The Physiopathology of Cancer [antikvár]

Foreword The problem of the origin, nature, and development of cancer is everywhere recognized today as one which requires for its solution a vast extent and penetration of scientific information. No one individual can hope to span or to contain all the specialized knowledge necessary for leadership and direction in the multitude of techniques which are utilized and which will be developed in the laboratory and clinic. No one discipline in experimentál research, or in preventive or therapeutic practice will prove to be the sole and sufficient solution to more than a part of the totál question that is posed by the various manifestations of neoplastic growth. In the face of this situation, the natural tendency is for the investigator or clinician to push the development of his training and skills as far as he can along the particular line of attack for which he feels best adapted. This procedure is entirely reasonable and it has led to more progress in our knowledge during the past thirty years than in the three hundred that preceded them. There is encouraging evidence on all sides that, for at least twenty years to come, a continuation of the same policy will pay rich dividends in decreasing suffering and in saving lives. But while this procedure is sound as a major emphasis it is not the whole story. There must be a deliberate and intelligent program of comparison and coordination of discoveries and of information in the various fields. A definite attitűdé of sympathetic understanding of all the major lines of attack is essential for two vitai reasons. First, direction and leadership of research or clinical groups, departments, or institutions must be conceived and executed on broad, comprehensive, tolerant, and imaginative lines. This is only possible when those in control develop and maintain contact with all the possible recognized channels to progress. Second, those entering or recently engaged in the attack on cancer need, from the earliest possible moment, to establish the habit of maintaining at least a speaking acquaintance with the objectives, obstacles, and advances in phases of the problem other than their own. Only by such an efíort can they expect to contribute to laying the foundation for the correlation and synthetic interpretation of the complex life processes which cause, maintain, and influence neoplasia. The editors of the present volume are excellent individual examples of the xv