Diabetes Its Medical and Cultural History: Outlines — Texts — Bibliography

491 Pages·1989·13.05 MB·English

by  Prof. Dr. phil. Dietrich von Engelhardt (auth.)

With compliments
Bayer
Diabetes
Its Medical
and Cultural History
Outlines - Texts - Bibliography
Edited by Dietrich von Engelhardt
With 50 Figures
Springer-Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg New York
London Paris Tokyo Hong Kong
Prof. Dr. phil. Dietrich von Engelhardt
Institut fur Medizin-
und Wissenschaftsgeschichte
Medizinische Universitat zu Lubeck
Ratzeburger Allee 160
2400 Lubeck
Coverillustration: Ductus Pancreaticus, Engraving from a drawing by Johann Georg Wirsung
(1600-1643), 17th century
ISBN-13: 978-3-642-48366-0 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-48364-6
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-48364-6
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Preface
"Diabetes is a puzzling disease. It is not very common and consists of
a liquefaction of the flesh and limbs into urine." This is the first
sentence of the classical treatise on diabetes by Aretaios in the first
century A. D. While we may concur with the first part of this sen
tence, the second part of course no longer applies to the 1 112 to 2
million diabetics in the Federal Republic.
The strength and impotence of medical progress are impressively
shown in diabetes. Reports of this disease and the search for thera
peutic aid go back to antiquity; empirical knowledge increased exten
sively, the affliction was significantly reduced. Yet so far no medical
advance had been able to overcome this disease.
It is profitable to direct one's gaze, again and again, back into the
past. The decisive aspects of the historical development are the termi
nology and phenomenology of the disease, its etiology and treatment.
But diabetes also always implies that the patient is a person, with
speech, awareness and social relationships. Medicine is both science
and art; disease fundamentally portrays a physical, psychical, social
and intellectual phenomenon.
The present volume, after a brief sketch of the historical develop
ment of diabetes, contains, on the one hand, a series of important
studies in the history of science as a guide to the aspects mentioned;
on the other hand, it combines in a bibliography the important titles
of the primary sources and the secondary literature. The references
have not been revised and thus have been printed as they appeared in
the original publication; the original illustrations have not been
reproduced. Indexes of persons and subjects will facilitate orientation
and aid further study. In general, it is to be hoped that this book may
provide a clear overview as a stimulus to further individual research.
Many thanks are due to Bayer AG (Leverkusen), especially Drs.
K.J. PreuB and U. Hohner, for supporting this publication. I am also
grateful to the Springer company and Mrs. H. Hensler-Fritton for
their competent and helpful assistance in publishing the book.
Lubeck, Autumn 1989
Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. V
Historical Outlines
Antiquity .................................... . 3
Middle Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Modern Era .................................. . 4
Diabetics of the Past ............................ . 6
Literature and Art 9
Literary texts
A Sad Fall
Angus Wilson (1957). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 15
The Song of Diabetes
Cecil Striker (1952) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27
The Clever Diabetic
Wilhelm Jaenecke (1969) 34
Texts Relating to the History of Scientific Study
General Development
The History of Diabetes mellitus
Hans Schadewaldt (1975). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 43
Diabetes, Sugar Consumption and Luxury Through the Ages.
A Question Posed by History
Erich Ebstein (1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 101
VIII Contents
Antiquity
Diabetes
Karl Kalbfleisch (1958) .......................... " 109
Synonyms for Diabetes in Antiquity and Their Etymology
Hermann Orth (1964). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
News, Notes and Queries. On the Term Diabetes in the Works
of Aretaeus and Galen
Folke Henschen (1969). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Aretaeus the Cappadocian. His Contribution to Diabetes
Mellitus
Eugene J. Leopold (1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 125
India and China
Epistemological Fashions in Interpreting Disease. The
Deleterious Effects of Western Terminology on the
Application of the Scientific Tradition of Chinese Medicine
(illustrated by the case of diabetes mellitus VS. sitis diffundens
[shiao-k'o ])
Manfred Porkert (1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 143
The Urinary Flux of the Ancient Indians, Prameha
(with Special Reference to the Carakasamhita)
Reinhold F. G. Muller (1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 160
Renaissance - 19th Century
Paracelsus and the Sugar Disease
Hans Schadewaldt (1977) ........ . . .... 201
The First Description of the Symptoms of Experimental
Pancreatic Diabetes by the Swiss Johann Conrad Brunner
(1653-1727)
Ole Christian Zimmermann (1945) 209
John Rollo
Alexander Marble (1956) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 229
