Medicine: Elixirs of Life

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Evidence pro and con on the vexed question of sex gland "rejuvenation" as practiced by Eugen Steinach of Vienna, and Serge Voronoff of Paris (TiME, July 30) continues to pile up. Some men who have undergone the Steinach operation have been vastly benefited, according to themselves and their surgeons. Others have admittedly received no benefit and some have died. A public discussion in The New York World between Dr. Morris Fishbein, associate editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, and Dr. Harry Benjamin, of New York, a disciple of Steinach, brought out several characteristic differences between the theoretical upholder of "scientific medicine" and the practicing "gland surgeon."

Dr. Fishbein's points:

1) It has not yet been proved whether the reproductive cells of the sex glands, or the interstitial cells between them are the source of the hormones which determine the sex characteristics. This is a crucial question as between the Steinach and Voronoff methods.

2) Two elderly men who had the Steinach operation and apparently improved temporarily died shortly thereafter from apoplexy or arterio- sclerosis. Professor Zeissl of Vienna noted no improvement following a similar operation on himself.

3) The results of cases of so-called rejuvenation may be psychological, influenced by suggestions of expected improvement.

4) The stimulation of one part of the body without a general restoration of the whole structure may have serious consequences.

5) Proper observance of hygienic laws is the only sure way of prolonging life. "There is as yet no royal road to rejuvenation."

Dr. Benjamin conceded much of Dr. Fishbein's argument, but made the following rejoinder:

1) The Steinach operation admittedly produces a glandular stimulation which may be called an "internal hygienic measure."

2) The elderly patients who died had foolishly overdone their indulgence in "wine, women, and song," thus overtaxing their systems. Professor Zeissl's operation was not the Steinach operation.

3) No one has claimed complete success for it, but about 80 per cent of Dr. Benjamin's patients have been definitely benefited.

4) Autosuggestion is ruled out, because in several cases the changes were observed without the patient's knowledge of the character of the operation. Endocrine changes have been verified which could not be produced by imagination.

5) The opposition to the Steinach operation comes almost invariably from "armchair" theorists who have never seen a patient who has undergone it. The facts are being accumulated by practicing surgeons.