The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-08-26

toms speech in Midsummer
Nights Dream-"I have a device
to make all we'll" In fact the book
might have been called "A Mid
summer Nights Dream"
Incidentally there is one little
error of judgment in the compo-
sition Of the book: on page $50
they list the original board Of di-
rectors, and, as my colleague, Miss
Isabel Pattersol, Of the New York
Herald Tribune, pointed out, and
she is no deep student Of medical
science, nearly all the directors
are dead. AS recall also the first
medical director of the institute,
DR.. Eugene Lyman Fish, died at a
comparatively early age, around
60, right after he had written an
article showing that everyone
could live to be 90. II seems like
bad publicity if they could do it, for
the Life Extension Institute not
to have extended its life extending
TO its own directors.
Well, this old fellow, who has
the book preparatory TO reviewing
it, which l did yesterday in this
column, the telephone rang and an
old friend of mine, aged rs, was on
the other end of the line and so
excited he could barely splutter,
and wanted to know whether !
had seen Paul de Kruif's article
in the Readers Digest on Prolong-
ing Mans Prime by the use of
testosterone. You see this is the
same subject as that Of the Life
Extension Institute.
- False Hopes
Well, this old fellow who has
Jailed a good deal lately and
whose arteries must be like whip
cords, and who can't remember
much Of anything, and who is
deaf, but, / understand won't
spend the money for a hearing de-
vice, though the doctors have de-
termined he is just the right kind
to have such device do him some
good-he was all buoyed up by
the hope that testosterone was go
ing to put him back in the sopho-
more class. That's the pity of such
announcements - they inspire
a lot Of jubilant hopes that must
eventually be dashed.
AS to testosterone, in the first
place it is not new. | have a full
account Of it in text book on
treatment l wrote and published
in January 1913. So Paul de Kruif
is not bringing any hot message
TO Garcia. And in the second
place, it does not turn old men
young. Its principle value is in
certain glandular troubles Of
young boys. The most it has ever
done for old men is to mitigate the
rigours Of the male climacteric.
But in the meantime there is an
established glandular treatment
that really peps up lot Of elderly
men and women, and that is thy
roid extract. l asked my old
friend, DR.. Adrian Gibbs, a few
months ago how he managed 10
keep so young and active and he
said-"A quarter grain Of thy
roid extract now and then is relish
ed by the best of men and women
over co."
Benefits Of Thyroid Extract
I saw another old friend OF
mine, not so very old either, who
had been failing. He had been
TO supposedly good doctors all
over five states with no benefit.
When | went in his Office he came
slowly out from his desk, with q
masklike face, and a lavender flush
on his skin. He smiled with his
teeth, but not his eyes. He an
swered my questions after pause
very slowly. He was a living pic
ture Of myxedema, the condition
Of atrophy of the thyroid gland,
and none Of his doctors had recog-
nized it. An adequate daily dosage
Of thyroid extract has really re-
stored his prime.
There are literally hundreds of
such cases going unrecognized by
good doctors too. | don't know
why doctors overlook it so often /:
they are certainly taught about
myxedema and see pictures Of it
in their text books. But I suppose
because they are led TO think it
is rare they muff it. Then the pa
tent takes such long time to tell
about it. they can't stop % listen.