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Historical Perspective
 
"Yes, I am an old enemy of the human race, but I am not that unbeatable once my name is said..."
John McLeod (From a Native American story about diabetes)
Writers describe people with symptoms of diabetes mellitus as early as 1500 BC. The disease name (meaning, "to siphon") originated with the Greeks in 230 BC, and related to the excessive urination and wasting that occurs with untreated diabetes. Early classifications of diabetes are credited to the Susrata of the Hindus, the father of medicine in India. Later, classifications of diabetes mellitus (mellitus is Latin for "honey-sweet") are refined, and suggested treatments vary from the removal of diuretic food to taking tepid baths.
During the 19th Century, Claude Bernard theorized glycogenolysis as connected to the cause of diabetes mellitus. By the 1920's scientists recognized insulin's role in the regulation of blood glucose. Today the pathophysiology of diabetes is more clearly understood yet the cure remains elusive. (1,2,7)
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