Cancer. Has it always been with us, even in the Middle Ages,

[raccoon]

in ancient times, etc.?

Of course most people didn't live to even middle age, much less old age, in previous centuries. But can scientists tell from bones or physical descriptions of ailments, if someone died from cancer in previous centuries?

[northzax]

1. certainly

as early as 3000BCE Egyptian doctors recorded instances of Breast cancer (well, people died from similar symptoms, and had lumps in breast tissue) and there is evidence of melanomas in mummies.

[Lisa0825]

2. interesting question...

i googled cancer and history. here's the first hit.
http://www.rare-cancer.org/history-of-cancer.html

[raccoon]

4. Thanks for the link. nt

[NNadir]

14. That was an interesting link. Thanx.

I lost both my parents to cancer, my mother to brain cancer when she was 51, and my father to esophogeal/lung cancer in his mid sixties.

My father was a heavy smoker. My mother had no vices whatsoever.

[NYC]

3. Often, people died of edema.

There is no indication of what caused the edema. In some cases, it could have been the fluid retention that accompanies cancer.

As you said, shorter life spans made things different. There must have been very few old age diseases.

[CountAllVotes]

5. they said my mother had "edema"

and this was in the year 2002. It turned out to be lung cancer! :(

:kick:

[sarge43]

6. Well, most medical historians say that Edward, the Black Prince,

son of Edward III, died of stomach cancer. Cancer, most certainly, has always been around since the development of complex cellar structures, but you're right; most people, until recently, have not lived long or well enough. Until the advent of antibiotics, by far the greatest killers have been infectious and parasitic diseases and the young and border line malnourished are especially vulnerable. It's estimated that half of the human race has died of malaria.

[roguevalley]

7. I visited a lot of Celtic and Romano-British wells and pools in

the UK once and they retrieved little pottery body parts from the waters. Some were arms and legs, exhortations to Sulis Minerva to help them heal that part but there were also breast and other body part pieces that I believe indicated other disease such as cancer. That would place the offerings from 415 AD to the way long ago.

[Warpy]

8. People who survived childhood in the Middle Ages

had a decent chance of surviving long enough to get cancer, especially the men because they didn't have to produce a baby every year.

Analysis of remains from that time have turned up multiple myeloma, among others.

[KT2000]

9. Anthropologists

have studied the history of disease. That is where you may want to look because what they know has not really penetrated any other discipline. Sorry I don't have any links but I just finished a book by an anthropologist (Helke Ferrie) who studied the history of disease and says that the chemical revolution we all live in has spawned the prevalence of chronic illness we now see.

She says that the interaction between humans and between humans and their environment gives rise to particular illnesses. One of her examples was that domestication of animals and humans living in close proximity to them gave rise to bacteria that mutated and became dangerous to humans. Also - turning to agriculture from hunter gatherers decreased the variety of nutrients which led to nutrient deficiencies and resulting illnesses.

Anyway - you will likely find more answers from anthropologists than the medical establishment.

[raccoon]

11. Thanks, I'll look into that. nt

[lindisfarne]

10. Cancer is also a side-effect of living longer. The earlier you die, the

less likely you are to develop cancer. This doesn't mean that there isn't evidence suggesting that "modern" life, with pollution, human-made chemicals, etc., increases the rates of some types of cancers (but "modern" life also, may decrease the rates of others or with modern medicine, the rates of death from others).

[sutz12]

12. Napoleon died of stomach cancer, IIRC nt

[Lithos]

13. Yes

The ancient Egyptians first discovered the idea, Hippocrates treated it.

http://www.chemheritage.org/educationalservices/pharm/chemo/readings/timeline.htm

As for Western medicine, there are several historical medical texts which talk about cancer. One example: The Chirurgia of Roger Frugard written in the twelfth century and the first significant original treatise written in the west mentions oral cancer. Another is the famous Hildegard of Bingen who understood the notion of metastasis and who suggested several herbal treatments.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Of course.

It was Hippocrates who coined the term cancer (carcinos) to describe a metastatized tumor with many "legs."

[Bill McBlueState]

16. which explains why the Latin name

for the constellation "the Crab" is "Cancer." Interesting.