CHAPTER VI 



ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TUMOUES PROPER (BLASTOMAS) 

 AND HYPERBLASTOSIS 1 



(1913) 



TO-DAY more fully than ever before it is realized that to com- 

 prehend the abnormal we must first understand the normal. 

 Thus it is that modern research into the etiology of cancer is 

 more and more occupying itself with inquiries into the pheno- 

 mena of normal growth. The results already gained from these 

 inquiries render it timely to reconsider a particular form of 

 overgrowth, to which German authorities have given the name 

 " Riesenwuchs." This is so commonly regarded as blastomatous, 

 as belonging to the tumours proper, that neither in English nor, 

 to my knowledge, in French has an adequate term been so far 

 afforded. Merely to translate the German term and speak of 

 " giant growth " conveys no well-defined meaning to the English 

 mind. C. P. White, it is true, has labelled it " progressive 

 hypertrophy," but this is a description rather than a name : 

 I, too, have spoken of it as " blastomatoid," but the expression 

 is adjectival and not substantive. And yet, as I hope to show, 

 this type of tissue overgrowth has properties so characteristic 

 as to separate it sharply from the true blastemas, to necessitate 

 its recognition as an order apart, and to demand a precise name 

 whereby to ensure that recognition. Nay, I would say further 

 that it is a notable aid to our understanding of the etiology of 

 malignant growths to make this recognition. 



Here, to emphasize the distinction, it must be pointed out 

 that judged by the many definitions that have been afforded of 



1 Communicated to the Pathological Section of the Seventeenth Inter- 

 national Medical Congress, London, August 1913. 

 340 



