Margaret R. O'leary Md

Dr. Thomas Addison 1795-1860: Agitating the Whole Medical World Margaret R. O'leary Md

Thomas Addison, a physician from the North of England, was acutely ill, and he knew it. The profession of medicine had been his life. Students and patients flocked to Guy's Hospital in London because he taught and worked there. He had no rival in Britain during the early Victorian era.

Addison taught his students that most people resisted new ideas even when society benefitted from them and that people were unwilling to admit the merits of a great discovery. This would prove to be true particularly in the case of his own discoveries. Addison weathered five years of scorching criticism from his peers when he discovered that the adrenal glands were essential to life and that diseased adrenal glands could darken a white person's skin to mulatto hues. In the end, he experienced an unshakable depression that ultimately led to suicide.

Medical science subsequently validated Addison's ingenious discoveries, which led other investigators to isolate and identify epinephrine, the adrenocortical steroids, and even vitamin B12.

In this biography, author Margaret R. O'Leary, MD, presents Addison's life story, considering his reception during his lifetime and recognizing his profound contributions to modern medicine.