heart and strengthen it, but it +was not known that it does this by action on the nerves leading to the +heart. + +The time, then, was ripe for a scientist like Pasteur, and particularly +ripe for the attitude of skepticism with which he approached the +established beliefs of his day. The credit for the great advance of +the last fifty years in medicine must be given to several factors: +First, a changing conception of the way in which disease is brought +about in the human body, due to the establishment of what some people +still call the “germ theory.” Germs are no more a theory than is poison +ivy. The results of the action of germs within the human body are no +more theoretical than is the eruption that follows contact with poison +ivy in sensitive persons. The second great factor influencing medical +knowledge was the application to it of facts and materials derived +from such fundamental sciences as chemistry, physics, anatomy and +physiology. And the third important development was the invention of +mechanical accessories to aid the human senses in studying disease, +both within and without the human body. + +After Pasteur had shown that bacteria do exist and that they cause +disease, Robert Koch, a German investigator and discoverer of the cause +of tuberculosis, established certain laws for determining whether +or not any single germ was actually responsible for producing any +certain disease. It is unnecessary to mention specifically each of +these laws; suffice to say that they involve the actual proof of the +fact that the germ is in the body of a person dying from disease, and +that the disease may be produced in animals by injecting them with the +germ. It would be undesirable to mention in this article all of the +diseases for which medical science now knows the bacterial cause; the +list would include, however, such diseases as tuberculosis, syphilis, +diphtheria, meningitis, typhoid fever, dysentery, pneumonia, lock-jaw, +cholera, malaria, anthrax, scarlet fever and a vast number of less +commonly known diseases. Hardly a year passes in which new germs are +not isolated and in which obscure conditions are not brought to light. +The recognition of this fact is of the greatest importance. If one +accepts the definitely proved facts as to the relationship of bacteria +to disease, one must at once discard all of those systems of healing +which claim that all diseases are due to a single form of disturbance +and are curable by a readjustment of that disturbance. There is not, +for instance, the slightest scientific evidence that pressures on the +nerves coming from the spine or on the blood vessels leading to the +various organs are responsible for the many diseases from which the +human body may suffer. + +Now this does not mean that medical science is in possession of the +facts regarding all diseases. Much remains to be learned. There are +such diseases as measles, chicken pox, mumps, German measles, epidemic +sleeping sickness, and even common colds and influenza, for which we +have no germ that everyone will admit is the cause of the disease. But +medical science, with its careful, systematic methods, has learned many +facts regarding such diseases, and the application of these facts is +important in their proper diagnosis and healing. + +I mention particularly the ways in which medical science calls on +mechanical aids in modern diagnosis. The modern physician utilizes +mirrors and lights to observe directly the inner lining of the +stomach, the bladder, the ear drum, the nose and the throat. You all +know the story of the young physician who put the mirror into the +woman’s mouth and said: “Madam, you have no idea how far we can see +with these things.” She leaped from the chair and said, “I beg your +pardon, doctor; I left home with a hole in the heel of my stocking.” +By means of the X-ray, the doctor is able to observe changes in solid +organs within the body; and through the injection of air into the +cavities, he is able, with the aid of the X-ray, to outline organs +heretofore not visible and to determine the condition of tissues +that cannot be touched. The laboratories have added information to +be gained from studies of the blood and from all of the secretions +and excretions of the body. Studies of the blood may show the type of +infection from which the patient suffers; may show the manner in which +he is responding to infection; may show whether he is anemic or has +a sufficient number of blood cells to conduct properly the chemistry +of his body. And these matters are not beyond the comprehension of +the ordinary human being. They may be demonstrated to any intelligent +person; in fact, in many laboratories these simple tests are regularly +performed by the people who have been trained only in the tests and +not in medical knowledge. The interpretation of the test, however, is +always a matter for a well-informed physician. Some of the cultists or +misguided persons who believe that all diseases are brought about by +pressures on nerves or on ligaments, by vibrations, by the influence +of the mind, or by any other narrow, restricted mechanism of disease +causation, should begin to realize that their theories must be +discarded in the face of such observations as these. + +I pass over also the newer methods in the treatment of disease, +involving the use of newly discovered antiseptics, of glands and gland +substances, of vaccines and serums, and of unusual drugs. I pass over +the beneficent effects of modern surgery and the newer anesthetics +which have been developed and which enable the physician to perform +surgical operations painlessly and safely, as contrasted with the +conditions a century ago that made operating rooms bloody shambles. +Even the brain, particularly unapproachable in a previous century, is +now the subject of operations