Abstract
IN a recent paper on this subject read before the Section of the History of Medicine of the Royal Society of Medicine (Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., 34, 303; 1941) Dr. A. P. Cawadias said that three periods, could be distinguished in the historical development of endocrinology. The first was the descriptive period, the second was one of analytic endocrinology and the third or contemporary period was that of synthetic endocrinology. The first description of endocrine diseases was given long before there was any accurate knowledge of endocrine physiology, being found in the writings of Hippocrates, who studied hypo–orchidism and climacteric hypo–ovarism. Only after some advance was made in the knowledge of glandular physiology, however, were endocrine diseases introduced into nosography. The earliest of these was hypothyroidism, studied by T. Curling in 1850 and later by C. H. Fagge in 1871 and Sir William Gull in 1873. Hypo–adrenalism was described by Addison in 1855, when endocrine noso–graphy first made a real start. A notable advance in the history of endocrine diseases was made by the introduction of endocrinotherapy. This began with Brown–Séquard in 1889, reached a notable peak with the introduction of thyroid organotherapy by G. R. Murray in 1890, and developed intensively in recent years, outstanding events being the introduction of insulinotherapy by Banting in 1921, of the various sex hormones and of cortin.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
History of Endocrinology. Nature 148, 82 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148082b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148082b0