The Farmers and The Goat Testicle Transplants

The Human Subject

In The Human Subject, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw investigate the historic threads connecting modern day medicine to its often brutal origins.

This is the story of a farmer from the small town of Milford, Kansas. The year is 1916 and the town has a population of only 200. The farmer is looking for a cure to his failing libido, so one day he decides to walk into the town doctor’s office and ask for help with his ‘flat tire’.

The doctor, John R. Brinkley tells the farmer that he’d have no problem with his virility if he had the testicles of a goat. According to the legend, the farmer asks ‘Well, why don’t you put ‘em in?’. Soon after the operation, a second man comes to see Brinkley, a man by the name of Bill Stittsworth. And so starts a series of similar transplants across the United States, leading to hope, joy, suffering and ultimately, death for many of the men who went under the small-town doctor’s knife. In this episode Julia and Adam hear from Pope Brock, author of Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam.

Presenters: Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw Producer: Simona Rata Assistant Producer: Mansi Vithlani Executive Producer: Jo Meek Sound Design: Craig Edmondson Commissioner: Dan Clarke

An Audio Always production for BBC Radio 4.