[...]... outstanding In addition there is a chance to enjoy some of the pleasures of general practice which arise from long acquaintance with many of the patients The chance, all too frequent, to ease the last years of those whose health is slowly failing calls for all the resources of the general physician.4 The effects of diabetes are indeed highly variable, as the following examples show 3 diabetes: the biogr aphy... that diabetes was rare at a time when few were fat Another is 13 diabetes: the biogr aphy that it was only one cause of polyuria and that in the others, such as kidney failure, the urine was not sweet Or it may have been noted but not publicized In Europe the sweetness was ‘discovered’ by Thomas Willis (1621–75), who is remembered today for the description of the circle of arteries at the base of the. .. and vegetables were the mainstays of treatment in the obese, while the lean, in whom the disease was regarded as more serious, were prescribed a nourishing diet It is said that the father of medicine, Hippocrates of Cos (460–370 bc), did not recognize diabetes However, there are indirect references in the Hippocratic Corpus that may be allusions T 10 the pissing e v il to it In The Epidemics patients... but the flow is incessant, as if from the opening of aqueducts The nature of the disease, then, is chronic, and it takes a long period to form; but the patient is short lived, if the constitution of the disease be completely established; for the melting is rapid, the death speedy Moreover, life is disgusting and painful; thirst unquenchable; excessive drinking, which, however, is disproportionate to the. .. cannot stop them either from drinking or making water; Or if for a time they abstain from drinking, their mouth becomes parched and their body dry; the viscera seem as if scorched up; they are affected with nausea, restlessness and a burning thirst they stand out for a certain time, though not very long, for they pass urine with pain and the emaciation is dreadful; nor does any great portion of the drink... 1990s it was found that diabetes in these families was caused by single gene mutations, and it is now clear that MODY (of which there are five separate types) accounts for 1–2 per cent of all diabetes A plague of diabetes In the first two decades of the twentieth century what we now call type 1 diabetes was a tragic but rare condition It remained uncommon until the second half of the century, when in several... is so contrary to the inclinations of the sick Though perfectly aware of the efficacy of the regimen, and the impropriety of deviations, yet they commonly trespass, concealing what they feel as a transgression on themselves They express a regret that a medicine could not be discovered, however nauseous, or distasteful, which would supersede the necessity for any restriction in diet To the suggestion that... only if they were in ‘isolated, special wards, and under the care of strictly trustworthy nurses’ Donkin noted sadly that, when his patients began to feel better, they indulged ‘clandestinely in the most injurious of the prohibited articles of food’.9 The oatmeal cure was invented by the German Carl H von Noorden (1858–1944), one of the most respected diabetes specialists at the beginning of the twentieth... He thought the word diabetes, apparently already in common use, came from the Greek word for a siphon His clinical description is marvellously vivid: Diabetes is a wonderful affection, not very frequent among men Being a melting down of the flesh and limbs into urine Its cause is of a cold and humid nature as in dropsy The course is the common one, namely, the kidneys and the bladder; for the patients... beyond the call of duty Galen’s view that diabetes was a disease of the kidneys remained dominant in Europe throughout the Renaissance and lasted well into the nineteenth century The Persian physician and philosopher Avicenna (980–1037) was very familiar with diabetes, which he thought could be primary or secondary to another disease He gave a comprehensive list of the symptoms and noted that, when the . many of the patients. The chance, all too frequent, to ease the last years of those whose health is slowly failing calls for all the resources of the general physician. 4 The effects of diabetes. of all diabetes. A plague of diabetes In the fi rst two decades of the twentieth century what we now call type 1 diabetes was a tragic but rare condition. It remained uncommon until the second. University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Robert Tattersall 2009 The moral rights of the author have been