Gustave-Edouard Laguesse (1861-1927) was a French pathologist and histologist born in Dijon

Dijon

Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....

. In 1885 he received his medical doctorate in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and subsequently practiced medicine in Lille

Lille

Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

.

Laguesse is remembered for his patho-histological work with the pancreas

Pancreas

The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as a digestive organ, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that assist...

. In 1893 he named the small cellular clusters of the pancreas the "Islets of Langerhans

Islets of Langerhans

The islets of Langerhans are the regions of the pancreas that contain its endocrine cells. Discovered in 1869 by German pathological anatomist Paul Langerhans at the age of 22, the islets of Langerhans constitute approximately 1 to 2% of the mass of the pancreas...

", in honor of their discoverer Paul Langerhans

Paul Langerhans

Paul Langerhans was a German pathologist, physiologist and biologist.-Eponymous terms:* Islets of Langerhans - Pancreatic cells which produce insulin...

 (1847-1888). At the time of their discovery, Langerhans attached no importance to these structures. Laguesse postulated that the Islets of Langerhans produced secretions that played a regulatory role in digestion. Laguesse's research was considered a major step on the path of discovery of a new hormone

Hormone

A hormone is a chemical released by a cell or a gland in one part of the body that sends out messages that affect cells in other parts of the organism. Only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism. In essence, it is a chemical messenger that transports a signal from one...

 in the early days of endocrinology

Endocrinology

Endocrinology is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions called hormones, the integration of developmental events such as proliferation, growth, and differentiation and the coordination of...

.