# Monkey Gland Transplants **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 16, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-gland-transplants/496651 "2009-05-16T16:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Haughey6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9a140/32.png) [@Haughey6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haughey6)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-gland-transplants/496651/1 "2009-05-16T16:02:26Z")
I am not sure if this is the really the same thing as paperbackwriter was answering, but I do recall in school while being forced to attempt to comprehend the poetry of W. B. Yeats, it was mentioned that he had monkey testicles grafted onto his own ‘boys’ later in life. A swift check on that well known all-encompassing source, wikipedia, shows that the practice was fairly widespread in the 1920’s and 1930’s by one particular doctor, and involved transplanting a small sliver of monkey testicle into the scrotum of the patient, most of whom apparently reported ‘much benefit’ from the operation. All I can say was it made me a little more interested in his work, but I never did find any eveidence of a dividing line in his work of ‘before’ and ‘after’. * * * Link to staff Report: [Can testicles be transplanted? Whose sperm would a transplanted testicle produce, the donor’s or the recipient’s? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2867/can-testicles-be-transplanted) – CKDH ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-gland-transplants/496651/2 "2009-05-16T21:15:54Z")
It wasn’t monkey testicles that Yeats would have had transplanted but goat ones. Although your recollection of the donor species was incorrect, it was fairly common to have testicular xenotransplants in the 20’s. I am speaking of one [“Doctor” John R. Brinkley](http://www.quackwatch.com/11Ind/brinkley.html), a/k/a “the goat gland doctor”. Brinkley was a quack, through and through, but a horrifyingly successful one. He performed over 16,000 xenotransplants of goat testicles or testicular tissue into men. Supposedly, the goat testicles would “reinvigorate” older men, prevent or treat a whole host of ailments, and restore libidos. These “treatments” weren’t cheap, either: $750 during the 1920’s, or over $9,000 in today’s dollars. For $5,000 (equivalent to almost $61,000), he would implant human testicles obtained from death-row inmates. When I say “transplant”, you shouldn’t think of the type of careful, meticulous, difficult microsurgery that I was discussing in the Staff Report. Brinkley apparently just kind of tossed the new ones in and crudely sutured them to the existing equipment. I didn’t find out about Brinkley until after I had written the Report, first hearing about his antics from **bibliophage**. Yeats was not one of Brinkely’s patients, but he was a bit obsessed with “stimulating his muse” (as it were) in later life. According to Brenda Maddox in _Yeats’s Ghosts_, Yeats did have an operation for “rejuvenation by experimental revitalization of the aging puberty gland.” Today, we call this procedure a vasectomy. The production and role of testosterone was not known at this time, so a vasectomy was thought to boost sex drive by retaining sperm in the testicles. Yeats became associated with Brinkley through jokes, mainly. Although Yeats had his operation in 1934 after Brinkley was out of business, the goat gland doctor was so famous that any operation to boost libido was bound to be linked to him. Brinkley had not only a major and internationally-known practice, but also a nationwide radio call-in show, owned multiple radio stations, and almost became governor of Kansas in a _write-in_ campaign! As soon as Yeats disclosed to his friends that he had his operation, jokes about goat glands were circulated. They still are in some places. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-gland-transplants/496651/3 "2009-05-19T11:28:15Z")
Moderator note: I’ve added a link to **paperback writer** ’s brilliant Staff Report at the bottom of the OP. Having a link in the first post to the Column or Staff Report helps keep us all on the same pages, avoids redundancy, and saves search time. No biggie, **Haughey6** , you’ll know for next time. ---
**Author:** ![dcshrink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@dcshrink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dcshrink)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-gland-transplants/496651/4 "2009-05-19T14:56:58Z")
A possible reason for allogenic testicular transplantation is cosmetic. A man who lost testes, to trauma or surgery, may wish to restore his manly appearance. In this case, prosthetic testes are used. Prosthestic testes look and feel like living tissue but are fabricated and nonfunctional. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-gland-transplants/496651/5 "2009-05-19T15:00:49Z")
I merged the previous post into this thread because it’s about the same staff report. \*\* Gfactor\*\* Moderator ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-gland-transplants/496651/6 "2009-05-19T15:26:19Z")
> [@dcshrink](#): > > A possible reason for allogenic testicular transplantation is cosmetic. > A man who lost testes, to trauma or surgery, may wish to restore his manly appearance. In this case, prosthetic testes are used. Prosthestic testes look and feel like living tissue but are fabricated and nonfunctional. Procudures like this aren’t “allogenic transplants” though. As you say, they’re non-living tissue and are proplerly called implants (just like silicone breast implants). “Allogenic” means “same kind,” so in the context of transplants it always refers to tissue from the same species. Furthermore, implants are non-functional, so they still wouldn’t address the question posed. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-gland-transplants/496651/7 "2009-05-20T02:59:09Z")
Given the sticky that the Staff Reports are prepared in advance, I don’t know if this is relevant, but I find it interesting in light of **paperbackwriter** ’s statement that multiple similar letters were received that a plot point of last week’s _My Name is Earl_ episode (5/14/09) involved testicle transplantation (a human receiving transplanted bull testicles). Interesting timing. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-gland-transplants/496651/8 "2009-05-20T03:44:14Z")
FTR, the three emails in question were sent to Cecil on 6/28/2004, 7/25/2007, and 11/9/2008. I picked it out of the slush pile this March, probably about the time that the _My Name Is Earl_ writers were talking out their plot.