for the removal of tumors and the relief +of abscesses. + +One by one, great infectious diseases and plagues have been brought +under control. Fever-infested swamps and the jungle of the tropics +have been freed of such menaces as yellow fever, malaria, African +trypanosomiasis, and other diseases transmitted to man by insects. +Through education in the value of a periodic physical examination and +through the teaching of personal hygiene, intelligent persons are +being enabled to live more and more comfortably. The death rate of +tuberculosis has been reduced by more than one-half; typhoid fever no +longer menaces communities which are willing to pay the price for good +milk supply, good water and proper sewage disposal; and inspection +of fresh and prepared foods has practically abolished the menace of +diseases formerly transmitted in this manner. Special attention given +to the problems of infant mortality has reduced the death rate in the +earlier years of life and an infant coming into the world today has a +far greater expectancy of life than did one coming into the world fifty +years ago. The child that might then have expected to live to somewhere +between thirty-five and thirty-nine years of age may now confidently +look forward, under all ordinary circumstances, to reaching the age of +fifty or fifty-five years. What hope, then, of giving that child an +opportunity to reach its allotted three score and ten? + +Everyone knows from his own casual observations that a great many +more people are living to a ripe old age nowadays than was the case +formerly. Indeed, these observations are the exemplification of the +statistics that have been cited as to life expectancy. The diseases +that still remain to cut down the human being at an earlier age than +that at which he might reasonably expect to depart this life through +the actual wearing out of the machinery which is no longer able to +renew itself include particularly the diseases of the heart, blood +vessels and the kidney. Such conditions as Bright’s disease, a chronic +inflammation of the kidney; as hypertension, exemplified through high +blood pressure and the symptoms that accompany it; as arteriosclerosis, +or hardening of the arteries; as angina pectoris and inflammations +of the lining of the heart and of its valves--all such conditions +constitute a problem which the medical profession must meet and which +it apparently cannot meet properly without the complete education +and cooperation of the public. Here are diseases, the prevention of +which seems to lie in the prevention of infections of the throat in +childhood, in the training of the child and man in the proper hygiene +of the nose, throat and intestinal tract; in the teaching to the +adolescent and equally to the adult of the desirability of a quiet, +well-ordered existence with a proper amount of food, exercise and rest; +and, not the least by any means, in letting people know that there is +such a thing as mental hygiene, including relief from worry or mental +strain. And then there is pneumonia, a disease likely to affect the +older man much more severely than the young one, called, indeed, “the +old man’s friend” because of the quick death that it produces in the +senile; and the “captain of the men of death” because of its severely +fatal character. The complete conquering of this infection seems +somehow to be resting on the threshold of the future. + +It is the belief of several competent statisticians who have given +careful consideration to the matter, that when these diseases are +brought under control, the life expectancy will be moved forward at +least another five years, but probably not a great deal more. The +trend of modern life seems to be toward speeding up, toward greater +mental strain and almost ceaseless activity. If, coincident with such +speeding, medical science is still able to promise another five years +of life expectancy to the phenomenal number of years that have thus far +been added, it will have accomplished a marvel beyond the dreams of the +medical scientists of fifty years ago. + + +THE FACTS ABOUT REJUVENATION + +There is no fool like an old fool--particularly in matters of +rejuvenation. For the senile, tottering old man, the world has had only +the pity that it confers on a Faust, who bartered his soul for a few +years of youthfulness; the ridicule that it darts upon a Don Quixote; +the mild amusement with which it listens to the tale of Ponce de Leon; +or the savagery with which it attacks the decrepit prey of physical +lust, inspired by inflamed tissues, who slakes his appetite with the +inveiglement of girls. Psychologists observe these as the expression +of the law of self-preservation, the reaction of the living toward +approaching death, the feeble call on unresponsive nerves and muscles +for power that they cannot give. + +Today the public is told again and again that the secret of restoring +youthful vigor to worn out tissues has been solved in the laboratories +of the Austrian Steinach and of the Frenchman Voronoff. Alas! medical +scientists, who like to be shown before they are convinced, mistrust +the evidence. They grant readily that the senescent graybeard with the +will-to-believe may be instilled with young ideas, but they have yet +to admit that any surgical operation, any transplantation of glands, +any decoction of plant, organ or mineral remedies will confer on the +withered form the machinery to put those ideas into action. Of the +mechanical contrivances, the glandular extracts, and the other forms +of hocus-pocus sold with claims for their ability to rejuvenate more +will be said later. Here the disciples of the scalpel who are reaping +something of a harvest in the field of surgical rejuvenation will +receive discriminating attention. + +Man’s search for the elixir of eternal