The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-11-14
Vital Experiments

LIFE A Study of the Means OF Restor-
ing Vital Energy and Prolonglng Life.
BY DR.. Serge Voronoff, Director Of
Experimental Surgery at the Labora-
tory of Physiology of the College de
France. Translated by Evelyn Bost-
wick Voronoff. E. p. Dutton & Co.
In a "translator's preface" Mrs.
Voronof writes: I'm this translation
Of my husbands 'Vivre' I have en-
deavored to present In English faith
fully and accurately the profound
creative thought OF his scientific dis
coveries for restoring our vital energy
| and prolonging the life dear to all of
us. voiced with such sincerity and
eloquence in his original II is a
book whose. message is truly uni
versal, for 1t is addressed to every
human being who lives. and wishes to
live, in the true sense of the word
| DIR. Voronoff, treading in the
footsteps of that great master In ex-
perimental science, Claude Bernard,
| makes clear that the grating of
| glands will. In the future. become an
everyday procedure. just AS bone
grating grew to be commonplace Of
surgical practice during tho recent
war. He shows that, as a conse-
quence, human life may be extended
to what should be its normal span Of
fruitful activity. minimum age
which is at present not attained. Does
any scientific discovery of the ages
exceed this in It's Importance TO the
individual and the racer"
DR.. Voronoff remarks at the begin
ming of his highly interesting treatise
| that science, as II is now constituted,
fails to supply a single law according
to which longevity may be recorded"
Button thought he perceived a gen.
eral principle in the lives of the ami
mails which indicated a span OF life
six or seven times the period of
growth He fixed the limit OF mans
growth at fourteen: yet Flourens said
Button may have been mistaken in
fixing fourteen years as the terminal
age of growth. since our bones grow
till we are twenty years old. II we may
consider our life term as six or seven
times our period of growth, man
should be able to reach an age of 100
or even 140 years. Yet few men live
| so long. The closest study. also. tends
to the conclusion that the manner of
| life we lead exerts but a slight in
| fiuence. and merely predisposes us to
contract or avoid certain mal,dies. In
reality, 1t has no direct influence on
our normal life Duration"
| The author finds "our ignn 'ance Of
the origin of life no barrier to our I'M
derstanding of the causes OF DEATH"
and "in the struggle between the
| primitive and the specialized cells,
death results when the former Cthe
conjunctive cells and the white blood
corpuscles) triumph Study of the
correlative influence of the cells has
led to observation of results attending
the loss or atrophy of the ductless
| glands in the human body, with con-
! c1usions which point toward the pos
sibility of prolonging life by maintain
| ing or renewing such glands and It's
sues as are necessary to life. The
loss Of the thyroid gland or of the
four parathyroid glands. is inevitably
fatal; so also the removal of the
1 pituitary gland is inevitably followed
by death, usually within forty-eight
hours; removal of the supra-renal
glands brings death in thirty hours.
IL is unquestionsble that our life de-
Ponds upon the proper activity of
these mysterious details OF the human
organism Of which only a tew have
been specified in this note. Tho author
likens the action of the glands TO the
electric spark of a magnetic which
lights the gas and produces the ex-
plosion in the cylinder OF motors OF
different horse powers. The spark is
always the same---both in men and
animals--the effect produced depends
upon the amount of power which each
Of these motors can generate.
Dr. Voronoff's experiments upon
animals have produced sensational re-
suits, and his theory is Of such para
mount interest that his book Is bound
to receive close attention while the
. world awaits further concentrations.