The Search for Eternal Youth
For billions of years, there has been life. Our planet consists of countless numbers of living creatures. Unfortunately, all living creatures have a limited life span which can range anywhere from a few hours to the ripe old age of 113 years old. Each individual has its own biological clock, and when the clock stops,
our time is up. But what if we could rewind or stop our biological clock, rejuvenating ourselves to a time when we were totally content? In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", he describes one man's experiments in the pursuit of longevity and eternal youth with water from the legendary Fountain of Youth. Although these secrets have been pursued for centuries, but never has man found such an elixir. However, throughout history there has been numerous attempts to extend life: the Egyptians and Romans ate garlic in large quantities in an attempt to lengthen life and increase strength, and several Chinese emperors hired alchemists to discover the secret to eternal youth. Unfortunately, these alchemists prescribed doses of gold and mercury only to later discover that their patients were not living longer healthier lives, but living shorter, more painful lives. Regardless of these experimental failures, the research and experimentations continued.
In 1513, Spanish king and queen, Ferdinand and Isabella, dispatched the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon, on a quest to locate the legendary Fountain of Youth. Although he spent 8 years searching the entire state of Florida, he never found it and died from injuries collected in battle during his expedition. Regardless of the fact that Ponce de Leon never found the Fountain of Youth, the world still believed that it existed and were determined to find it. Whether it was an actual mystical spring or simply a drug that would reinstill life and vitality into our degenerating bodies, the search never ceased.
In the early l900's, Russian doctor, Serve Varnoff; formed the hypothesis that "the physical and intellectual qualities of animals and of men are as intimately conditioned by the hormones secreted by the testicles as are the secondary sex characteristics [such as beard growth]" (Kurtzman 24). In other words, Dr. Varnoff believed that the secret to youth and vitality lied in the constant production of sex hormones. But Varnoff needed to prove this theory and began to seek solutions. He looked for men who were willing to sell their organs for transplant research. Unfortunately, even with his extensive advertising, he only received two volunteers, but the prices they demanded were too high for Varnoff. After experiencing a shortage in human organs, Dr. Varnoff then decided to obtain monkey organs instead. After locating a compatible monkey specie for his transplant research, Dr. Varnoff began to offer his treatment to elderly clients seeking youth and vitality. Thousands of old men flocked to receive monkey organ transplants in order to renourish their vitality and youth at a cost of five thousand dollars. Upon Dr. Varnoff's death in 1951, it was estimated that he had obtained an income of about ten million dollars through his transplants. Of course, Varnoff's attempt at restoring youth and vitality was unsuccessful, but he did not leave this world without leaving behind something to remember him by. It was later discovered that the monkey's used in Varnoff's experiments had developed the syphilis virus and infected all his elderly patients.
In 1931, a woman was undergoing an operation to remove a goiter she had been suffering from, when her parathyroid glands were removed accidentally. Without parathyroid glands, a person rapidly loses control of their muscles, begins to experience convulsions and soon dies. Fortunately, Dr. Paul Niehans was called to aid in the correction of this life-threatening mistake. While on his way to the hospital, Niehans was trying to think of a procedure which may help in the patient's recovery. When suddenly, he remember the words of Paracelsus, a Swiss physician and alchemist of the sixteenth century, "treat like with like" (Kurtzman 26). Being enlightened by these words, Niehans drove to a local slaughter house and removed the parathyroid glands of a steer. Upon his arrival at the hospital, the steer parathyroid glands were ground up, mixed in a sterile solution and injected into the woman's chest. To everyone's surprise, the woman's convulsions had lightened almost immediately and within two hours, the patient was fully recovered. However, since the 1920's, physicians had used this same procedure to draw insulin from steer and injected the insulin into human diabetics, but Niehans argument was that his experiment was different in that it had lasting effects. He believed that the steer cells had caused the regeneration of the removed parathyroid glands tissue. Believing that his discovery was ground-breaking, Dr. Paul Niehans continued to do research with the injection of the cells of unborn lambs into the bodies of degenerating elderly people. His belief that this treatment was actually rejuvenating the elderly had brought thousands of aging individuals to his clinic for treatment at a cost of $1,500 a visit. Did his treatment really work? Among Dr. Niehans' more well known patients were: Thomas Mann who lived to the age of eighty, and Pope Pius XII who lived to eighty-two. Niehans himself lived to the ripe old age of eighty-nine, dying in 1971. Although Dr. Paul Niehans has died, his clinic is still operating and carrying on the doctor's "body servicing" treatment. However, in the United States, this practice is considered extremely dangerous by the American Medical Association which states that this treatment can cause infections or bring on an immunity response from your body, but it is available in various other countries such as Mexico, France, Italy, and England.
