Willy

1931 · ref. 81837 — New York New York: Paul B. Hoeber Inc 1931. Presumed First Edition First printing. Hardcover. Good. xxxiii 3 427 1 pages. Footnotes Some cover wear. Includes Preface Introduction List of Illustrations and List of Portraits. Part 1 covers the Origin the Development and the Self-Perpetuation of Cancer; Part 2 covers The Therapy of Cancer including the treatment of Operable and Inoperable Cancer in the Light of a Systemic Conception of Malignancy. The book also contains a Summary a Retrospect and an Outlook an Index of Personal Names and an Index of Subjects as well as 5 black and white illustrations of Lymph nodes and 12 black and white portraits of deceased scientists renowned in cancer research. Inscribed by the author on the fep: Inscription reads: To Dr. H. Beaman Douglass with kind regards Willy Meyer Palm Beach February 1931. Thoracic surgery in America owes a great deal to Meyer's pioneer work. In his clear vision of the importance of this specialty he founded in I919 the New York Society for Thoracic Surgery and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Meyer's interest in cancer and his extensive study of the literature on cancer are best evidenced in his last publication a book entitled "Cancer" in which he comes to the conclusion that cancer is a systemic disease. Among his publications those on thoracic surgery are probably the most numerous. He was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons a member of the American Medical Association American Surgical Association American Thoracic Gastro-Enterological and Urological Associations American Association for Cancer Research New York Academy of Medicine Pathological Society. Dr. Beaman Douglass was an eye ear nose and throat specialist. He invented the Douglass tonsillotome among other instruments. He was a former consulting surgeon at the New York Post-Graduate Hospital. This book deals with the tumor cancer as an ordinary lawful reaction of the tissue to certain systemic and local morbid conditions of the human organism. The book denies the autonomy of cancer. Halsted and Meyer were the first to achieve successful results with the radical mastectomy thus ushering in the modern era of surgical treatment for breast cancer. In 1894 William Halsted published his work with radical mastectomy from the 50 cases operated at Johns Hopkins between 1889 and 1894. Willy Meyer also published research on radical mastectomy from his interactions with New York patients in December 1894. The en bloc removal of the breast tissue became known as the Halsted mastectomy before adopting the title "the complete operation" and eventually "the radical mastectomy" as it is known today. Radical mastectomy was based on the medical belief at the time that breast cancer spread locally at first invading nearby tissue and then spreading to surrounding lymph ducts where the cells were "trapped". It was thought that hematic spread of tumor cells occurred at a much later stage. Halsted himself believed that cancer spread in a "centrifugal spiral" solidifying this opinion in the medical community at the time. Paul B. Hoeber, Inc hardcover