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Sir William Bayliss

science · 27 August 1924 · 100 years ago

death Died 27 Aug 1924 at age 64 (born 2 May 1860).

William Maddock Bayliss was an English physiologist who, in 1902 co-discovered the first hormone (with the British physiologist Ernest H. Starling). They found a certain chemical substance is secreted when food comes into contact with part of the small intestine. This chemical substance, which they named secretin, upon being carried by the blood to the pancreas, stimulates the secretion of pancreatic juice, the most important of the digestive juices. They coined the word “hormone” based on a Greek word for “to set in motion.” Bayliss also studied the use of saline injections to counteract shock during surgery. He proposed the use of gum-saline injections for wound shock to saved many lives of wounded soldiers in WW I.

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