Two decades into the 21st century, male and female genitals mark the new frontier of human organ transplantation. But testicle transplants remain off limits, except in extremely rare cases, for bioethical reasons.
A century ago, however, rejuvenation-minded surgeons embraced the idea with gusto. If a pair of testicles makes a guy masculine, why not three? The more, they thought, the manlier.
There was a hitch, however. Viable human testicles were in short supply, even at the mortuary. So someone, perhaps an aging tycoon with a flagging libido, apparently hired hoods to kidnap men off the street, knock them out, and hustle them into involuntary castration operations.
At least three Chicago men fell victim to "gland larceny" in the early 1920s, including one who accused two of the most notorious murderers in American history of mutilating him.
The rash of testicle thefts, which may be the world's earliest cases of human organ trafficking, has roots in the late 19th century. That's when the new field of endocrinology began to suggest that male sex glands produced a chemical that boosted manliness. Around the same time, medicine began to turn organ transplants into reality. Meanwhile, as always, men desperately sought to be more virile. Voila! Scrotum-based synergy.
"There was this notion that glands play an important role in many human activities and, especially, in rejuvenation," said University of Wisconsin-Madison medical historian Susan E. Lederer, PhD, in an interview. "When it comes to enhancement or restoration of function or appearance, people are willing to do extraordinary things," said Lederer, who wrote Flesh and Blood, a 2008 book about the history of organ transplantation and blood transfusions.