Even today, the search for eternal youth has not lost its appeal to the public. Currently, there are numerous treatments which appear to be working on human subjects. One such breakthrough is the DHEA hormone which is produced in the adrenal glands of humans and is responsible for quite a few health and longevity benefits. It has been proven that the level of DHEA in a person' s blood can determine whether or not there will be an degenerative diseases, and mental illness in the future. On July, 1995, the news media announced the stunning results found with DHEA research. These results were then given at a major conference in Washington, D.C. on DHEA. Apparently, the older men participating in the experiments had shown dramatic improvement in their lean mass to body fat ratio, had more youthful skin texture, increased energy, less stress, increased libido(dramatically for women), and an enhanced immune system.
Another recent anti-aging breakthrough, is that of Dr. Terry Beurdsley an immunologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, has recently been awarded with a U. S. patent for his research and discovery of Thymic Protein A. This protein is produced in the Thymus gland and aids in the strengthening of our immune system. In the words of Dr. Beurdsley, "in medicine, a strong immune system increases life span by protecting the body from daily attack of pathogen's in our environment, as well as slowing down the disease of aging" (http://www.worldhealth.net/news/protein.html). Unfortunately, our Thymus gland begins to shrink after puberty, and by the age of forty an average person has only a small portion of the gland intact and protein ceases to be produced. This is nature' s method of "programmed death" for humans However, Dr. Beurdsley is the first scientist to reproduce this protein intact in a laboratory environment so that it can be injected into human subjects to boost their immune systems. He also formed the theory, "If a gland dries up, replace it." Although the practice of grinding up whole Thymus glands and injecting the fragments into humans appears to be effective, it only has limited effectiveness. After all, it is only pieces which are being administered and not whole organs. Dr. Beurdsley believes that it would be much more effective to inject a patient with biologically active Thymus protein, and his new laboratory produced Thymic Protein A fits the bill. Dr. Beurdsley believes that in the future longevity will be achieved by measuring an individual's vital functions and administering laboratory formed hormones to replace the missing natural substances. But he goes on to state that Thymic Protein A, is the most important of these natural replacements because of its ability to strengthen our immune system. A strong immune system includes increased stamina, energy, and the ability to ward off infections. Therefore, a daily dose of a mere 4 micrograms of Thymic Protein A could very well be our "Fountain of Youth."
Is there really a Fountain of Youth out there? If there iS7 scientists appear to be closing in. And maybe someday, death will be a thing of the past. But we must also ask ourselves is never dying a good thing? We will just have to wait to discover the answer to that question.
Works Cited
Kurtzman, Joel: No More Dying: The Conquest of Aging and Extension of Human Life. J.P. Tarcher, Inc., Los Angeles. 1976
http://www.worldhealth.net/news/protein.html
For billions of years, there has been life. Our planet consists of countless numbers of living creatures. Unfortunately, all living creatures have a limited life span which can range anywhere from a few hours to the ripe old age of 113 years old. Each individual has its own biological clock, and when the clock stops,
our time is up. But what if we could rewind or stop our biological clock, rejuvenating ourselves to a time when we were totally content? In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", he describes one man's experiments in the pursuit of longevity and eternal youth with water from the legendary Fountain of Youth. Although these secrets have been pursued for centuries, but never has man found such an elixir. However, throughout history there has been numerous attempts to extend life: the Egyptians and Romans ate garlic in large quantities in an attempt to lengthen life and increase strength, and several Chinese emperors hired alchemists to discover the secret to eternal youth. Unfortunately, these alchemists prescribed doses of gold and mercury only to later discover that their patients were not living longer healthier lives, but living shorter, more painful lives. Regardless of these experimental failures, the research and experimentations continued.
In 1513, Spanish king and queen, Ferdinand and Isabella, dispatched the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon, on a quest to locate the legendary Fountain of Youth. Although he spent 8 years searching the entire state of Florida, he never found it and died from injuries collected in battle during his expedition. Regardless of the fact that Ponce de Leon never found the Fountain of Youth, the world still believed that it existed and were determined to find it. Whether it was an actual mystical spring or simply a drug that would reinstill life and vitality into our degenerating bodies, the search never ceased.
In the early l900's, Russian doctor, Serve Varnoff; formed the hypothesis that "the physical and intellectual qualities of animals and of men are as intimately conditioned by the hormones secreted by the testicles as are the secondary sex characteristics [such as beard growth]" (Kurtzman 24). In other words, Dr. Varnoff believed that the secret to youth and vitality lied in the constant production of sex hormones. But Varnoff needed to prove this theory and began to seek solutions. He looked for men who were willing to sell their organs for transplant research. Unfortunately, even with his extensive advertising, he only received two volunteers, but the prices they demanded were too high for Varnoff. After experiencing a shortage in human organs, Dr. Varnoff then decided to obtain monkey organs instead. After locating a compatible monkey specie for his transplant research, Dr. Varnoff began to offer his treatment to elderly clients seeking youth and vitality. Thousands of old men flocked to receive monkey organ transplants in order to renourish their vitality and youth at a cost of five thousand dollars. Upon Dr. Varnoff's death in 1951, it was estimated that he had obtained an income of about ten million dollars through his transplants. Of course, Varnoff's attempt at restoring youth and vitality was unsuccessful, but he did not leave this world without leaving behind something to remember him by. It was later discovered that the monkey's used in Varnoff's experiments had developed the syphilis virus and infected all his elderly patients.
