Dr. Serge Voronoff grafted monkey glands into men and women during the 20s and 30s in France. This InterStitial Archive is an ongoing research project that attempts to make sense of the swirling hurricane of information regarding the infamous ‘gland doctor’. 
For the benefit of scientific, medical, and alchemical history, the ideas of Serge Voronoff must be brought into a new light. As a pioneer of Xenotransplantation, Endocrinology, and Sexual Rejuvenation, Voronoff deserves to stand beside other scientific visionaries in history. There are numerous conflicting accounts of Voronoff’s experiments; who he conducted surgery on, and who supported his research.
Veiled in secrecy, fear, and comedy, many of his most notable accomplishments have gone unnoticed for almost 100 years. Ridiculed and disgraced by the very institutions and political personalities that once celebrated him as a savant and saviour of the human race, he died in obscurity. Although some of his practices seem freakish and disturbing, his purpose was certainly to heal, preserve, and extend the human life. His work with Egyptian eunuchs, retarded children, schizophrenics, the rejuvenation of aging livestock, and proposed links to HIV deserve further investigation………..
Much of this information is too strange to be fiction.
Dr. Voronoff was my grandmother’s uncle.
In the last year my research on the internet has revealed a massive amount of information regarding the doctor’s research and global fame.
I am compelled to collect this information and that may be because of my direct ancestry. In the reading of his books and hearing my father’s childhood remembrance of his mother’s stories, my intimacy with his ideas and purpose has increased. The Story of Dr. Voronoff is an actually true tale that brushes faintly against the cautionary story of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. 
It is intriguing, amusing, and horrifying.
On this site you will find links to International media articles, photographs from the international media and the family collection, transcriptions from original published material, and other strange facts and tidbits as they emerge in my ongoing online research.
If you have any information regarding this man, please leave a comment.
The original oil painting featured above is from the family collection.
Painted by the Italian artist Ignace Spiridon.
Spiridon was known for his portraits, especially this one of Mark Twain.
Odalisque
It is interesting that artist biographies of Spiridon say that he died in 1900 but the painting of S.V. clearly shows the Dr. writing the book Life, his first publication of 1920. Like so much of this collected information, there seem to be historical discrepancies in the ‘facts’ and ‘fictions’ of the people who lived one hundred years ago, especially during Le Grande Epoch of Paris, 1900-1920…
The Porcelain Monkey below was commissioned by Dr. Voronoff.
Comments and Critique are welcome.
