J. R. Brinkley, from The Goat-Gland Transplantation

The March 14, 1920 issue of the New York American carried an article about Dr. John Brinkley and some of his amazing cures through goat gland transplants. Brinkley had pioneered the use of these gland transplants to cure everything from barrenness in women to aging and hardening of the arteries. Goat gland transplants would also cure insanity, according to a case study discussed in a book: The Goat-Gland Transplantation by Sydney Flower.

A young woman suffering for the past twelve years with dementia praecox (a premature dementia, often beginning in the teens) that included homicidal tendencies and depression, had been treated by many specialists to no avail. However, Dr. Brinkley transplanted goat glands in her, and “the day after the transplantation of the glands this young woman embraced her mother, and talked so rationally to her that she called in Dr. Brinkley, and with tears repeated what her daughter had just said.”

The Dementia Praecox Case and Head Nurse Miss Lewis

Brinkley established the Brinkley-Jones Hospital and Training School for Nurses at Milford, Kansas, where he and other doctors performed thousands of goat gland operations. Brinkley had purchased his own medical diploma from Eclectic Medical University of Kansas City, Missouri, which was enough to allow him to operate as a surgeon for many years. Fortunately, Morris Fishbein, editor of the American Medical Association’s journal, finally forced Brinkley into court, where his fraudulent background and ignorance about medical matters became grounds to revoke his license.

Brinkley’s Hospital in Milford, Kansas