youth was never a scientific +one previous to the period of Brown-Sequard. Long before that famous +French physiologist, however, scientists had been studying the nature +and the functions of the glands. It had been shown that the ability +to have children was co-ordinate with certain changes in the body +of the growing child. The voice of the boy deepens, causing great +embarrassment when a fine soprano statement suddenly changes to a basso +growl. The first inklings of mustache and beard send him to his mirror +for hours of painstaking scrutiny. He begins to take a more serious +interest in the female of the species. And it was taken for granted +that the development of these characters was the result of a special or +internal secretion poured into the blood by the glands. In science, +however, it is not well to take anything for granted. + +In 1889, the famous French physiologist thought that he had discovered +the potent substance in extracts of the glands. One need not be a +Freudian to realize the suggestion conveyed by the terms vim, vigor, +virility or vitality. It was not strange, therefore, that attention +should be turned to the peculiarly male organs in the search for +the important substance. Indeed, the most primitive savages of +cannibalistic nature were wont themselves to brew essences of the +organs of the enemies whom they slew in battle, believing that the +eating of the tissues was sufficient to confer upon them the prowess +of their vanquished foes. Nor is it surprising that Brown-Sequard, +having inoculated himself with extracts of glands, developed a +sort of similitude of youthfulness. He reported that he could now +climb a flight of steps with greater rapidity and ease than before +his inoculation. Nevertheless, at the appointed time, the body of +Brown-Sequard went the way of all flesh. And the skeptical scientists +who repeated his experiments, checking them with numerous cases +and controlling them with injections of plain water instead of the +extracts, shook their heads in dismay. The great scientist--for +Brown-Sequard was all of that--had yielded science to enthusiasm and +his conclusions could not be sustained. + + +THE THEORY OF STEINACH + +The conception on which the Steinach operation for rejuvenation is +based is not easy to comprehend. About 1903, two French biologists +claimed that the secretion responsible for maleness was developed +by a certain part of the male tissues. They asserted that this +portion developed particularly if the tubes were tied off. And +Steinach claimed that he had confirmed their experiments and that +the performance of this operation on old animals, particularly rats, +resulted in rejuvenation. + +Now the finding of a substance or a system of rejuvenation is much +like the finding of gold. Whether it is there or not, all of the +unsuccessful, romantic, and adventurous experimenters rush in on the +trail, and all of the aged and worn out capitalists come in as soon +as convenient to take advantage of the discovery. The cry of “gold, +gold” was taken up quickly by a number of young and enthusiastic +investigators, who followed Steinach. Some famous actors, physicians +and financiers who saw the waning of their power and note and of their +ability to enjoy to the utmost the lives that had given them so much +became subjects of the experiment. Where there are actors, authors +and financiers, there is also always, in these modern times, good +publicity. And where there is publicity not too careful as to the +facts, there are soon more applicants for operations. This, in medical +science, is known as a vicious circle. + +The careful experimenters who have followed the work of Steinach, +checking all his results carefully on experimental animals, have +demolished his claims bit by bit. Oslund of the Vanderbilt Medical +School showed that the Steinach adherents had been deceived because +of the type of experimental animal used. Since the theory of the +rejuvenescence is based on an over-development of cells that does not +actually occur, it can be taken for granted that cutting or tying of +the tubes with the idea of producing such over-development cannot cause +rejuvenation. And the work of Oslund has been confirmed by many other +investigators of established standing. + +Moreover, the belief that the male glands alone are responsible for the +development of male characteristics has been completely demolished. The +complete male features of mind and body, including the external organs +peculiar to the male, have been found in persons in whom the so-called +male glands were absent from birth, as proved by complete postmortem +examination. Furthermore, all of the features of the male sex have +been found in persons in whom the male glands were absent from birth, +but who had within the body a complete set of female glandular organs. +There is a great deal of much more technical evidence to support the +view that the male glands are not the only tissues concerned with +establishing maleness or femaleness of any individual. Perhaps the best +of it developed in experiments on hens and roosters, revealing hens +possessing the comb and wattles and even the feathers of the rooster, +yet living a hen’s life, laying eggs and hatching them out! But what, +you ask, has all of this to do with Steinach’s theory of rejuvenation? + +The elderly gentleman who prefers blondes is hardly likely to be +deterred by the details of technical experiments on mice, rabbits, +chickens, or dogs. For him, therefore, one presents the facts regarding +man. For many years the operation now called the Steinach rejuvenation +operation was performed on old men who suffered with a disease quite +common in old men. But in not one of the hundreds of cases in which +the tubes were cut or tied as in the Steinach operation did any of +the meticulous surgeons