In 1931, a woman was undergoing an operation to remove a goiter she had been suffering from, when her parathyroid glands were removed accidentally. Without parathyroid glands, a person rapidly loses control of their muscles, begins to experience convulsions and soon dies. Fortunately, Dr. Paul Niehans was called to aid in the correction of this life-threatening mistake. While on his way to the hospital, Niehans was trying to think of a procedure which may help in the patient's recovery. When suddenly, he remember the words of Paracelsus, a Swiss physician and alchemist of the sixteenth century, "treat like with like" (Kurtzman 26). Being enlightened by these words, Niehans drove to a local slaughter house and removed the parathyroid glands of a steer. Upon his arrival at the hospital, the steer parathyroid glands were ground up, mixed in a sterile solution and injected into the woman's chest. To everyone's surprise, the woman's convulsions had lightened almost immediately and within two hours, the patient was fully recovered. However, since the 1920's, physicians had used this same procedure to draw insulin from steer and injected the insulin into human diabetics, but Niehans argument was that his experiment was different in that it had lasting effects. He believed that the steer cells had caused the regeneration of the removed parathyroid glands tissue. Believing that his discovery was ground-breaking, Dr. Paul Niehans continued to do research with the injection of the cells of unborn lambs into the bodies of degenerating elderly people. His belief that this treatment was actually rejuvenating the elderly had brought thousands of aging individuals to his clinic for treatment at a cost of $1,500 a visit. Did his treatment really work? Among Dr. Niehans' more well known patients were: Thomas Mann who lived to the age of eighty, and Pope Pius XII who lived to eighty-two. Niehans himself lived to the ripe old age of eighty-nine, dying in 1971. Although Dr. Paul Niehans has died, his clinic is still operating and carrying on the doctor's "body servicing" treatment. However, in the United States, this practice is considered extremely dangerous by the American Medical Association which states that this treatment can cause infections or bring on an immunity response from your body, but it is available in various other countries such as Mexico, France, Italy, and England.
Even today, the search for eternal youth has not lost its appeal to the public. Currently, there are numerous treatments which appear to be working on human subjects. One such breakthrough is the DHEA hormone which is produced in the adrenal glands of humans and is responsible for quite a few health and longevity benefits. It has been proven that the level of DHEA in a person' s blood can determine whether or not there will be an degenerative diseases, and mental illness in the future. On July, 1995, the news media announced the stunning results found with DHEA research. These results were then given at a major conference in Washington, D.C. on DHEA. Apparently, the older men participating in the experiments had shown dramatic improvement in their lean mass to body fat ratio, had more youthful skin texture, increased energy, less stress, increased libido(dramatically for women), and an enhanced immune system.
Another recent anti-aging breakthrough, is that of Dr. Terry Beurdsley an immunologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, has recently been awarded with a U. S. patent for his research and discovery of Thymic Protein A. This protein is produced in the Thymus gland and aids in the strengthening of our immune system. In the words of Dr. Beurdsley, "in medicine, a strong immune system increases life span by protecting the body from daily attack of pathogen's in our environment, as well as slowing down the disease of aging" (http://www.worldhealth.net/news/protein.html). Unfortunately, our Thymus gland begins to shrink after puberty, and by the age of forty an average person has only a small portion of the gland intact and protein ceases to be produced. This is nature' s method of "programmed death" for humans However, Dr. Beurdsley is the first scientist to reproduce this protein intact in a laboratory environment so that it can be injected into human subjects to boost their immune systems. He also formed the theory, "If a gland dries up, replace it." Although the practice of grinding up whole Thymus glands and injecting the fragments into humans appears to be effective, it only has limited effectiveness. After all, it is only pieces which are being administered and not whole organs. Dr. Beurdsley believes that it would be much more effective to inject a patient with biologically active Thymus protein, and his new laboratory produced Thymic Protein A fits the bill. Dr. Beurdsley believes that in the future longevity will be achieved by measuring an individual's vital functions and administering laboratory formed hormones to replace the missing natural substances. But he goes on to state that Thymic Protein A, is the most important of these natural replacements because of its ability to strengthen our immune system. A strong immune system includes increased stamina, energy, and the ability to ward off infections. Therefore, a daily dose of a mere 4 micrograms of Thymic Protein A could very well be our "Fountain of Youth."
Is there really a Fountain of Youth out there? If there iS7 scientists appear to be closing in. And maybe someday, death will be a thing of the past. But we must also ask ourselves is never dying a good thing? We will just have to wait to discover the answer to that question.
Works Cited
Kurtzman, Joel: No More Dying: The Conquest of Aging and Extension of Human Life. J.P. Tarcher, Inc., Los Angeles. 1976
http://www.worldhealth.net/news/protein.html
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