FOUNT OF YOUTH

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1925, Page 7

FOUNT OF YOUTH

INHERENT ENERGY,

LIES IN THE GLANDS

There is a "Fountain of Eternal Youth." It lies in your glands. Through its life-giving flow old age may be postponed, if not avoided.

Even death, save by accident, may become unknown, if the daring experiments of Dr. Serge Voronoff, brilliant French surgeon, continue to produce results such have startled the world.

"■My first determination to undertake this work," said Dr. Voronoff, "came from the realisation of the dominant role of the endocrine glands in the human organism. Up to forty or fifty years ago physicians admitted that the energy which caused our organs to perform their various functions was an inherent one. They took it more or less for granted, however, that the secret of tins energy never would be found —that the inherent energy that made the heart beat, for example, was a God-given motive power not to be tampered with." These theories, D. Voronoff pointed out, were first shattered by the remarkable experiments and discoveries of Claude Bernard on the endocrinal value of the liver. Close on the heels of Bernard's research came the work of Brown-Sequard. For the first time the brain was found no~t to be the controlling centre of life, but a peculiar combination of grey flesh, capable of producing thought only when properly controlled by the chemical action of the liquid from the thyroid glands. With improper functioning of this gland a young man became mentally old and feeble, useless to himself and to society. His physical condition, too, formerly strong and healthy, became weak and unsteady. Infants with congenital atrophy of the thyroid always show, both mentally and physically, the effects of such a condition, t being puny in every way. Animals deprived of their thyroid glands soon after birth, according to experiments, are altogether outgrown by others of the same age within a perior of eight to ten months. On the other hand, it has been proved by experiment that a hypertrophy, or j over-development, of the throid gland will cause such an over-excitation of the mental processes as to amount in some cases almost to insanity. Hyper- ! trophy of other glands, such as the pituitary glands, which are situated at the base of the brain and which control tho growth of the living cells, will cause occasional freak giants. "Even the smallest glands sometimes play the largest roles," observed Dr. I Voronoff. "Take away from an ani- | mal the four little para-thyroids, loI cated beside the thyroid, and the effect is absolutory disastrous. The nervous system undergoes a terrific over-excita-tion, the muscles contract violently, and the subject dies in violent convulsions within a short time. The suprarenal glands, if removed, would cause death by a sort of strange lethargy, known as Addison's disease. "But," continued the great surgeon, "it is, after all, the functions of the reproductive gland that have taken my entire attention since 1910. . "This remarkable and all important centre, which has been regarded until recently as merely a mechanism for the prolongation of the life of the race on earth, plays ono of tho greatest and most important parts in our everyday normal physical existence." Dr • Voronoff pointed to the many examples of men and animals deprived of these glands. Their flesh becomes soft and flabby. Their mental energy wanes, their whole bodies sag and drop out of proper form their blood is thin and poor. From latest observations it is entirely probable, says the doctor that the work of the other glands may bo distinctly affected and reduced iby the loss of the secretions of these central glands. As one remarkable example of the opposite effects caused by the overdevelopment of the gland in question, Dr Voronoff cited the case of a boy nine years old who was suffering from a hypertrophy of one genital gland. He had a full black beard and moustache, remarkably hairy arms and legs, and the stoekily settled appearance of a mature, though small man. When the extra growth was removed, the boy lost, within six mouths, all of his beard, except his moustache, as well as the heavy hair on Ms arms and legs. His mental condition, which previously had been far above normal for his age, dropped back nearly to that of other boys of his own years. "Here," said Dr. Voronoff, "was a remarkable demonstration that the glands play part of primary importtance in our mental and physical development. This does not mean that it is always the amount of glandular tissue present which can be called a hypertrophy, hut it is evident from present knowledge of the construction of the glandular system that an overgrowth makes itself fo!>t upon the entire human system." One of Dr. VoronofT's most striking < experiments was with an old ram. Ranis geiicraly live- to the age of twelve or fourteen years. With considerable difficulty the doctor found a twelve- : year-old ram so feeble that he. could j neither hold up his head nor walk withI out staggering. j RESULTS NOT TM MED TATE. j "I into this animal," said jtiie :-'cieiitisf, "a gland taken from a. .ram two years old. In three months' time that old wreck of a beast became ve, heavy set, active, and even j splendid to look at. And eight months after this graft, a. lamb was borne by j his mate. j "To avoid any imputation of "autoj suggestion' I. removed the gland from ;Hi is animal again.' All my operations 1 on animals, by the way, are done under • a powerful, local anaesthetic, ho tl at |i!.ey suffer no pain. Within three

:::ontlis this animal again became the old feeble, tottering ram wo bad found at, first. Again ! provided him with Ml) extra gland, and again he regained his strength, vigour and aggressiveness. Today, six years after this animal by all known laws of sheep raising should have, been <lead he remains alive, energetic and useful. He continues to

produce a splendid coat of wool each year, in spite of the fact that he has passed by one-quarter the normal length of a ram's life. "Consider the economic significance of gland-grafting with sheep alone. Already we have gone far enough with our experiments to demonstrate that by continual grafting for several generations it is entirely possible to establish a superior race of animals with a heavier coat of wool, and so bring about a very great reduction in the price of woollen clothing." Bearing in mind the fact that in France, Algeria, Morocco, America, Canada, Argentine, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere, upwards of 150,000,000 sheep are raised annually, the economic possibilities are indeed vast. Just what may be done with the human race Dr. Voronoff is not yet prepared to predict with assurance. But his researches hint at startling developments. He has grafted many men; some of them are showing signs of reabsorption, but most of them still are in the prime of health and vigour. Diseases to which old and weakened frames succumb easily are shaken off by these young-old men, invigorated by new glands. The various organs function as they should. The entire system is rejuvenated and strengthened. "We must wait," says Dr. Voronoff. "If we consider one year of a ram's life equivalent to six years of a, man's then we may estimate that by grafting we can add thirty or forty years to a. human life. We cannot tell yet just what results we will achieve, for we have been grafting glands successfully only for the last five years. When we have lengthened a. man's age to ninety perhaps we will have done something. When a man will have lived to be one hundred and ten we probably will have accomplished something interesting. When he will have lived to be one hundred and. twenty-five, we will at last have found that path towards the abolition of old age."