mention any restoration of youthful vigor +or anything resembling rejuvenation. This fact has been called to +the attention of Steinach and of all his followers again and again +in reputable medical publications, but an explanation has never been +offered. + +To the proof of the scientific laboratory investigators that the +Steinach method is founded on a fallacy, the Steinach adherents and +the surgeons who perform the Steinach operation reply with the sort of +cynical shrug of the shoulders that such practical men use in answering +laboratory evidence. They point with none too reluctant pride to their +records of cases operated on and to the letters of testimony. Here is +as simple a gesture as might be made by a moron, but hardly the sort of +thing one expects from a scientist. The same testimonials--in fact much +stronger ones--can be found for all of the nostrums and contrivances +that have invaded this fertile field. + +Opposed to the enthusiastic statement of Adolph Lorenz is that of +Professor M. Zeissl of Vienna, that the only change he noted after his +operation was less interest in sexual matters than previously. Opposed +to the quoted interviews of Dr. Harry Benjamin of New York concerning +the one hundred cases on which he operated with a claimed considerable +percentage of success are the records hidden away in medical literature +of thousands and thousands of men on whom such operations were done +without any noticeable response. + +There are, indeed, some records of senile men who put upon their +degenerated tissues far more of stress than they could tolerate. Here +the illusion of vigor produced an earlier death than might reasonably +have occurred without the operation and in the absence of the illusion. + +The prime exponent of the Steinachian miracle in this land that so +readily accepts overnight miracles in medicine seems to be Dr. Harry +Benjamin. In his earlier publications one finds no mention of any +possible mental defects associated with the surgical procedure. But +quite recently, regardless of the fact that he is without status in +the field of psychology and psychiatry, he begins to mutter somewhat +vaguely concerning the importance of coincident psycho-analysis. And +in the publicity concerning his efforts appearing within the past +few months appears what is, for so shrewd a man, a most incautious +admission: “The experts declare that the value of the Steinach method +has been much reduced by ignorance and by the opposition of doctors +who have mistaken ideas regarding the operation.” In other words, the +patient must believe thoroughly that the operation will give him vim, +vigor and vitality, or he doesn’t get it. For many years, physicians +who have specialized in the diseases peculiar to men have emphasized +again and again the great part played by the mind in controlling +the body functions. The records of the surgeons who do the Steinach +operations are without scientific controls. To what extent have they +checked their work by cases on whom the operation was not done, but +who otherwise were put through the same procedure? Obviously such +controlling of cases would be a most elementary and simple procedure, +but records of such control in their publications are sadly lacking. + +Indeed, these exponents of surgical art would seem to be providing for +the future in their claim that the operation may be repeated with good +effect and a second revival of powers bestowed on the waning patient. +Here is a biological revolution that bewilders the imagination! The +young men, handicapped in competition because of lack of experience +and of the world’s goods, will be compelled to struggle against their +rejuvenated fathers and grandfathers, while the latter, by repeated +operations, maintain a permanent lead. It’s a sad, sad outlook; but +fortunately it isn’t true. + + +THE VORONOFF CONCEPTION + +The contention of Voronoff, like that of Steinach, has to do with +the use of gland material for purposes of rejuvenation. He does not, +however, depend on any change in the tissues brought about by tying +off tubes. He actually transplants the entire glands, and since the +human material is not easily and generally available, attempts to +supply the deficiency with glands derived from the anthropoid apes. +In this instance also a vast amount of experimental evidence from the +past and from other workers of the present is available to disprove +the contention. True, there are instances in which the glands have +been absent from birth or lost through accident and in which the +transplantation of such material results favorably, but the records +again are not such as will convince any scientific reader of the +general merit of the operation. In the first place there is not in +any sense of the word actual prolongation of life, since none of +those on whom the transplantings have been done seem to live beyond +the normal period. In the second place, one reads such conclusions as +the following: “The pessimistic attitude of the patient and constant +brooding over his inability have marred the results of the treatment.” +Here again the part played by the will-to-believe seems paramount. + +When all of the evidence is assembled and considered _en masse_, +it becomes apparent that there is not as yet any actual proof that +rejuvenation has been accomplished in a single individual, or any +basis for the belief that it ever will be accomplished. + + +REJUVENATION: THE MECHANICAL AND GLANDULAR METHODS + +Rejuvenation is, in these days of young old-men and old young-men, +a word to conjure with. The astute purveyors of mechanical devices, +pills, lotions and systems of physical culture sold by the mail-order +plan have been quick to realize the wonderful “come-on” possibilities +inherent in the word. The result has been the interminable repetition +of the