STERILITY AND THE ENDOCRINES 243 
tunate and cold reception given the perpetrator of any 
new method of procedure of robbing life of its degener- 
ations or bringing back the sex instinct with its conse- 
quent happiness of mind and healthiness of body. 
Volumes have been written on the subject, and there 
have been many criticisms offered. Testicular and ova- 
rian organotherapy have suffered most. In my estima- 
tion three-fourths of the unkind things said about this 
branch of endocrinology have been the result of expect- 
ing the miraculous to happen, and the setting of one’s 
hopes too high. Again many failures have been due to 
slipshod methods and treatment. Results have not been 
obtained in short intervals, and as a consequence the 
treatment has been abandoned. 
AN INDIVIDUAL IS AS OLD AS HIS INTERNAL SECRETIONS 
Senility and presenility, in my estimation, are noth- 
ing more or less than a waning of the endocrine func- 
tion, accompanied by functional cellular inactivity, with 
the resultant increase in toxemia, which poisons and de- 
generates; repair, if it does take place, is slow, and the 
organs gradually fall into disuse, followed by atrophy. 
Ideals, ambitions and desires are but memories, while 
procreation is impossible. 
When the ability to procreate wanes, the individual! 
is then to be considered senile, unless the causative 
factor is a specific disease. This hypogonadism may 
exist at any period. It is seen during early adult life 
and is then due to indiscretion, or is the result of pre- 
senile changes in the internal glandular system, as por- 
trayed by malnutrition, wrinkling and shrinking of the 
skin. The eyes become dull and the movements slow, 
while the spermatogenic function, as well as the ova- 
rian sequence, disappears. This presenile stage may 
be also initiated by indiscretion, as shown by the sex 
elands becoming functionally inactive, and the case 
