December 13, 2002

Grift, Goats, and Gonads

By SCOTT McLEMEE

Historians ponder the colorful career of John Brinkley, American quack

During the 1920s and '30s, John R. Brinkley was known throughout the Midwest for his powerful radio station (frequently broadcast at higher wattages than the law allowed), his barnstorming political campaigns, and, most of all, his surgical technique for transplanting the sex glands of male goats into men whose libidinal batteries had run down.

His Viagra avant la lettre won Brinkley many satisfied customers.

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