claim for renewed youth achieved through hundreds of substances +and appliances. The post office department itself is hardly able to +keep pace with the new developments in the field and its fraud orders +are issued usually after the promoters have reaped a fine harvest. + + +MECHANICAL REJUVENATION + +The senescent man or the youthful individual who finds himself +suddenly lacking in sexual vigor is a ready prey for the exploiters +of mechanical devices, urged because of their ability to encourage a +physical development that seems to be lacking. The average man in this +land of unenlightenment regarding the physical constitution has but +slight conception of what constitutes the normal in these affairs, +either as to physical growth or functional ability. Indeed, the more he +meditates upon the matter, the more he is likely to be convinced that +he himself is sadly lacking in these particulars, the psychology of +this view being dependent upon a will to achieve rather than on actual +knowledge. Moreover, the cleverly worded literature--and what a sad use +of the word this is--of the salesman of various devices is calculated +to intensify and emphasize this view. All of the advertising matter +is a paean of praise of sexual athleticism, and a weeping and wailing +over deficient performance, inspired to make still more mournful the +sexually despondent male. + +On December 5, 1925, the post office department issued a fraud order +against the manufacturers of a device known as the “Perfection +Developer,” one Walter H. Hartman of Columbus, Ohio, selling under +the firm name of “Hart & Co.” The simple device was merely a cylinder +of glass connected with a pump and designed to induce a vacuum. The +effects persisted only so long as the device was in actual use, and if +it had any permanent effects whatever, they could only be for harm. + +Another device of the same type was sold by one M. Von Schwarts and +William Billings of Ithaca, New York, under the name of the “Burt +Vacuum Tube.” This firm was barred from using the mails September 1, +1925. + +These devices are typical of most of the mechanical appliances offered +by mail for men lacking sexual vigor. Obviously, they can be of no +permanent service. Moreover, the psychology of their use is such as to +discourage any real possibility of improvement through rest, diet and +psychotherapy which long experience has shown are of value. + + +GLANDULAR REJUVENATORS + +Public interest in any new medical development is at once capitalized +by the promoters of nostrums and fallacies. It is not surprising, +therefore, that increasing interest and knowledge of the glands of +internal secretion should have aroused in the minds of some promoters +the possibility of unusual and unwarranted gains. + +In March, 1921, the “Youth Gland Chemical Laboratories” was +incorporated in Illinois; in February, 1922, the name of the +corporation was changed to the “Druesen-Kraft Chemical Laboratories.” +Later, it became known as the “Lewis Laboratories.” It was not, +however, until March 19, 1925, that the United States Government closed +the mails to this concern. In the meantime, it reaped a rich harvest +from the unwary. The advertising literature of this concern was of +a style so striking as to have merited some better use. A full-page +announcement in the newspapers was headed, in two-inch, black type, +“YOUR GLANDS WEAR OUT”; in the center of the page, he-men and she-women +danced the one-step in close embrace. And here are the phrases that +brought the replies: + + --It is based entirely on the principle of Feeding Actual Gland + Substance Direct to the Glands, thereby renewing and rejuvenating + them. + + --This method of giving new life to the glands is advocated and + endorsed by the leading students of gland therapy throughout the + world--including Dr. Arnold Lorand, who is generally conceded to be + the greatest living authority on this subject. + + --The actual Method of Treatment used by us is the result of + exhaustive experiments covering several thousand cases, during the + past two years. + + --The “Lewis” Treatment Is Practically Never Failing. + + --If You Could Prevent the Wear and Tear on Your Glands Caused by + Sickness, Age, Disease, etc., You Would Look and Feel as Young at 70 + as at 25. Science However Has Solved the Secrets of the Glands and + Now for the First Time Shows You the True Way to KEEP or REGAIN Your + Vigor by Feeding and Replenishing the Most Important Glands! + + --Build Up Your Glands and You Build Up Your Strength and Endurance. + +The evidence is clear that the firm did exceedingly well from a +financial point of view. The original price of the treatment was +$10.00, which, on occasion, could be reduced to $7.50, and, if the +victim still failed to succumb, to a special offer of $2.95. The court +records in the case showed that the firm had spent at least $300,000.00 +in advertising, and that it had a gross annual income of between +$250,000.00 and $300,000.00. Nevertheless, scientific evidence has +shown that extracts or other preparations of the sex glands are without +power when taken by mouth. They not only fail to produce rejuvenation +of the entire body, but even to stimulate to any extent the particular +portions of the body in which the applicant for rejuvenation seems to +be especially interested. + +Another concern, with headquarters in Denver, issued a booklet entitled +“The Secret of Staying Young.” Here were the testimonials of elderly +men, 82, 83 and 84 years of age, who announced that they had lasting +benefits from the treatments offered. These testimonials are just as +vociferous and emphatic as those of aspirants for youth operated on by +the disciples of Steinach. The treatments consisted of nothing more +than dried animal glands, taken by mouth, which, as has been said, +could