HISTORY OF UROLOGY

Monkey glands

BY JONATHAN CHARLES GODDARD

n this series of articles I am going to show very popular. It is rumoured that up to 100 you some of the exhibits contained in the academics of the University of Vienna had Museum of Urology, hosted on the BAUS the procedure, as did Sigmund Freud and Iwebsite (www.baus.org.uk). It’s not often the Irish poet, Yeats. Yeats believed it had that a urological procedure enters popular given him a ‘second puberty’ and many feel culture. This particular one however, his best work was produced in this period. appeared in a Sherlock Holmes mystery, was Steinach’s work was reviewed by the English the topic of a novel, the name of a cocktail urologist Kenneth Walker (1882-1966) in and got a mention in a Marx Brothers film. 1924. He was very complimentary on the The procedure was the grafting of testicular quality of Steinach’s animal experiments, tissue of chimpanzees into the of but was unable to comment on the men and was ‘all the rage’ in the 1920’s. results of the operation in man, due to The loss of virility and sexual power has lack of numbers treated. He noted the long terrified men. In Homer’s Odyssey the unfortunate use of the word ‘’ hero, Odysseus, was warned of the terrible in Stenach’s initial 1920 paper, which he felt power of the witch, Circe. As the reader raised extravagant hopes and had led to Figure 2: The Grafting of Chimpanzee testicular tissue onto a human testis (from: Testicular Grafting from Ape to Man, by (originally the listener) of that epic poem, exploitation by “less reputable members of Serge Voronoff and George Alexandrescu, 1929). one would wonder what terrors could the medical profession”. The latter, he felt, rival those of the Cyclops, the Sirens or was the reason it had not been taken up in the International Congress of held the gauntlet of Scylla and Charybdis. The Britain. Clearly sceptical, a true scientist, at the Royal Society of Medicine in 1923. answer? Circe had the power to render he did not completely dismiss it, but called By this time he had carried out 44 cases, him impotent! Thankfully, the god Hermes for more data. six of these were in doctors. His method had a magical cure. Over the centuries, Robert was supported by Ivor Back (1879-1951), doctors have fed men the testicles of a Lichtenstern, a surgeon at St George’s Hospital. Like variety of animals to improve their virility; the Viennese Steinach, Voronoff was looking to reverse and men have gladly taken them. Even surgeon who the ageing process and his clientele beans, which look a little like testicles, have had helped were not men rendered hypogonadal by been promoted as having sex-enhancing Steinach, trauma or infection; they were ageing properties. However, it was not until 1869 was already men who sought rejuvenation, vitality and that a doctor began to apply scientific transplanting return of their youthful sexual power. It thought to this problem. testes into was very popular. Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard (1817- patients who Once again, Kenneth Walker reviewed 1894) was a famous French physiologist had lost their the technique; in fact he gave a Hunterian who was getting on a bit. Maybe that was own in the war Lecture on the topic of rejuvenation the reason he began experimenting with or following in 1925. Although with some scientific extract of animal testicles in 1875, injecting tuberculosis, restraint, he clearly believed that this into other animals. In 1889, at the age of but it was testicular transplants (in his case not from

72, he began injecting himself with extract a Russian Figure 1: Serge Voronoff (photograph by monkeys but human testes removed due of crushed dog and testicles. He surgeon the Pierre Petit studio, Paris, 1920’s). to ectopia) re-vascularised and survived told the Société de Biologie in Paris it had working in and had a beneficial effect. In 1952, in a increased his mental and physical powers Paris who popularised this procedure; book on ageing, Walker, looking back at as well as his urine flow and ability to his name was Serge Voronoff (1866- his work concluded that, “the results of evacuate his bowels! 1951) (Figure 1). testicular grafting were no better than (1861-1944), working in Whilst working in Egypt, Voronoff those obtained from vaso-ligature and Vienna, was also investigating the testicular had observed that eunuchs appeared probably very little, if at all, superior to the function of animals. He found (or he thought to age prematurely; he postulated then rejuvenation results of our predecessors, he found) that ligation of the vasa of elderly that would slow down the magicians and witches.” rats led to their rejuvenation. He postulated ageing and began animal experiments Unsurprisingly, the idea of rejuvenation that a process of negative feedback caused implanting testes. On 12 June 1920, and the chance to slow ageing, or turn back the testicular interstitial cells to produce Voronoff transplanted testicular tissue time, gripped the public and monkey glands more testosterone. In 1918, with the help from a chimpanzee into a human. Slices of began appearing in the most unexpected of the urologist Robert Lichtenstern chimp testis were sewn into the recipient’s places. The plot of Bertram Gayton’s 1922 (1874-1952), vasectomy for the purpose of (Figure 2). Voronoff claimed that comic novel The Gland Stealers (Figure 3) rejuvenation was carried out on a human. the vitalising secretions lasted for up to involves an elderly grandfather being given Steinach’s ‘autoplastic rejuvenation’ became two years. He presented his technique to a new lease of life after receiving implants

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from Alfred the gorilla and sees him Wolverhampton Wanderers were accused treatment for true hypogonadism, if not gallivanting off to Africa to find more donors. by Leicester City of cheating by giving for rejuvenation of elderly grandfathers off Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was himself a their players monkey gland injections. gorilla hunting in Africa! doctor, used the idea in the 1923 Sherlock Wolves’ eccentric manager, Major Frank Holmes story The Adventure of the Creeping Buckley, allegedly arranged for his players Man, where a scientist injects himself with to have injections of what was said to be ACKNOWLEDGEMENT a rejuvenating potion. In the 1929 film,The monkey gland extract. After investigation, Cocoanuts, staring the Marx Brothers, they the football league did not ban monkey I am very grateful to Mr PC sing an Irving Berlin song, which included glands, but insisted players only took Butterworth, Consultant Urological the phrase, “If you’re too old for dancing, them voluntarily. Surgeon and amateur mixologist for get yourself a monkey gland”; the song was The trend for monkey gland therapy his cocktail making skills. called Monkey Doodle-Doo. In Harry’s Bar in faded away in the 1930’s. It was clearly Paris, a fashionable new cocktail appeared; scientifically flawed, the grafts from ‘The Monkey Gland’ was a potent mix of animal to man were rejected immediately gin, absinthe, grenadine and orange juice and injections of testicular extracts (Figure 3 and Box 1). contained little or no functional hormone. SECTION EDITOR Closer to home, there was some trouble Testosterone was identified and synthesised in the English football league, when in 1935 and this later became a useful

BOX 1: THE MONKEY GLAND COCKTAIL

2 shots London Dry Gin ¼ shot Absinthe 1 ½ shots Fresh orange juice ¼ shot Grenadine

Shake enthusiastically with ice. Jonathan Charles Goddard, Strain through a fine sieve. Curator of the Museum of Urology, hosted by BAUS; Decorate with twist Consultant Urological Surgeon, Leicester General of orange peel. Hospital, Leicester, UK. Drink with care. E: [email protected]

Figure 3: Monkey Gland Cocktail and ‘The Gland Stealers’ by Bertram Gayton.

urology news | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 | VOL 24 NO 6 | www.urologynews.uk.com