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. 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
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.
[Illustration: THE TOGGENBURG GOATS]
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 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.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
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 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
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.
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Typographical Errors Noted by Transcriber
_Unless otherwise noted, errors were left as printed. Some variations
such as hyphenization may be carried over from quoted material._
phemonena familiar to all of us [phenomena]
has sometimes made a laporotomy necessary [laparotomy]
the belief now general among genetists and anatomists
[_form "genetists" may be correct for 1921_]
incision in the acrotum [scrotum]
On the other hand, in Locomoter Ataxia [Locomotor]
his cures of Locomoter Ataxia by the goat-gland operation [Locomotor]
[_these two misprints are on the same page_]
and thirty-five other Chicago men and women by Dr. J. R. Brinkley
[_invisible period in Dr. supplied by transcriber_]
Dr. Brinkley's operation to-day is a marvel
[_anomalous hyphen at mid-line_]
Ageing took place early. [Aging]
I have operated upon and cured 5 cases of locomotor-ataxia. It is
almost impossible for me to get cases of locomotor-ataxia.
[_anomalous hyphens unchanged_]
I should relinguish the goat-gland [relinquish]
that this operation would cure syhpilis [syphilis]