not possibly have the effects claimed for them. The concern +exploiting these desiccated glands, the “Vital-O-Gland Company,” not +content with depending on the mental responses of those who took +its preparations by mouth, sold at the same time the usual vacuum +developer, a glass tube attached to a bicycle pump. When the Government +investigated this concern, it found twenty-two girls and five men +occupied in sending out the salacious literature. The evidence revealed +that the gross income of the concern for 1923 was $176,406.82. +Rejuvenation pays! + +The Vital-O-Gland Company and the Lewis Laboratories have been barred +by the Government from the use of mails, but there still remain many +concerns offering, both to physicians and to the public, glandular +preparations for rejuvenation or for sexual stimulation. There will +always be senescent, somewhat lewd and sad old men to waste the funds +of their declining years on such powerless pills. The memories of youth +become more and more resplendent with the passing years. + +The Glandine Laboratories of Chicago and Los Angeles issues a circular +with the question, “Must We Grow Old?” and with the answer, “Science +Says, No.” The treatments consist of extracts of the sex glands to +be taken by mouth. The Glandex Company of New York advertised in +the public press a combination of gland extracts with iron. The +International Research Laboratories of Chicago advertised “Baker’s +Glandol,” with a salacious pamphlet emphasizing the rejuvenation of +man, and with such headings as “The Most Interesting Thing Is Love. +Don’t Waste Life. Luck from Boldness and Suppressed Desires.” Where is +the man who could resist the plea? + +The Puritan Laboratories of Nashville, Tennessee, issues “Glandtone,” +offered with the claim that it will restore youthful vigor to those +passing with age. The Walton Chemical Company of Chicago emphasizes +the glands and says that a combination of the sex glands, the thyroid, +prostate, pituitary and adrenal, hermetically sealed, will defer +old age and renew vitality. What of the impudence and psychological +cleverness of its warning: + + +WARNING! + + The country is being flooded with literature from so-called + “Laboratories,” offering to restore Sex STRENGTH in the forms of + unsealed “Gland Tablets” or “Liquids.” + + Such preparations may contain some gland substance, but unless the + ingredients are SEALED to preserve their strength, the potency may be + entirely gone in a few days. + + The Walton Treatment INSURES the STRENGTH of the INGREDIENTS and + thousands have found this method SUCCESSFUL even after years and + years of previous failure with other methods of treatment. + + In fact, fully three out of four who write of their remarkable + results with this new method, say they had taken many other + Treatments or methods without relief. + +Bear in mind that there is not an iota of evidence to show that any +preparation of male sex glands, singly or in combination, has ever +been shown to have the slightest effect on the human body when given +by mouth. It was the hope and the belief of Brown-Sequard that he had +found such a substance. Even he thought that the taking of sex glands +brought about in him a sort of rejuvenation. Yet in the more than fifty +years since his passing, and since his claims were disproved, the +public has not learned the truth. + + +RADIUM AND LIGHT + +With the coming of the newer discoveries in medicine as to the effects +on the human body of radium, the X-ray and ultra violet light, the +agile-minded exploiters of the public’s interest in keeping young were +again quick to respond with the preparation and sale of such apparatus +and material for purposes of rejuvenation. Of course, rejuvenation is +not a physical state that can be easily determined accurately. The old +man with declining powers is ready to welcome the slightest sign of +increasing ability in physical work or in sexual activity. He forgets +to reason that the rest and the mental stimulation associated with +any new method of treatment are likely to bring about the illusion of +strength. + +The manufacturer of a cabinet lined with incandescent lamps, for +example, is not content to claim for it the simple uses of a sweat +bath, or of heat produced by incandescent lamps. Ah! No! This simple +cabinet becomes as by the wave of a magician’s want, an “Inductive +Metabolizing Method.” And the manufacturer says: + + The ---- Inductive Metabolizing method gives to the world one of the + greatest, if not the greatest, means of rejuvenation of the human + organism known to medicine, but the part that is most interesting + about this modality is that of its synergetic action with all the + recognized methods of rejuvenation now in use--such as gland therapy, + radioactive drinking water, baths, etc., as the results obtained by + their use, when accompanied by the Inductive Metabolizing treatments, + are increased tenfold. + +One can almost picture him rubbing his hands in glee as he murmurs: +“Rejuvenation: That’s the word that gets ’em!” + +The makers of apparatus containing radium or the blenders of waters +which have been submitted to the rays of this wondrous element urge +also its potency for rejuvenation. They point knowingly to the +radioactive springs of Germany and Switzerland and cite the records of +the old men who have visited those springs and returned home younger in +body, if not in years. But they too neglect the effect of weeks of rest +and freedom from care, of good diet and salubrious surroundings, and +possibly--in fact, probably--of enforced inactivity for those portions +of the anatomy whose physical functioning persists in remaining the +center of interest when rejuvenation is discussed. + + +“THE NEW SCIENCE OF RADIENDOCRINOLOGY” + +If radiation rejuvenates--although of course it