Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-17
THE ELIXIR OF LIFE.
DR.. BrOwn-Sequard Talks Frankly
About His Celebrated Tonic.
WHAT he DOES AND DOESN'T CLAIM
Interview With the Famous Franco
American Physician.
KING DEATH CANNOT BE CONQUERED
rCoRREspoSprNor OF THE D1spGrcH.1

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPETcH.1
PARIS, November 5.-Dr. Brown-Se-
guard lives in an elegant apartment on the
third floor, at No. 10 Rue Francois Premier,
near the Champs Elysees. The staircase is
neatly carpeted. On ringing the bell, a
servant in black, with a white choker,
opens the door and ushers you through an
ante-room into an airy drawing room, fur
nished in the conventional manner
of French salons. The chairs and sofa,
of bourgeois model, are carefully con-
cealed under linen covers. The wainscoting
and ceiling are painted white, and the mold
ings touched up with gold; the white marble
mantelpiece has its regulation looking glass,
its bronze clock, with side cups and can
delabra to match, and its dog-irons in the
hearth. On one side of the room is a grand
Erard piano, on another is a glass case with
pottery and books inside, while in the center
stands a small table with a few books and
some Japanese knick-knacks on top. A
carpet covers the floor, and five water color
sea views in narrow gilt frames brighten the
walls
1 was not the ouly person who had come
to see the doctor. There were half dozen
whom an American lady and gentleman,
and a very pale looking, blue-eyed, exsan-
guineous Frenchman, who wore the red
ribbon of the Legion OF Honor in his button
hole. The latter, being talkatively in
clined, like most of bis countrymen, told
me that if he was not already in his grave
from au@mis, it was owing to the doctor,
who had certainly rescued him from the
family vault by means of the elixir. He
had been inoculated several times, and felt
much stronger and better from the treat
ment.
The patients filed of one after another
into the doctors inner sanctum, and I went
in last, so that the doctor was in no hurry
to put me out in order to make way for
somebody else.
THE DOCTORS APPEARANCE.
DR.. Brown-Sequard is short, thin, aged
man, with thoughtful countenance, gray
hair. dark eyebrows, and a fiery, penetrat-
ing eye. He speaks in a soft, quiet tone of
voice, and expresses himself with great
fuency in English. Those who fancy that
the noted Franco-American physiologist is
in his dotage are much mistaken. He is
still in the full possession of his mental
faculties, and his opinions, are, therefore,
to be received with all the respect due to his
remarkable achievements.
81 have been away for two months" he
began, seeking rest at Brighton; but I am
far from we'll yet. I suffer from acute
muscular rheumatism and renal pains, so
that get but little sleep at night.
Gas regards the tonic which your Ameri-
can friends call an elixir of life, and regard
as a rejuvenating potion, may here once
for all state that it is nothing OF the sort,
am man of science, not an alchemist. If
quacks in the United States try to raise
money by misrepresenting my discoveries.
or giving a false color to the results hitherto
obtained by me, of course, 1 cannot prevent
them; but am not to be held responsible
for their quackery. Questions like these
take years of patient study and investiga-
tion before we can be sure of any one single
fact. Without being wealthy, nv means
are such that can afford to proceed scieu-
tifcally. Ny experiments date as far back
as 1869, when was in the full vigor of
middle age.
, "whht do pretend to haze discovered is
a valuable and powerful tonic or stimulant
I have tried ten injections of the LIQUID on
myself-two in my left arm. and the others
in my lower limbs, in less than three weeks
time, from May 10 to June of the present
year. For each of these injections I used
five injections were madeon three succeeding
days with a liquid obtained from dog
In all the subsequent njections-which
took place on May "a, 90 and 80 and June4
the liquid used came from guinea pigs,
WONDERFUL RESULTS.
"The effects of these injections on myself
were extraordinary. ! must tell you that I |
am 72 years of age, and that my general
strength, which has been considerable, had
diminished to such an extent that, prior to |
my first injection in May last, had to sit |
down after half an hours work in the labor. |
atory. got to be so weak, in fact, that
when came home at O'Clock every even !
ing, 1 took light meal and at once went to |
bed. Often my exhaustion was so great that. |
though very sleepy, I could get no sleep,
and rose tired in the morning.
"From the day took my first injection.
a radical change occurred. 1 felt my old |
strength return. I went to work at the |
laboratory, as had not been able to do for
years. The succeeding injections improved
my general health and vigOr to such an ex-
tent that Dr. d 'Arsonval and DR.. Henocoue.
my two head assistants at the laboratory of
the College of France, where prosecute nv
experiments, were astounded
and downstairs as l did at CO. One day.
after upward of three hours hard labor at
the laboratory, standing all the while, 1
felt so strong that went to work after
dinner-s thing I had not done for 20
years-and wrote part of very long article
on some scientific subject. Ny daily cycle
being only % hours, instead of "a, as with
most people, 1 have always been an early
riser, doing most of my writing work be-
tween 8 and o'clock in the morning. So
that the tact of taking up the pen after din.
ner, when 40 years had confirmed the habit
1 was in of retiring early and writing in the
morning, may be looked upon as a more
serious test in my case than it might be for
another.
Ever since 1860, when I first established
myself in London, have kept a record of
the strength of my forearm. For two years
after that date, occasionally moved 100
pounds. Within the last three years the
maximum was rs pounds. This year, be.
fore took my first injection, the highest
figure recorded was "a pounds. Since the
injection it has risen to 88 pounds. Pray
feel the muscles of my right forearm. They
are as hard as they were 20 years ago.
NOT ALL IMAGINATION.
1--WE will now examine the assertion that
imagination plays the chief part in curing
people to whom the tonic is administered.
The effect, some say, is mental, and not
physical. This objection had fOreseen.
If stimulating effects were obtained on my.
self, it might possibly be the result of auto
suggestion. But if the same effects were OBJ
tanned on others, who had no idea of what
was being done, such an objection would
fall to the ground Immediately. That was
why communicated my discovery to the
Paris Biological Society. Other medical
men advanced in life would make on them
selves experiments similar to mine. Ready
as was to make on my own person expert
ments which were exceedingly painful,
refused absolutely to yield to the wishes of
many people who, at this early stage Of pro-