Sketch from Coda, circa 1485-1490
Leonardo Da Vinci
The adrenal gland is the link in Breast and Endocrine Surgery. Control hormone levels and potentially you can control breast cancer. In 301 Rome Galen of Pergamon described deposits of loose flesh on top of the kidney, with an associated network of veins. Da Vinci’s anatomical drawings show bulky areas above each kidney, but offered nothing more. The first comprehensive anatomical text, Vesalius’s De Humanis Corporis Fabrica from 1543, shows no adrenal glands. In 1574 Eustachia used the phrase “glandulare quae renibus in cumben” (glands lying on the kidney) in his book Opuscola Anatomica. Their function was speculated upon, but unproven definitely for centuries. Enter the surgeon. In 1856 Charles Edouard Brown-Sequard took some time away from his spinal cord research, and decided to remove some adrenal glands to see what happened. It turns out quite a bit, all of his dogs died pretty promptly. This work confirmed the observations of Thomas Addison regarding the consequence of adrenal tuberculosis. The first adrenal hormone was isolated in 1901 and unimaginatively named adrenaline. #notepinephrineinaustralia #letsmakelemonade
Pen Paint and Scalpel 