HUMAN LIFE IN MONKEYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18275, 16 December 1922, Page 2 (Supplement)

HUMAN LIFE IN MONKEYS.

DOCTOR'S BANNED LECTURE.

GLAND -MIRACLES" CLAIMED.

" Only monkeys form a race neighbouring to "our own, and can furnish some grafts which Mill find in the midst o* human tissues tho same conditions oi life as in their original homes." This remarkable statement is an extract from the lecture on monkey glands, which Dr. A oronoff, the Russian surgeon., was prevented by an uproar, from delivering at the French College of Surgeons. I have been obliged to obtain material for my grafts from monkeys, since the difficulty of procuring human grafts renders their employment practically impossible, ho says. A complete ignorance of biological laws is shown by those who admit for an instant the possibility of grafting the glands of animals other than monkevs upon man. Only monkeys, and in particular anthropoids, form a race neighbouring to our own, and can furnish somo grafts which will tind in the midst of oui tissues the same conditions of life as in their original home. In fact, human blood is similar to the monkey's, while it differs completely from that of j other animals! i My first two grafts upon human sub- i jects" date from the 12th and the 21st of | June, 1920. They were performed upon two men vrho had lost their virility owing to operations rendered necessary tuberculosis.

During the three months that the grafts remained in the first patient, where they adhered very strongly, the beard of this person commenced to grow again, and although shaving had been left off for 20 years, he was obliged to begin ag3.in.

Bestored Memory, My third graft -was carried out on Nocember 4, 1920, the patient being fiftynine years of age. His general state is much improved, and be now feels a physical well-oeing long unknown to him before the operation. He had two winters without illnesses such as bronchitis, colds, and influenza, to which ho was formerly susceptible, and ho has recovered his memory and mental vigour. My fourth graft from monkey to man was" carried out on November 16, 1920, upon a man of letters, of sixty-one years. He represented a most characteristic senile type, and had the appearance of an old man.

As a result of the operation a complete change was produced in his appearance, which was really astonishing. His body became well set up, the facial muscles more firm, the eye bright; and, notwithstanding his white hair, he gives one a surprising impression of youth, vigour, and energy. Mr. Evelyn Liardet (who was to have appeared in person) is a vigorous, and robust gentleman. In fact, two vears ago, before the graft, he appeared before me as an old man, inert, doubled up, obese, haggard in look, dull of eye walking painfully with the aid of a Etick.

Lost Youth Found. Without taking his age in account— seventy-four years—which could be seek; oned as very considerable, he had passed thirty years of his life in India, and I only saw him eight months afterwards. He had lost half of his embonpoint, his aspect was jovial, his morementa active, and his eye clear. Everything combined to give the impression of a man enjoying magnificent health. He was returning from Switzerland, where he had made several ascents and had indulged in the sports lieloved of Englishmen. Tfii3 man had really recovered twenty to twenty-fivi years of lost youth. His physical and intellectual condition, his virility, all had been radically changed under the action of the graft, which transported a decrepit old man, pitiable, into a vigorous man in the full enjoyment of all his faculties.

Since then I have received almost every month nevar more and more reassuring concerning his state of health. I shall only add that, at the commencement of this vear I at least received the animals I always wished to possess — higher monkeys, anthropoids, chimpanzees, creatures nearest to man. Observations made during the first six months after the grafts taken 'from the anthropoid monkeys are very encouraging, and seem to confirm that the organs of the chimpanzee constitute the best material for a graft upon a human subject, very superior to that supplied by the cynocephals which I have previously used.