A DARING OPERATION

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12250, 23 September 1925, Page 11

A DARING OPERATION

EXPERIMENT BY SURGEONS ASSASSIN’S THYROID GLAND. A few months ago two Xiille surfeons, Dr. Ren© and Dr. Jean ioquet, performed a daring operation on a young girl. who, for a long time, had been in an abnormally feeble state, both mental and- physical, writes the Paris correspondent or a paper* They grafted on to the patient the thyroia gland of a man, and the results were immediately; beneficial. Recognising, However* that such results are too often merely temporary, .and knowing that foreign glands are not easily assimilated into tbe system, the doctors decided to* postpone their public announcement on tbe subject. The im-provement-.in the patient has continued, and the surgeons now feel justified in declaring the success of the operation. The interesting, fact is that the man whos6 gland was thus , utilised was the leader of a band of robbers and assassins who was convicted of and executed at Lille in ApriL The gland was, indeed, removed within a few minutes of his execution and grafted on to the young girl. The extraordinary rise that has taken place lit her intelligence would appear to be a great tribute to the mentality of the notorious criminal, and it is this particular aspect of the case that is furnishing psycho-analytical experts with abundant material for disconcerting discussion. Is it, after all, credible, they are asking, that the children of darkness are wiser in their generation than the children of the light?