Abstract
THE term “cancer” is in common parlance indiscriminately applied to all tumours the growth of which is unlimited and generally rapid, which tend to recur after removal by operation, and particularly which reproduce their like (the secondary or metastatic growths) in parts of the body remote from the original seat of disease. Pathologically there are various-forms of “cancer,” or malignant disease, but there is no need to deal with these here, and it may be stated that there is no sharp line of demarcation between the so-called benign and the malignant growths; there is a series of connecting links between the two. Malignant disease is an important cause of death. According to the last published report of the Registrar General (1903), the death-rate from this cause per 1000 living was 0.87; for comparison that for pulmonary tuberculosis (consumption) may be quoted; this was 1.2.
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HEWLETT, R. The Present Position of the Cancer Problem . Nature 72, 295–297 (1905). https://doi.org/10.1038/072295b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/072295b0