Contents IX
Matthew Dobson (1735?-1784).
Clinical Investigator of Diabetes Mellitus
anonymous (1967) ............................... 235
Then and Now: 100 Years of Diabetes Mellitus
Horst and Joseph Schumacher (1956) ., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 238
On the Development of Anatomical Research on the Pancreas
from Vesalius to Bichat. Part I: from Vesalius to Kerckring
Hans-Michael Dittrich and Herwig Hahn von Dorsche (1975).. 266
On the Development of Anatomical Research on the Pancreas
from Vesalius to Bichat. Part II: from Borelli to Bichat
Hans-Michael Dittrich and Herwig Hahn von Dorsche (1978).. 280
From the History of Diabetes with Particular Reference to the
Pancreas
Erich Ebstein (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 295
First Steps in Claude Bernard's Discovery of the Glycogenic
Function of the Liver
Mirko Drazen Grmek (1968) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 306
The Priority Dispute between Claude Bernard and Victor
Hensen about the Discovery of Glycogen
Rudiger Porep (1971). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 320
Paul Langerhans - of Islets and Islands
Gunther Wolff (1978). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 336
The Discovery of Pancreatic Diabetes. The Role of Oscar
Minkowski
Bernardo Alberto Houssay (1952) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 350
Apollinaire Bouchardat 1806-1886
Elliot P.Joslin (1952) ........ . 359
The First Case of Diabetic Retinopathy
(Eduard von Jaeger, Vienna 1853)
Franz Fischer (1957) ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 363
x
Contents
The History of Traumatic Diabetes
Viggo Thomsen (1938) ............ . 370
Insulin Precursors - a Historical Sketch. The First Attempts at
Treating Diabetes with Pancreatic Extracts
Karl Heinz Leickert (1975). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 397
Karl Petren. A Leader in Pre-Insulin Dietary Therapy of
Diabetes
Russell M. Wilder (1955) .......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 405
Discovery of Insulin
On the History of the Discovery of Insulin
Joseph H. Pratt (1954). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 411
Problems of Priority in the Discovery of Insulin
Eric Martin (1971) ........................... . . 420
Right and Wrong Avenues of Exploration in German Insulin
Research
Paula Drtigemoller and Leo Norpoth (1953). . . . . . . . . . . . .. 427
50 Years of Insulin Treatment at the Vienna Hospital for
Children - the Fate of Diabetic Children from the First Insulin
Era (1973)
W. Korp and Ernst Zweymtiller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 437
The Beginning of the Diabetic Association in England
Robert Daniel Lawrence (1952) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
The Early History of the American Diabetes Association
Cecil Striker (1956) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 455
Bibliography of Primary Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 463
Bibliography of Secondary Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 467
Historical Outlines
Outlines of Historical Development
a) Antiquity
As far back as Egyptian times there was mention of a disease with
excessive urinary output and specific plans for treatment were
advanced (Ebers papyrus, 1500 BC). The name 'diabetes' is attribut
able to Demetrios of Apamaia (2nd century BC) and is derived from
the Greek word diabeinein, to go to excess, used as a substantive at
that time as a circle and double siphon for the passage of fluid. Other
terms of antiquity were urinary diarrhea, the thirst disease and
dropsy of the chamber-pot (hydrops ad matulam). The verbal distinc
tion between diabetes inspidus and diabetes mellitus was first made in
the 18th century (William Cullen and Johann Peter Frank) as well as
numerous other terms for further varieties. In 1874, Adolf Kussmaul
(1822-1902) used the expression 'coma diabeticum' for the 'character
istic type of death in diabetics'. Etienne Lancereaux (1829-1910)
distinguished a diabete gras and a diabete maigre, which called for
different forms of treatment. The word 'insulin' was coined in 1909 by
the Belgian, Jean de Meyer (1878-1934) for the hypothetical pancre
atic hormone; later, Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941) and
Charles Herbert Best (1899-1978) adopted this term after having
themselves initially proposed the word 'isletin'.
Aretaios (81-138 AD) gives the first exhaustive description of the
symptoms, using the name diabetes: intolerable thirst, burning in the
intestines, passage of large amounts of urine, and the two stages:
chronic and acutely fatal. According to him, the causes of this disease
were either an acute illness or a stomach disorder with poisoning of
the kidneys and bladder. As treatment, Aretaios suggested purga
tion, a mild diet and steam baths. Of course, like all the other
physicians of antiquity and the Middle Ages, Aretaios failed to
observe the sweetness of diabetic urine. Galen (129-199 AD), the
great authority of antiquity, considered that diabetes was not a dis
ease of the stomach, but of the kidneys; like diarrhea, it consisted of
an unaltered excretion of fluids. For Galen, treatment consisted of