© Freund Publishing House Ltd.
, London Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism, 10, 371-377 (1997)
The History of Endocrinology in Philately
Teoman Onat
Cerrahpa§a Pediatric Clinic, University of Istanbul, Turkey
One can find much in postal material, such as
stamps, cancellations and postal stationary, of
medical interest, even in the field of endocrinology.
Herewith is an attempt to summarize the history of
endocrinology by the presentation of philatelic
material. The story starts with diabetes mellitus and
continues with the gonads, thyroid, pituitary and
adrenal glands. The total collection of Endoain-
ology in Philately, comprising 122 pages, was
exhibited at the First Mediterranean Meeting of
PEMS (Pediatric Endocrinology in the Mediter-
ranean Area Study Group) in Antalya, Turkey, in
May 1996. Philatelically honored personalities with
contributions to endocrinology who are not ment
ioned below include: Bela Entz (1877-1959)
cancellation issued by Hungary 1992; Nikolaus
Friedrich (1825-1882) cancellation by GFR 1982;
Gregorio Pasadillo-Maranon (1887-1960) stamp by
Spain in 1979; Carl von Noorden (1858-1944) GFR
postal stationary in 1983; Constantin Parhon (1874-
1969) Romanian stamps in 1974 and 1983. A list of
all philatelic items has been compiled by the author
and is available upon request.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO DIABETES MELLITUS
Diabetes was already described in Nei Ching (in
the third millenium B.C.) in China. This work
consists of books on diagnosis, prognosis, therapy
and regimens including body functions /l/. In the
2nd millenium in India (Ayurvedic medicine) a
condition like diabetes was described III. Charaka
and Susruta later used the sweet taste of the urine in
diagnosis and the disease was named Madhumeha
(Hindu = honey urine) /1,2/. In Asia Minor
Aretaeus of Cappadocia (130-200) described all
the symptoms of diabetes (Fig. 1) and also named it
dia-betes which means to pass through /2,3/.
Ebubekir Ibn Zekeriya Razi (865-925) (Fig.
2) was a great Muslim physician, who worked at
Baghdad Hospital. The total medicine of his time is
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compiled in his books. He had discussions on
diabetes 12,2,1.
Ibn Sina (980-1037) (Fig. 3) is the Turkish
"Prince of Physicians" from Bukhara. His medical
writings in "Kanun" (Canon medicinae) became the
basis of medical teaching in the middle ages /3/. He
classified diabetes 111, and pointed out that sweet
urine is heavy, dries quicker and leaves a sweet
residue. He also noted the relationship between
diabetes mellitus and gangrene IAl.
Maimonides Moshe ben Maimon (1135-1204)
was a Spanish Jewish physician to Sultan Saladin
(Fig. 4). Among his over 1000 writings are
urinalysis and diabetes /l/.
Towards the 17th to 18th century there came an
era of iatrochemistry when chemical urinalysis was
started. Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738) believed
that glycosuria of diabetics is due to hyperglycemia
(Fig. 5). He also studied the role of the larynx and
the thyroid gland in the formation of voice /3/. The
famous French chemist, Louis Jacques Thenard
(1777-1857), evaporated diabetic urine and noted
that the residual granules behaved like sugar when
treated with alcohol (Fig. 7). The Austrian pathol-
ogist and biochemist, Johann Florian Heller
(1813-1871) (Fig. 6), introduced the nitric acid ring
test for proteinuria and the caustic potash test for
glycosuria/1,5/.
The famous French physiologist, Claude
Bernard (1813-1878), described the glycogenic
liver function, the action of pancreatic juice (1848),
and the presence of sugar in blood under fasting
conditions (Fig. 8). He is eponymically remembered
by Bernard's puncture of the IVth ventricle, which
causes artificial diabetes with glycosuria /3/.
The US physician, Stanley Rossiter Benedict
(1884-1936), introduced the Benedict solution test
(with sodium or potassium citrate, N a ^ O j , potas-
sium sulfocyanate and copper sulfate) for urine
sugar (with increasing dextrose quantity the
precipitate turns from blue to green, yellow and
371
372
red) (Fig. 40) /1,7/. This Belgian stamp also shows
the spiral molecular structure of insulin.
