Question How long has cancer been around? When was it first diagnosed or "named" cancer? I was just wondering. Thanks!
Answer Dear Jill,
Sorry, I don't have good answers. I think cancer has been around as long as life. Plants have cancers, and most animals. Cancers have been found in Egyptian mummies 5000 years old. Hippocrates used the word. He was born in 480 B.C. Dinosaur bones sometimes have cancer.
But the development of the microscope in the early 1800's was required to begin to understand it.
If you're really fascinated, go to a medical library and get textbooks on the history of medicine.
David Richardson
P.S. Cancer is Latin for crab. I'm sure the Greeks like Hippocrates had a name for cancer, and I bet the ancient Egyptians did too.
