Malignant Growth: Creating the Modern Cancer Research Establishment, 1875-1915 PDF
Preview Malignant Growth: Creating the Modern Cancer Research Establishment, 1875-1915
MALIGNANT GROWTH MALIGNANT GROWTH CREATING THE MODERN CANCER RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT 1875–1915 ALAN I MARCUS THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS TUSCALOOSA The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380 uapress.ua.edu Copyright © 2018 by the University of Alabama Press All rights reserved. Inquiries about reproducing material from this work should be addressed to the University of Alabama Press. Typeface: Scala Pro Cover image: Rendering of a malignant cell; courtesy of 123RF.com, © lightwise Cover design: David Nees Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Marcus, Alan I, 1949– author. Title: Malignant growth : creating the modern cancer research establishment, 1875–1915 / Alan I Marcus. Description: Tuscaloosa : The University of Alabama Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017038244| ISBN 9780817319793 (cloth) | ISBN 9780817391775 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Cancer—Research—History—19th century. | Cancer—Research— History—20th century. Classification: LCC RC275 .M37 2018 | DDC 362.19699/40072—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017038244 To Jean, my partner in everything; I fail way too often to tell her how much I admire, adore, and appreciate her. contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: On Institutions and Institutional Change 1 1. “Bacteriology” Is Destiny: Cancer, Certainty, and Uncertainty in the Late Nineteenth Century 13 2. Making Something So within a Nationalist Context: Cancer Laboratories, 1899–1905 32 3. Getting to Work, 1900–1905 51 4. Inklings of Dis-Ease: The Cancer Problem, 1905–1910 69 5. Return to Babel, 1905–1910 98 6. Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Science, 1910–1915 123 7. The Euphoria and Despair of Chemotherapy, 1910–1915 143 8. Better Living through Biochemistry: Experimental vs. Spontaneous Cancer, 1910–1915 156 9. Losing Control: An Inflamed Cancer Research Dilemma, 1911–1915 179 10. All Cancer Is Local: The End of the War and the Beginning of a New Era, 1910–1915 203 Epilogue: And the Band Plays On 229 Notes 233 Bibliography 301 Index 309 acknowledgments I incurred many debts as I researched and wrote this book. The fine, under- appreciated Iowa State University Library gave me my own key for 24-hour access, a room of my own, and use of a Xerox machine so that I could go through hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pages of the various peri- odicals housed in the storage facility there. In the year that I was there—I had no teaching duties, a perk of being the institution’s first Distinguished Humanities Scholar—I managed to make over 33,000 photocopies. I thank the then-chair of the history department, George McJimsey, for paying for the xeroxing. I also want to acknowledge my children, Gregory and Joce- lyn, and my late father-in-law, John Wasieleski, each of whom was punished by being required to do some of the actual photocopying in the library. My father-in-law’s “crime” was making his sons and sons-in-law stack wood in one place on one week and then move it all back to the original place the next, because he enjoyed being in the woods. When I discovered the ruse, he told me if I ever needed help, he’d be glad to pitch in. After I had him xerox, he never brought up moving wood again. Iowa State’s participation in the HathiTrust project helped me obtain sources I otherwise would not have been able to access. My status as an emeritus professor there has enabled me to continue to use this otherwise unavailable source, even after I relocated to Mississippi State University. The Interlibrary Loan staff at my new institution provided significant help with hard-to-find documents. Niklas Trzaskowski, a PhD student in our history graduate program at Mississippi State, helped with the translations of German texts. My spotty knowledge of French was adequate to handle translations from that lan- guage, bolstered by an ample assist from Google Translate. I asked Matt Lavine and Alexandra Hui, two of my colleagues at Mis- sissippi State, and two of my PhD students here, Kasey Mosley and Katie Sullivan, to read the introduction. They provided helpful, insightful com- ments. I also sketched out the project to the CHASES Experiment Station, a consortium of faculty and students at Mississippi State interested in history of agriculture, science, and the environment. The discussion was spirited. Beth Motherwell and other members of the University of Alabama Press remain a pleasure to work with. Of special note were the comments of an anonymous referee, who helped make this a better book. I was asked some time ago why I decided to write a book on cancer.
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