Medical Humanities | As Old As Your Glands: Hormones, Ageing and Bodily Control in the Early Twentieth Century

Hormones were hailed in the early twentieth century as one of the most promising explanations for physiological function. New hormone treatments claimed to restore youthfulness and exerted a strong influence over public perceptions of how bodies worked. Laboratory and clinical research influenced the marketing of commercial rejuvenation therapies and commercial entities produced an enticing range of products containing hormones. The widely-publicised research of gland-manipulating surgeons – particularly Eugen Steinach and Serge Voronoff – who gained notoriety by performing rejuvenating operations designed to restore bodily hormonal balance attracted considerable press interest. Newspapers and periodicals carried numerous reports of procedures carried out on prominent society figures, yet for many these expensive and highly specialised treatments were out of reach. Instead, in this paper I argue that the main contribution of the work of Voronoff and Steinach to British public life was to sustain a significant market of new hormone-based products, from dietary supplements and skin creams which claimed to restore natural bodily balance to medical hormone preparations designed to address fertility problems.