Chapter 10 Summary

It is with an excerpt from Charles Kingsley's 1863 tale, The Water Babies, that Dr. Nuland begins this chapter, "The Malevolence of Cancer." The chimney sweeps of the nineteenth century were perfect candidates for all sorts of ailments arising from their dirty, laborious work and the generally poor personal hygiene of the era. Children were needed to work in the small, soot encrusted space, compounding the outrage being committed. In an article published in 1775, nearly a hundred years before Kingsley's tale, the British surgeon, Percival Pott, documented the first occupational malignancy. As the author relates the tale, he questions whether the treatment was worth the agony it caused. Medical treatment being what it was, the chance of success was limited. By 1842, child labor laws were passed, and broken, often for expediency's sake.

The medical etymology of the term cancer can be traced back to...