Honest von Noorden

Brave, thought moralists; merely to be expected of a scientist, reflected doctors.

Dr. Carl H. von Noorden of Germany had stated that he had been mistaken in glukhorment, his presumptuous substitute for insulin. Last summer he had announced from his famed metabolic clinic at Frank-furt-am-Main that the drug (which he prepared from pancreases) had benefited diabetics and had not sickened them as did insulin*(TIME, May 2).

Now he discovers that glukhorment contains synthalin. Certain doses of synthalin are good; very slightly different doses are bad. It is almost impossible to be precise in its administration. If glukhorment contains any such indeterminable factor, then doctors cannot give it scientifically to their patients. So Dr. von Noorden hastened to warn the profession.

*Insulin must be injected into a vein; glukhorment is swallowed.