nature which
have accumulated in excess in cells and tissues, usurping the place of
the animal matter in the cells because of the inactivity of function
generally, and the poor elimination of waste matter, as the years pass.
This is the re-creative and rejuvenating work of the gland secretions.
It is beyond us to say exactly what these secretions consist of. We know
the importance of their presence in blood and lymph only by the
disasters that follow their absence. The thyroid gland and parathyroids,
for instance, seem to be connected by some close sympathy with the
activity or non-activity of the interstitial glands, and the atrophy of
one is often accompanied by the atrophy of the other. The subject is
still hidden in darkness to the extent of insufficient knowledge on our
part of the exact constituents of the active agents in the secretions of
the testes, thyroids, suprarenals, pituitary and other glands. Time and
further opportunity for experiment are needed to show to what extent the
goat-gland transplantation can be used to remedy goitre, epilepsy and
the graver lesions of paralysis. The use of the goat-glands is too
recent to admit of anything but speculation on these points. There would
seem to be no good reason to doubt that if the male organs of a young
goat do rejuvenate the atrophied testes of a man, which Dr. Brinkley has
abundantly proved they do, the thyroid gland of a young goat might be
expected to restore the atrophied thyroid of a human being. This again
is only conjecture, Dr. Brinkley's work up to the present having been
confined to the transplantation of testes and ovaries. But he expects to
find time during the present year to satisfy himself of the results of
such important experimental work as is here indicated. It is possible
that his visit to Europe this summer may be the means of enlarging his
field considerably, although it would appear that if he had six pairs of
hands and could keep all employed in continuous service he could
scarcely cope with the demands upon his time which any and all countries
of the earth may be expected to make when his work is known. In ten
years, no doubt, gland-transplantation, particularly goat-gland
transplantation, for the renewal of youth in man and woman will be so
usual as to occasion neither wonder nor hilarity. But we are not living
ten years from now, but at this present moment, and Dr. Brinkley's
operation to-day is a marvel, a wonder and a joy. There is a