15 responses so far ↓

• 1 richard // Aug 26, 2008 at 9:26 am

  “In 1999, some speculated that the AIDS virus discovered in the 1980s entered the human population through Voronoff’s transfer of monkey parts into humans in the 1920s.”

  That’s VERY interesting – I’d never heard that theory before.

• 2 Heather // Aug 26, 2008 at 9:49 am

  As I was reading I wondered about various diseases from this guy’s experiments including AIDS. Curious, yes.

• 3 Robert // Aug 26, 2008 at 10:24 am

  Humans have a way of ruining everything.

• 4 Will // Aug 26, 2008 at 2:19 pm

  Esp. Russians. Moronoff.

• 5 Heather // Aug 26, 2008 at 2:27 pm

  He is Russian ?????????????????????????

• 6 richard // Aug 26, 2008 at 2:29 pm

  “Serge Abrahamovitch Voronoff (Russian: ?????? ????????? ???????; c. July 10, 1866 – September 3, 1951) was a French surgeon of Russian extraction….”

• 7 Heather // Aug 26, 2008 at 2:31 pm

  Maybe he was a Russian surgeon of French distraction (considering his line of work).

• 8 richard // Aug 26, 2008 at 2:33 pm

  I still don’t even understand the POINT of his work.

• 9 Will // Aug 26, 2008 at 2:33 pm

  Sorry. “le Moronoff.”

• 10 Coleman Shedman // Aug 26, 2008 at 5:49 pm

  The point, apparently, was rejuvenation (to make young or youthful again…give new vigor to…to restore to an original or new state):

  In his book Rejuvenation by Grafting (1925), Voronoff describes what he believes are some of the potential effects of his surgery. While “not an aphrodisiac”, he admits the sex drive may be improved. Other possible effects include better memory, the ability to work longer hours, the potential for no longer needing glasses (due to improvement of muscles around the eye), and the prolonging of life. Voronoff also speculates that the grafting surgery might be beneficial to sufferers of “dementia praecox”, the mental illness known today as schizophrenia.

• 11 richard // Aug 26, 2008 at 5:51 pm

  That’s some funny shit.

  He just believed his “procedure” could fix all of that with no reasoning whatsoever?

  Surely at the time someone was going from town to town selling an “elixir” to cure the same things?

• 12 Coleman Shedman // Aug 26, 2008 at 5:55 pm

  Actually, for his time, he wasn’t that far off.

  In November 1991, one of the oldest peer-reviewed medical journals in the world, The Lancet, suggested that the file on Voronoff’s work be reopened and in particular that “the Medical Research Council should fund further studies on monkey glands”.[4] By 1994, there were calls for a qualified apology from the orthodox medical establishment for dismissing Voronoff’s work.[16] In particular, since modern medicine has established that the Sertoli cells of the testes constitute a barrier to the immune system, rendering the testes an immunologically privileged site for the transplantation of foreign tissue, the thin slices of monkey testicles Voronoff implanted into the patient’s testicles may in theory have survived to produce some benefit.[23] In 1998, the sweeping popularity of Viagra brought forth references to Voronoff.[18][24] However, in 1999, some speculated that the AIDS virus discovered in the 1980s entered the human population through Voronoff’s transfer of monkey parts into humans in the 1920s.[25]

  By 2003, Voronoff’s efforts in the 1920s reached trivia factoid status for newspapers.[26] However, as recently as 2005, Voronoff’s work in the 1920s and 1930s was noted for setting the basis for the modern anti-aging strategy of replacing hormones – the internally secreted substances that decline with age – to regain the vitality and physical attributes associated with youth.[27]

  Did you happen to read the entire wikipedia entry you posted the link to?

• 13 Heather // Aug 26, 2008 at 7:17 pm

  I posted it Coleman.

• 14 Heather // Aug 26, 2008 at 7:17 pm

  And yes, I read the whole thing. In fact, I couldn’t stop reading it.

• 15 Coleman Shedman // Aug 26, 2008 at 7:40 pm

  My bad.

You must log in to post a comment.