Although the pathogenesis of endocrine disorders has only recently been recognized, disorders of the thyroid gland have been recorded since ancient times, primarily because of the gland’s strategic location in the neck. Goiter, enlargement of the gland, was described early in history and endocrine goiter was also mentioned. The earliest written references go back as far as the Chinese of the second millennium BC, Greek and Roman authors of classical times, and medieval manuscripts. In his history of goiter, Greenwald contended that there was no evidence of goiter in the Americas before the coming of the white man, although the protruding eyes of possible exophthalmic goiter are seen in Peruvian ceramic sculpture from 2000 years ago
