History and development of Endocrinology(1) Roughly a hundred years ago, Starling coined the term hormone to describe secretin, a substance secreted by the small intestine into the blood stream to stimulate pancreatic secretion. In his Croonian Lectures, Starling considered the endo- crine and nervous systems as two distinct mechanisms for coordination and control of organ function. Thus, endocrinology found its first home in the discipline of mammalian physiology
