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Article: The history of iodine in medicine Part II: the search for and the discovery of thyroid hormones.
- Article from:
- Original Internist
- Article date:
- June 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Original Internist, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1874, Sir William W. Gull, MD, published his observations in five women suffering from hypothyroidism, which he called myxedema associated with a "cretinoid state." (1) Hypothyroidism was for a short time afterward called Gull's disease. This condition of unknown etiology was considered incurable then. Excerpts from the detailed description of one patient with myxedema and cretinoid state by Gull follow.
"Miss B, after the cessation of the catamenial period, became
insensibly more and more languid, with general increase of bulk. This
change went from year to year, her face altering from oval to round,
much like the full moon at rising ... Had one not ...