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A history of diabetes in Australia. F I R Martin. Melbourne: Miranova 1998 (xviii + 187pp.). ISBN: 0 9587142 2 3. |
Dr F I R ("Skip") Martin
was commissioned to write a history of diabetes in Australia to mark the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Australian Diabetes Society. Martin has made a major contribution to diabetes during a distinguished career, mainly as physician in charge of the Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology at Royal Melbourne Hospital. He received the Order of Australia in 1991 and is an active member of the Australian Society for the History of Medicine, making him the ideal person to write this fascinating book.
In it he documents the development of insulin production and use in Australia, including an interesting account of its condemnation from 1922 to 1923 by Armit, editor of the MJA. The first user of insulin in Australia was five-year-old Phyllis Lush, who lived another 76 years and is listed in The Guinness book of records as the longest survivor on insulin. Prior to the introduction of insulin in 1922, Australian doctors followed conventional overseas practice methods, but few are aware that, in 1911, John Ramsay, of Launceston, was the first to attempt pancreas transplantation -- admittedly with limited success. The subsequent growth of diabetes clinics and lay and professional organisations to improve the welfare of people with diabetes is also described. Martin shows that Australia has always been at the forefront of diabetes research, and he describes our successes -- from the work of Joe Bornstein, who discovered that the serum of people with type 2 diabetes contains measurable quantities of insulin, to studies in immunology and pancreas transplantation by Kevin Lafferty, Len Harrison and many others. This is a fascinating account of diabetes in Australia during the 20th century, and is both a carefully documented reference work and a "good read". It is highly recommended. Alan E Stocks
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