Allen and Doisy's 'An Ovarian Hormone'

Abstract

The term<i>hormone</i>was first coined in 1904 by W. M. Bayliss and C. H. Starling "for the active substances secreted into the blood stream or tissue fluids by the ductless or endocrine glands."¹Adrenaline was the first hormone to be obtained in pure form from the medulla of the adrenal gland; watery extracts were obtained in 1894 by G. Oliver and E. H. Schafer; subsequently, J. J. Abel and A. C. Crawford in 1897 isolated an ester of the hormone — assumed to be the hormone itself — whereas in 1901, J. Takamine and B. Aldrich apparently succeeded in obtaining adrenaline itself in crystalline form, although it was shown later to be mixed with noradrenaline, a closely related hormone.¹ In 1902, Bayliss and Starling had discovered secretin, which is elaborated by the intestinal mucosa when stimulated by hydrochloric acid from the stomach. The hormone, thus obtained, when