ABSTRACT
The history of the science and therapeutic relevance of endocrinology starts with these extraordinary observations of George Beatson in 1896.
Long before the endocrine system was described, Beatson deduced by simple observation of the lactation of farm animals that there must be a link between the physiology of the breast and the activity of the ovaries. The anecdotal spectacular responses of three young women with locally advanced or locally recurrent breast cancer to surgical oophorectomy set the scene for the future. Beatson describes a young woman with rapidly recurrent breast cancer on the chest wall not long after radical surgery, who is sent to see him for a second opinion. He then digresses on the current theories about the nature and aetiology of breast cancer before going on to describe his MD research on the physiology of lactation in farm animals, starting with sheep.
