Smyrna times., 1889-08-07
Brown-Sequard's Elixir of Life.

1t was thought at first that one of
those amusing French chrOniclers had
been playing off a joke on DR.. Brown
SeqHard by announcing that he had
discovered an elixir that would prolong
life. He has not, indeed, done that. he
mas made public in a paper read before
the Paris Biological Society, and since
In communication to the London Lam
Get, the remarkable results of certain
experiments tried upon himself, and
subsequently on three old and debili
tated men by his associate, DIR. Variot
with an elixir compounded of the
glands of young dogs and guinea pigs.
and injected under the skin with q
hypodermic syringe The fluid obtain
ed by him from the process which he
describes is Ofa dark reddish color. and
before testing it upon himself he tried
1t on two rabbits and one dog. Hav-
ing thus proved that it produced no
deleterious effects, he made ten iniec-
TONS IN his arms and legs between the
10Th of May and the 4th of June. and
began to note the results. 1t was. ac-
cordlng to his own account, most sur
prlslng. DIR. BrOwn-Sequard is seventy
years of age, and his infirmities had so
enteebled him that he was Obliged to
resort to a seat after occupying stand
ing position in his laboratory for half
an hour, and on his return home at six
O'Clock was so exhausted that he had
at once to go to bed, where he would
be too tired to sleep. The New York
Tribune, following Dr. Brown -Seuuard's
paper to the Paris Biological Society
and his subsequent communication to
the London Lancet, condenses his
description of the effect upon him of
the elixir hypOdermically injected.
After applying these injections" he
said, 'he was able to stand for three or
four hours in his laboratory and to
write IN the evening for an hour and
a-halt without feeling a sense of weari-
ness. Instead Of creeping and hobbling
up a staircase, as had been his habit in
recent years, he could run uD and
down like boy. His arms, tested bv
a dynamOmeter, regained a strength
which they had not possessed for TWEEN
ty-six years. Digestion and other
functions were markedly improved. his
facility for intellectual labor was in
creased, and all functions dependinp
on the spinal chord and nervous centres
were notably and rapidly strengthen
cd" The three debilitated men, rang
ing III age from hfty-fOur to sixty eight.
alter being treated hypodermicallv
with the vitalized fluid do not aDDear
to have responded quite so favorablv
to the treatment. Their digestion. if is
said was Immediately improved and
their muscular powers increased. but
another effect OF the fluid was to cause
general nervous excitement DR..
Brown-Sequard remarks on this report
that sufficient time had not ELAPSED to
enable him to judge of the permanent
elects OF the treatment of these three
patients" While making due allow
ance for the enthusiasm of a discoyerer
who processes to have himself expert
enced such salutary results from the
administration of the vitalizing fluid.
1t is not likely that the medical profes
sion who listened to the paper read be-
fore the Biological Society with
thrill of astOnishment and an air of in
credullty" will permit the matter TO
rest here. DR.. Brown-SeQuard states
that IN his own case the effect of the
application Of the fluid ceased at the
end of four weeks. After that time
there was a complete return of the
pre-existing infrmities and weakness
OF old age" but he contemplates, in
his communication to the Lancet, re-
curing again to the injections in the
expectation of obtaining for the term of
another month the same benefcent re-
suits he had received before He does
not hold to his discovery further than
this-that while temporary in its effect
it affords to the scientific world basis
for further experiments, and he simply
claims for it the merit of easing the
burden of old age.-BGlt. Sun.