This was touching Gran'pa on his tenderest spot, so to speak—his own glands (or rather Alfred's). I could see that he was annoyed.
"Such has not been the case with me," he said, airily.
"Not so far, perhaps," answered Dr. Martin.
"You mean to suggest that it may. I disagree with you entirely, sir! I feel that you are wrong. I know it!"
"Please don't look on this as a personal matter, Mr. Hadley. It is merely a general observation. We know very little of the precise function of any gland at present, but we do know that the stimulation of one kind often leads to degeneration of another."
"Have you told all this to the old people?" inquired Gran'pa, after a pause.
"Naturally not!"
"That's a pity!"
"Why?" asked Dr. Martin.
"Because most of them will badly need some such comforting theory. I'm sorry to inform you, doctor, that we've not done nearly as well as we expected. Instead of the eighty-seven pairs of glands promised, we've managed to get only twenty-two."