Claim · 1917 · Brinkley goat-gland transplantation (goat-to-human gonad implant)
The goat-gland operation is a safe and effective surgical treatment for impotence and the effects of aging.
Brinkley’s publicity presented the operation as safe and routinely successful; by 1921 the Flower pamphlet was advertising over 600 operations upon men and women. The safety-and-efficacy claim is refuted: there was no controlled outcome data, the procedure delivered no biological benefit, and the American Medical Association documented it as quackery, a judgment the Kansas medical board acted on in revoking Brinkley’s license in September 1930 (Smith 2022).
Appears in
Sources
- The Goat-Gland Transplantation as Originated and Successfully Performed by J. R. Brinkley, M. D., of Milford, Kansas, U. S. A., in Over 600 Operations Upon Men and Women — Flower, Sydney Blanshard. The Goat-Gland Transplantation as Originated and Successfully Performed by J. R. Brinkley, M. D., of Milford, Kansas, U. S. A., in Over 600 Operations Upon Men and Women. Chicago: New Thought Book Department, c1921. Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/goatglandtranspl00flow
- John R. Brinkley: A Quintessential American Quack — Smith PC. John R. Brinkley: A Quintessential American Quack. J Community Hosp Intern Med Perspect. 2022;12(5):1-5. PMID: 36262496. PMCID: PMC9529641. doi:10.55729/2000-9666.1095.
- Voronoff to virion: 1920s testis transplantation and AIDS — Bajic P, Selman SH, Rees MA. Voronoff to virion: 1920s testis transplantation and AIDS. Xenotransplantation. 2012 Nov-Dec;19(6):337-41. PMID: 23094667. doi:10.1111/xen.12004.
- Injection, ligation and transplantation: the search for the glandular fountain of youth — Miller NL, Fulmer BR. Injection, ligation and transplantation: the search for the glandular fountain of youth. J Urol. 2007 Jun;177(6):2000-5. PMID: 17509279. doi:10.1016/j.juro.2007.01.135.