The Hypophysis and Diabetes; A Small Archive of Eleven Inscribed Offprints and Three Letters

1959. First Edition. Houssay received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947 for his discovery of the part played by the hormone of the anterior pituitary lobe in the metabolism of sugar, a finding that fundamentally revised the prevailing understanding of diabetes as a disease of the pancreas alone. Before Houssay’s work, diabetes was understood principally in terms of pancreatic failure and insulin deficiency. What Houssay demonstrated, through a sustained program of animal experimentation carried out in Buenos Aires with his collaborator Adolfo Biasotti, was that this picture was incomplete. Remove the pituitary from a diabetic animal and the disease is markedly attenuated; restore pituitary function and it returns. The pancreas and the pituitary were not independent actors but antagonists, and the diabetogenic influence of the anterior pituitary, together with its functional antagonism to insulin in carbohydrate metabolism, became the foundation of Houssay’s international reputation. The archive offered here, assembled by the Los Angeles cardiologist Dr. Myron Prinzmetal and accompanied by two letters from Houssay and a copy of Prinzmetal’s response, documents that discovery with unusual coherence and completeness. The eleven offprints span 1930 to 1952 and include the foundational experimental papers, reported first in brief French communications that announced the results to an international readership and then elaborated more fully in Spanish and, the following year, in German, as well as the English-language consolidation that introduced these findings to a broader scientific audience and a series of later retrospective accounts in which Houssay assessed their place in the history of endocrinology. Nearly all are signed, and several are inscribed presentation copies; the letters, particularly Houssay’s detailed 1959 account of what he is sending and why, transform the collection from a set of reprints into something closer to a curated scientific testament. (1) [with] A. Biasotti. Hypophysectomie et Diabète Pancréatique chez le Crapaud; in Comptes rendus des séances de la Société de Biologie, Tome CIV, p. 407, April 3, 1930. Paris: Société de Biologie, 1930. Offprint, 8vo bifolium (253 × 161mm), pp. 4. Some chips, stains, and marginal tears not affecting text, else very good. Signed by Houssay on the first page.

(2) [with] A. Biasotti. Hipofisectomía y Diabetes Pancreática en el Sapo; in Revista de la Sociedad Argentina de Biología, Vol. VI, No. 1, pp. 8–24, April 1930. Buenos Aires: Asociación Médica Argentina, 1930. Offprint, 8vo (227 × 156mm), pp. 17, [1]. Self-wrappers, staple-bound, toned with the spine split at the base, else very good. Signed presentation copy, inscribed.

(3) [with] A. Biasotti. La Diabetes Pancreática de los Perros Hipofisoprivos; in Revista de la Sociedad Argentina de Biología, Vol. VI, No. 4, pp. 251–296, July 1930. Buenos Aires: Asociación Médica Argentina, 1930. Offprint, 8vo (227 × 159mm), preliminary blank leaf, pp. 46, plus 1 inserted folded table. Self-wrappers, staple-bound, front blank detached from staples but present, else near fine. Signed presentation copy, inscribed.

(4) [with] A. Biasotti. Le Diabète Pancréatique des Chiens Hypophysectomisés; in Comptes rendus des séances de la Société de Biologie, Tome CV, p. 121, August 1930. Paris: Société de Biologie, 1930. Offprint, 8vo bifolium (251 × 161mm), pp. 3. Some chips, stains, and marginal tears not affecting text, else very good. Signed by Houssay on the first page.

(5) [with] A. Biasotti. La Diabetes Floridzínica de los Perros Hipofisoprivos; in Revista de la Sociedad Argentina de Biología, Vol. VI, Nos. 5–6, pp. 326–339, August–September 1930. Buenos Aires: Asociación Médica Argentina, 1930. Offprint, 8vo (225 × 153mm), pp. 14, [1]. Self-wrappers, staple-bound, toned with some small spotting, blue pencil shelf mark to the front wrapper, else near fine. Signed by Houssay on the first page.

(6) [with] A. Biasotti. Hypophysektomie und Pankreasdiabetes bei der Kröte; in Pflügers Archiv für die gesamte Physiologie des Menschen und der Tiere, Bd. 227, Heft 3, pp. 239–250, 1931. Berlin: Julius Springer, 1931. Offprint, 8vo (234 × 155mm), pp. [i], II–IV, 12. Original wrappers, staple-bound, with advertisements numbered II–IV to the verso of the front wrapper and recto and verso of the rear wrapper, foxed at the extremities, else very good. Signed by Houssay on the front wrapper.

(7) [with] A. Biasotti. Pankreasdiabetes und Hypophyse beim Hund; in Pflügers Archiv für die gesamte Physiologie des Menschen und der Tiere, Bd. 227, Heft 5, pp. 664–684, February 1931. Berlin: Julius Springer, 1931. Offprint, 8vo (234 × 155mm), pp. [i], II–IV, [1], 21. Original wrappers, staple-bound, with advertisements numbered II–IV, lightly toned and spotted, else near fine. Signed by Houssay on the front wrapper.

(8) [with] A. Biasotti. The Hypophysis, Carbohydrate Metabolism and Diabetes; in Endocrinology, Vol. 15, No. 6, pp. 511–523, November–December 1931. Los Angeles: Association for the Study of Internal Secretions, 1931. Offprint, 8vo (258 × 176mm), pp. 13, [2]. Original wrappers, staple-bound, some toning and light creasing, else near fine. Signed presentation copy, inscribed.

(9) Advancement of Knowledge of the Role of the Hypophysis in Carbohydrate Metabolism during the Last Twenty-Five Years; in Endocrinology, Vol. 30, No. 6, pp. 884–897, June 1942. Boston: Association for the Study of Internal Secretions, 1942. Offprint, 8vo (261 × 174mm), pp. 14. Original printed wrappers, staple-bound, light soiling, rubbing, and toning, else very good. Signed presentation copy, inscribed.

(10) History of Hypophysial Diabetes; in Essays in Biology, pp. 247–256. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1943. Offprint, 8vo (261 × 170mm), pp. 10. Printed wrappers, staple-bound, soft creases, light staple rust, pencil shelf mark to the front wrapper. Signed presentation copy, inscribed.

(11) Rôle de l'Hypophyse dans le Métabolisme des Hydrates de Carbone et le Diabète; in La Semaine des Hôpitaux de Paris, 28ème année, Nos. 57–58, pp. 2–6, August 1952. Paris: L'Expansion, 1952. Offprint, 4to (269 × 209mm), pp. 5. Printed wrappers, staple-bound, some creasing and toning, else very good. Signed presentation copy, inscribed.