doesn’t--and if +glands rejuvenate--and it has been shown that they do not--then, say +the manufacturers of the Radiendocrinator, the combination will get +the result. Merely ray the glands with the Radiendocrinator--price +$150.00--and you are there! The booklets are a hodgepodge of +exaggerations, fallacies, and confusions regarding chemistry, physics, +biology, glands, radium, and whatnot. But the convincing document is +a blue-colored bonded guarantee of satisfaction or money refunded. +Couched in language that seems to make the chance of financial loss +to the unwary impossible, the guarantee is nevertheless a snare and a +delusion. Launched originally by Dr. Herman H. Rubin, New York, as a +device to be worn at night over the glands and selling at $1,000.00, +the apparatus is now a reflector on a stand and can be purchased for +$150.00 But for pure romance the literature is at least ten times as +fanciful. + + +THE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE + +Even the Greek philosophers murmured that physical powers in matters +of sex did not always parallel brain capacity. Strange that the sex +instinct should be so deeply rooted and so prominent in life that +two thousand years of experience has failed to convince men of the +truthfulness of that statement. + +Modern science has shown that the early detection of signs of disease +by physical examination, and the establishment of a proper regime of +life, including adequate rest, diet, exercise, simple personal hygiene, +and freedom from worry will greatly extend the life of the average +man. He may quite reasonably hope to live to seventy years and if he +is at all careful considerably beyond that age. It behooves him then +to grow old gracefully, remembering that much of the greatest work of +this world done in art, letters, invention, finance and statesmanship +has been done by men well beyond sixty years of age. Their minds were +perhaps little given to the purely pleasurable functions of the bodies +which constituted the abodes of their restless spirits. + + +THE ANTIVIVISECTIONIST AND ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION + +George Jean Nathan, in that immortal document _Pistols for Two_ in +which he and Monsieur Mencken, using the cognomen Maj. Owen Hatteras, +gave an unsuspecting world an insight into their personal characters +and characteristics, tells us which of his aphorisms delights him most. +Of all the soul-searching mots perpetrated by this astute coiner of +phrases, the one he selected is likewise the one that gives me most +joy. “An antivivisectionist,” said Dr. Nathan, “is a woman who strains +at a guinea pig and swallows a baby.” There it is in a nutshell! A +Freudian might claim that the term “nutshell” was prominent in my mind +because I was discussing the antivivisectionist. + +At a period when the whole world begins to turn to science as the +real goal of mankind; when intelligent human beings begin to discard +pseudo-sentiment for fact, the followers of what is essentially merely +an illogical, fanatical cult continue to oppose progress if it is to +involve in any way what they conceive to be abuse of the lower animals +for purposes of study. This opposition seems to rest invariably +on a lack of actual knowledge of what animal experimentation has +accomplished for mankind, of what it has contributed to the life and +comfort of the animal, of the extent to which the animal may suffer +in the cause of experimentation, and of the very rules which the +scientists themselves have elaborated to safeguard their work with +animals. + +It is impossible in the scope of a brief article even to enumerate all +that has been learned by animal experimentation. Without the aid of +this method Pasteur could not have founded the science of bacteriology; +such diseases as hydrophobia, tuberculosis, yellow fever, plague, +scarlet fever, diphtheria and diabetes would not have passed under +the control of scientific medicine but would have continued to take +their immense toll of life and to cause immeasurable economic loss +through illness. Indeed, to calculate the sums saved and earned through +preventing illness, through opening up countries constantly menaced +by disease, through the building of the Panama Canal, and through the +saving of workers in industry, would produce a figure so vast as to be +almost incredible. + +Anyone who has seen a child, succumbing to the gradual encroachment +of the diphtheric membrane in its throat, suddenly respond to the +marvelous effects of diphtheria antitoxin will oppose to the utmost +any attempt to deprive that child of the remedy. In preparing +antitoxin the horse is required for the production of the serum and +the guinea pig for standardization. I have seen the horses used for +such service. Their paths are spread in pleasant places. They toil +not at all, they are kept clean, they frolic in the open air except +when the weather may be inclement. They are well fed and given the +best of attention. I have seen the serum withdrawn and seen the horse +make no more visible sign of protest than is made by the average man +when he sticks his finger on a pin in the back of his wife’s dress. I +have seen guinea pigs by the thousands utilized for this work. If I +am any judge of guinea pig emotions they do not suffer unduly in the +process. I have never seen a guinea pig suffer as much as a hysterical +antivivisectionist suffers at a dog and pony show or a circus. + +Before the discovery of the serum for epidemic meningitis from fifty +to seventy-five percent of all who were afflicted died. When the serum +is given the mortality is below twenty-five percent of those affected, +and this says nothing of the saving in illness and in permanently +disabling after effects. In the investigation which led to this +discovery rabbits, guinea pigs, horses