Diabetes in the Old West

To the frontier doctor in the 1800s, the term “diabetes” referred to the patient who produced excessive amounts of urine. The term “diabetes” is actually derived from the Greek, meaning “one who straddles,” relating to the patient’s need for frequent urination. Clinically, the doctor had to differentiate between two different disorders of urine overproduction, namely, diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus (the former being far more common than the latter). The frontier doctor