Experimental studies, especially with pancreat-
ectomy, started at the turn of this century and shed
some light on the secretion of insulin. The first of
them was by Oskar Minkowski (1858-1931), who
showed that the removal of the pancreas in the dog
causes diuresis /3/ and glycosuria (diabetes
mellitus), and that fat and proteins are not digested
161. He further demonstrated the presence of
ß-oxybutyric acid and its relationship to diabetic
coma 12/. He also reported on pituitary tumors in
1890 (Fig. 9). Bernardo Alberto Houssay (1887-
1971) (Fig. 10) showed that blood sugar is elevated
in pancreatectomized dogs, and that this is lowered
after they were hypophysectomized. He thus
demonstrated the anti-insulin action of the pituitary
gland /4,6/. He showed also that there is increased
insulin sensitivity in diabetes with Simmonds-
Sheehan syndrome, leading to hypoglycemia and to
brain anoxia /3/.
Nicolae Paulescu (1869-1931) (Fig. 11)
developed the best method of hypophysectomy and
epiphysectomy. He observed, 10 months before
Banting and Best (31.8.1921), that the injection of
pancreatic juice to the dog causes hypoglycemia,
and he called this substance "pancrein" /8/. Ten
months later, Frederick Grant Banting (1891-
1941) from Toronto, Canada (Fig. 12) with his
student Charles Herbert Best (1899-1978) (Fig.
13), proved the existence of a pancreatic internal
secretion (Isletin), which controls diabetes mellitus
in pancreatectomized dogs /3,4,6/, for which
Banting and John James Richard Macleod
(1876-1935) (Fig. 36), but not Paulescu, were
awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923 191.
It was Eli Lilly's (1838-1898) US pharma-
ceutical firm (Fig. 37-39), which was founded in
1876 and continued after his death by his son,
where the insulin of MacLeod was purified (by J.B.
Collip and Clowes 161) and produced by the firm in
6 months from 100,000 rabbits in 1922. The firm
started producing human insulin and growth
hormone after 1980.
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE
GENITALIA
Herodotus (490-420? B.C.) (Fig. 41) observed
that continuous horse riding leads to impotence due
to pressure on the testes /3/.
According to the famous Greek physician
Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) (Fig. 14) the brain is a
large secretory gland. The body is formed by the
union of four elements (and attributes): earth (dry),
air (cold), fire (hot) and water (wet). The Hippo-
cratic system of humoral pathology consists of the
disharmony of four body fluids: blood, mucus,
yellow and black gall. These are modified by
external factors such as climate. Prognosis is very
important. His experiences are collected in 406
"Aphorisms". He described diseases of the testes:
their involvement in parotitis epidemica, the effects
of castration. He pointed to the relationship
between drinking water and goiter (hydro-theory)
and postulated that excessive watery urine of long
duration (diabetes!) has no cure /10/.
Aristoteles (384-322 B.C.) (Fig. 15) was one of
the first to study reproduction and the effects of
castration in animals and human beings /3/.
Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694) (Fig. 16) used for
the first time the term "corpus luteum" β / . The
famous Italian pathologist, Giovanni Battista
Morgagni (1682-1771) (Fig. 43) described the
following of interest to endocrinology: hypertrophy
and carcinoma of the prostate; anatomy of the
penis, urethra and hymen; a syndrome with obesity,
virilismus and internal frontal hyperostosis; the
follicular structure of the thyroid gland containing
viscous colloid 111.
Niels Stensen (1638-1686) (Fig. 18), epoiym
ically remembered by the ductus parotideus (1660),
coined the term ovarium. He first described the
anatomy and function of the lacrimal glands
(1664), the thyroid gland and the cricoid cartilage
ß / . French naturalist Georges L.L. de Buffon
(1707-1788) (Fig. 19) was the first to consider the
corpus luteum as a gland /11/. He studied ejaculates
taken from the vesicle of a newly dead body and
from different animals. He described the flagellate
movement of spermatozoa that he called "oval
corpuscles" β / . He published a longitudinal growth
chart of De Montbeillard's son /12/ from birth to 18
years (1759-1777).
JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC ENDOCRINOLOGY & METABOLISM
 ENDOCRINOLOGY IN PHILATELY 373

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374 Τ. ΟΝΑΤ

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 ENDOCRINOLOGY IN PHILATELY 375

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376
Lazarro Spallanzani (1729-1799) was one of
the first to see spermatozoa with the microscope
(Fig. 17). He studied regeneration and reproduction
and showed in frogs that spermatozoa from the
male are necessary for fertilization of the female
ova ß/.
