Diabetes: Its Cause and Its Treatment With Insulin

Russell M. Wilder, M. D.
With an Introduction by Morris Fishbein, M. D.
HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY GIRARD, KANSAS
LITTLE BLUE BOOK HEALTH SERIES
Edited by
MORRIS FISHBEIN, M. D.
Editor, Journal of the American Medical Association and Associate Editor, Hygeia, a Journal of Individual and Community Health.
Copyright, 1925, Haldeman-Julius Company.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
When the scientific body that awards the Nobel prize each year met to consider the award for 1923, there was no question or debate as to the discovery that merited the honor. The prize was granted to Doctors F. G. Banting and J. J. R. MacLeod of Toronto for their work in the discovery of insulin, and each immediately donated one-half the award to colleagues who had shared in this discovery, Doctors C. H. Best and J. B. Collip.
In November, 1920, Dr. Banting, who had returned from war service, was practicing medicine in London, Ontario, and was demonstrating physiology in the medical school of Western University at that place. While reading an article in a surgical magazine, he chanced on a sentence which aroused the train of thought that finally led to his discovery of insulin—a substance that means a longer and more satisfactory life to diabetics.
The article which he read concerned a gland, known as the pancreas, that lies close to the stomach and the upper part of the intestines. This gland is composed of two portions, one of which creates a juice poured into the intestine, which aids in the digestion of food; it is the external secretion and it contains trypsin and two other digestive ferments. The pancreas contains also certain cells which, when seen through the microscope, are marked off from the remaining tissue and which are known by the peculiar name “Islands of Langerhans,” the latter being the name of their discoverer.