Dr. Thomas Addison (1795 1860): Agitating the Whole Medical World presents Dr. Addison s life story, considers his reception during his lifetime, and recognizes his profound contributions to modern medicine. Dr. Addison weathered five years of scorching criticism from peers for asserting that the adrenal glands were essential to life and that diseased adrenal glands could darken a white person s skin to mulatto hues. History validated his discoveries, which led other investigators to isolate and identify epinephrine, the adrenocortical steroids, and even vitamin B12.