Johannes Peter Müller (1801-1858) (Fig. 44),
the famous German physiologist, described the
fetal paramesonephric duct (Müllerian duct), which
develops from plica urogenitalis into uterine tubes,
and into the appendix testis and the utriculus
prostaticus in males. He explained the nature of
hermaphroditism /3/.
Charles-Eduard Brown-Sequard (1817-1894)
(Fig. 20), known as a neurologist, postulated that
substances secreted into the blood from some
organs can affect other distant organs. He showed
that adrenalectomy in animals led to death /3/. At
the age of 70, he was the first to experiment on
himself by injecting s.c. extracts from dog and
rabbit testicles /3,13/. He felt younger and had
erections. The effects must have been psycho-
logical, as this was shown later not to be effective
even in lOOx larger quantities /14/.
Julius Tandler (1869-1936) (Fig. 21) studied
human embryology, the evolution and anatomy of
the female genitalia, secondary sexual charact-
eristics, topography of the uterus, and the anatomy
and clinical symptoms of prostate hypertrophy.
George Nicolas Papanicolaou (1883-1962)
studied cellular changes during the female cycle in
vaginal smears and correlated them with estrogen
levels 151. He devised the PAP test for cancer from
vaginal smears (Fig. 22).
Gregory Pincus (1903-1967) (Fig. 45)
discovered that excessive amounts of progesterone
prevent the process of ovulation ("ovulation
stopper"). It became the contraceptive pill 151. He
wrote five volumes on "The Hormones" (1948-
1964) and "The Control of Fertility" (1965).
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE THYROID
The Italian anatomist, Bartholomeus
Eustachius (1510-1574), eponymically remem-
bered by the eustachian tube (Fig. 42), described
the anatomy of the thyroid and adrenal glands /3,5/
in "Opuscula anatomica" (Venice 1563).
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Paracelsus (1493-1541) (Fig. 23) introduced
biochemical urinalysis and the use of metals in
medicine (iatrochemistry). He had his own materia
medica. He described symptoms like diabetes: "the
sweet-acid vast quantity of urine" /3/. He pointed
out the relationship of endemic goiter and the
minerals in drinking water (hydrotelluric theory)
/15/. He added to the four original substances of
Hippocrates, color and stiffness (Sal), body
(sulphurius) and force (mercurius).
Carl Adolf von Basedow (1799-1854) was
honored postally by a cancellation for an inter-
national thyroid symposium (Fig. 46). He described
in 1840 a disease with exophthalmic toxic diffuse
goiter, tachycardia, profuse sweating, and fine
muscular tremors 111, now known as to be due to
hyperthyroidism which increases basal metabol ism
(Basedow's disease).
Albrecht von Graefe (1828-1870), a German
ophthalmologist (Fig. 24), described the Graefe
sign in hyperthyroidism, in which the eyelid cannot
follow the upper eye movement while looking
down 15,11. The famous French neuro-psychiatrist,
Jean-Matin Charcot (1825-1893) (Fig. 25),
described among many other signs and syndromes,
that the electrical skin resistance in exophthalmic
goiter is decreased (Charcot's sign) 111.
Julius Von Wagner-Jauregg (1857-1940) (Fig.
26) studied cretinism and treated it with thyroid
extracts and goiter with iodine /3/, and the Italian
physicist Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) (Fig. 27)
prepared radioiodine solutions /3/ for the treatment
of hyperthyroidism in 1934.
Theodor Emil Kocher (1841-1917) (Fig. 28)
studied the physiopathology of the thyroid gland
and performed over 5000 thyroidectomies, and also
removed pituitary glands (Nobel Prize, 1909) 151.
Anton Von Eiselsberg (1860-1939) (Fig. 29)
performed successful thyroidectomies and hypo-
physectomies / l l / . He showed in cats that
parathyroidectomy leads to tetany (1892).
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PITUITARY GLAND
Claudeus Galen (138-201) (Fig. 30) dissected
the thyroid, epiphysis and hypophysis in animals.
He mentioned that the hypophysis filters the mucus
of the brain through the ethmoid holes to the naso-
JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC ENDOCRINOLOGY & METABOLISM
 ENDOCRINOLOGY IN PHILATELY
pharynx /3/. He postulated that, if the urine is like
drinking water (unchanged drink), this is due to a
weakness of the kidneys (hypostenuria) which
cannot hold back water 131.
Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) (Fig. 31) coined
the name "glandula pituitaria" for the hypophysis.
He described the anatomy of the thyroid gland and
mentioned the "corpus luteum" (1555) without
naming it thus /3/.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) (Fig. 32) left
drawings of the hypophysis and circulation. Acc-
ording to him, the blood heated in the heart goes to
the hypophysis, the center of the soul, with afferent
and efferent nervous pathways /3/.
Albrecht Von Haller (1708-1777) (Fig. 34),
among thousands of articles on anatomy, physiol-
ogy and botany, described the structure of the
anterior and posterior lobes of the pituitary gland
β/.
William Harvey Cushing (1869-1939) (Fig.
35) is the famous US neurosurgeon who described
the anterior pituitary basophily with adipositas,
moon face, hypertension, hypertrichosis, adynamia,
impotence and polycythemia (Cushing's syndrome)
/16/. He devised a test for hypopituitarism based on
the thermic reaction after s.c. injections of anterior
pituitary extracts of an ox. He performed pituitary
operations.
Theodor Brügsch (1878-1963) (Fig. 33)
described a syndrome of anterior hypophyseal
insufficiency due to inflammation or tumor, which
manifests itself with brachytelephalangy, acro-
micry, thickening of the mid- and proximal
phalanges, osteolysis, amenorrhoa and diabetes
insipidus / 5/.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ADRENAL GLAND
Thomas A. Addison (1793-1860) described the
usually fatal disease with bronzelike pigmentation
of the skin, low blood pressure, diarrhea, digestive
disturbances, severe prostration, progressive anem-
ia, secondary to the infiltration of the adrenal
glands (1849) 151. His name appears on a US postal
cancellation (Fig. 47). He also described with Gull,
xanthoma diabeticum in 1851 111.
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377
Philip Showalter Hench (1896-1965) (Fig. 48)
was the rheumatologist who used cortisone and
ACTH in alleviation of rheumatoid arthritis. He
received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1950 with
T. Reichstein for their discoveries concerning
hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structures and
biological effects 151.
REFERENCES
1. Athale DM. Diabetes through the eyes of philately.
Scalpel & Tongs. Am J Med Philately 1995; 30: 41-46.
2. Barach JA. History of the disease. In: Diabetes and its
Treatment. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1949; 3-11.
3. Vague J. Die Geschichte der Endokrinologie bis zum
Zweiten Weltkrieg. In: Toellner R, Illustrierte
Geschichte der Medizin, Vol 5. Salzburg: Andreas u.
Andreas Verlag, 1986; 2679-2700.
4. Duncan GG. History of diabetes. In: Diabetes Mellitus.
Principles and Treatment. Philadelphia and London:
W.B. Saunders Co., 1951; 12-15.
5. Roche Lexikon Medizin, 3rd Ed. München: Urban &
Schwarzenberg, 1993.
6. Frank E. Experimentelle Diabetesforschung. In:
Pathologie des Kohlehydratstoffwechsels. Basel:
Benno Schwabe & Co. Verlag, 1949; 13-38.
7. Dorland WAN. The American Illustrated Medical
Dictionary. Philadelphia, PA: W.B. Saunders Co.,
1946.
8. Marginean M. Nicolae Paulescu. Philatelia Medica
1994; 24/No. 94: 3.
9. Schwartz A. Macleod John James Richard. Philatelia
Medica 1992; 22/No. 88; 12.
10. Löffler W. Begründung der wissenschaftlichen Medizin
durch Hippokrates. CIBA Symposium 1956: 194-204.
11. Newerla GJ. Medical History in Philately and
Numismatics. Pine Hill Press. Libr. of Congress Cat
No. 79-169791. 1971; 179.
12. Tanner JM. A Historical Perspective in Human
Auxology. Auxology '94. Human Biol Budapest, 1994;
25: 9-22.
13. Schwartz A. Brown-Sequard Charles-Eduard. Philatelia
Medica 1995; 25/No. 97; 15.
14. De Kruif P. Das maennliche Hormon. Jugendliche
Spannkraft bis ins hohe Alter. Zürich: Orell Fussli
Verlag, 1947; 54.
15. Breitner B. Das Kropfproblem bei Paracelsus und
heute. CIBA Symposium 1955; 128-132.
16. Shampo MA, Kyle RA. Harvey William Cushing -
Pioneer neurosurgeon. Mayo Clin Proc 1993; 68: 68.
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