and monkeys were employed. In +a war, nations sacrifice the lives of hundreds of thousands of their +finest young men; the people are told that the sacrifice is made so +that women and children may have a safe place in which to live. Shall +the lives of rabbits and guinea pigs be weighed against the lives of +the same children threatened by far greater dangers than those of war: +the dangers of infectious disease? Puerperal infection which killed the +woman in childbirth was controlled through animal experimentation. What +about saving women from that menace? + +It is not alone the so-called biological remedies such as antitoxins, +vaccines and serums that are dependent on animal experimentation. Most +of the potent drug remedies used today for the alleviation and cure of +disease must be tested and standardized by the use of animals. Most +of our important synthetic drugs were first evolved only by the use +of animals. The anesthetics such as ether, chloroform, ethylene and +nitrous oxide gas have the same effects on animals that they have on +man. Was it not right that they should be tested first on animals? Such +drugs as digitalis, which makes the lives of many persons suffering +from heart disease endurable, have to be standardized by animal tests. +Shall the poisonous doses of potent drugs be learned by tests made on +the white rat or the guinea pig or on man; or worse still, shall we +permit men to die or suffer mutilation to spare the feelings of the +white mouse? Isn’t it after all a question of sparing the hyperesthetic +sensibilities of some idle woman rather than the duller sensibilities +of some lower animal? + +One by one the infectious diseases that attack man are being brought +under control. There still remain those incurable diseases such as +cancer, those conditions such as Bright’s disease, high blood pressure, +heart disease and diabetes, which may be alleviated but have not been +completely conquered. Shall the methods that have brought success in +the control of some diseases be discarded at the whim of misguided +and unreasoning followers of this cult opposed to human progress? Of +course, animal experimentation never will be discarded. After all, the +progress of scientific medicine is a powerful movement sweeping on and +on with ever increasing impetus. + + +ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION BENEFITS THE ANIMAL + +Strangely enough the lower animals have benefited as much as has man +himself through the progress made by animal experimentation. Hog +cholera serum, the tuberculin test for cattle, the control of hoof and +mouth disease, puerperal sepsis in cattle, hydrophobia, fowl plague, +and the many worm diseases that afflict animals depend for their +control on the same type of experimentation that yielded results for +the diseases of man. + +There is another side of the question that has its humorous aspects. It +is necessary to kill hundreds of thousands of stray dogs and cats in +our large cities to keep them from overrunning the human inhabitants. +It has been estimated that a single pair of rats, if permitted to +breed unchecked, might produce within three years a number of progeny +running into eighteen or twenty-four figures. Everyone knows about the +prolificity of guinea pigs and rabbits which multiply inordinately. +Who shall say that these uses of science are not as kind a fate, as +satisfactory an existence, as is the hunting down of the surplus by +the hunter, the trapper, the poisoner, or the poundmaster? As we have +shown, the horse used for the production of serum has a far happier +life than the drawer of burdens in the ownership of some unthinking +careless human being. + + +RULES CONTROLLING SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTATION + +Medical scientists have not waited for government or other supervision +to establish control over animal experimentation that will make it +as nearly perfect as possible in preventing unnecessary pain and in +providing animals with the best of care. A committee of the American +Medical Association regularly functions for no other purpose. Under the +control of this committee each laboratory binds itself to observe the +rules laid down and to post those rules regularly in each department. +The rules require that animals be held at least as long as they are +held at the city pound; that they receive every consideration for their +bodily comfort; that no operations be made, except with the sanction +of the director of the laboratory; that animals be anesthetized and +rendered incapable of receiving pain in all operations, except in +those in which anesthesia would defeat the object of the experiment, +and finally that animals be killed painlessly at the conclusion of the +experiment. These rules are most rigidly enforced and laboratories +throughout the country are open to inspection by anyone interested from +a scientific point of view, or from the point of view of control of +this work. + +If it be true, as has been said again and again, that science is +the hope of the future for the progress of humanity, those who +obstruct this progress by needless and unwarranted follies should be +considered as subjects for mental investigation, or else as misguided +sentimentalists whom one condones, but whom one does not take too +seriously. + + + + +Transcriber’s Note: + +- Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). + +- Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. + +- Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. + +- Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes: + + Page 1: “D. Haldeman-Julius” to “E. Haldeman-Julius” + Page 5: “such as digitalis, woud” to “such as digitalis, would” + Page 10: “Such conditions as Brights” to “Such conditions as Bright’s” +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78989 *** |