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.