David Paul von Hansemann : contributions to oncology; context, comments and translations

In 1890, just a few years after the discovery of the chromosomes, David Paul Hansemann, a pathologist-in-training with the famous Rudolph Virchow in Berlin, produced a theory of the pathogenesis of cancer involving the key current concept: that the first change which occurs in cancer is an alteration of the hereditary material of a normal cell at the site where the cancerous process begins.

In the process of linking cancer to chromosomal material, Hansemann coined the terms "anaplasia" and "dedifferentiation". These terms have remained the basis of descriptive terms concerning the microscopical appearances of tumours ever since. Nevertheless, despite the popularity of his terminology, Hansemann's ideas were attacked vigorously by almost all proponents of rival theories of the nature of cancer. Partly due to these disputes during his life-time, and partly due to other factors, interest in von Hansemann's ideas diminished during the twentieth century and his works are rarely mentioned today.

This book presents translations of all the relevant German texts, and analyses the background and context of Hansemann's theories as well as the reasons why he was almost completely forgotten. It shows that some of Hansemann's ideas may still be relevant to cancer research today, and that he deserves to be remembered in relation to cancer as Vordenker unter den führenden Denkern seiner Zeit - The foremost of the leading thinkers of his time.

Preface and Overview	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xv
Notes on the Works and Translations	p. xvii
Table of Chronology	p. xix
Part I Background	p. 1
Chapter 1 Family, education and career	p. 3
Family background	p. 3
Education	p. 5
Rudolph Virchow as a teacher	p. 7
Post-graduate career	p. 9
Notes to chapter 1	p. 10
Chapter 2 Aspects of philosophy in the culture and science of Germany in the nineteenth century	p. 25
Introduction	p. 25
Influence of the Ancient Greeks	p. 25
German philosophy and literature after the Reformation; Streitkultur	p. 27
"Romantic biology" and Naturphilosophie	p. 28
Characteristics of Virchow's thinking	p. 28
Virchow's "Cellular Pathology" as a philosophy of pathology	p. 29
Darwinism in Germany	p. 30
Altruism, "cellular altruism" and "biologistic sociology"	p. 32
Militarism and Junkertum	p. 33
Notes to chapter 2	p. 35
Chapter 3 Aspects of biomedical science in the nineteenth century	p. 41
Introduction	p. 41
Microscopy	p. 42
Normal histology	p. 43
Virchow's "Cellular Pathology" - an analysis	p. 45
Virchow and the origin and lineage fidelity (an aspect of "specificity") of cells	p. 46
Embryology	p. 46
Genetics - general considerations	p. 48
Heredity at the level of the whole individual (ancestral heredity)	p. 48
Heredity material in sexual reproduction	p. 49
Cellular heredity in embryonic development	p. 49
Heredity in cell populations which turn over in adults	p. 50
Applications of the word "differentiation"	p. 51
"Capacity for independent existence"; in normal, pathological and experimental studies	p. 53
Notes to chapter 3	p. 54
Chapter 4 Theories of tumours prior to Hansemann	p. 57
Introduction	p. 57
The concept of "plasias"	p. 57
Virchow's concepts of tumours	p. 59
"Embryonal" theories of cancer	p. 61
"Egg-like" features of cancer cells	p. 62
"Fecundation/fertilisation/fusion" theories	p. 63
The role of mitosis in heredity at the time of Hansemann	p. 63
Chromosomes in tumour cells	p. 66
Difficulties of diagnosis of tumours by histopathology in the 1890s: the case of the laryngeal cancer of Emperor Friedrich III	p. 70
Notes to chapter 4	p. 71
Chapter 5 Hansemann's ideas of the nature of cancer: description and analysis	p. 75
Introduction	p. 75
The original version of the theory (Hansemann 1890a)	p. 75
Further analysis of the oogenic model	p. 78
Further analysis of de-differentiation and numbers of chromosomes in tumour cells	p. 79
Later modifications to the detail of the theories	p. 80
Hansemann on mitoses and chromosomes in general	p. 82
Hansemann on abnormal mitoses and chromosomes in pathological cells	p. 83
Hauptplasmen and Nebenplasmen	p. 85
The problem of excessive growth of tumour cells	p. 85
The application of anaplasia and de-differentiation to the diagnosis of malignant tumours	p. 86
Hansemann's philosophy	p. 87
Notes to chapter 5	p. 90
Chapter 6 Critics, reviewers, the forgetting of Hansemann, and what might have been	p. 91
Introduction	p. 91
Ribbert and the theory of "control by connective tissue"	p. 91
Lubarsch	p. 92
Borst	p. 95
O. Israel	p. 96
Other critics: Beneke, Wolff	p. 101
Boveri's ideas were similar to Hansemann's	p. 101
Hauser; Farmer, Moore and Walker; Bashford	p. 104
Other reviewers 1900-1919	p. 105
Whitman - overlooked insights	p. 106
Reviewers in the 1920s and after	p. 107
Subsequent developments in cancer research	p. 110
Why was Hansemann forgotten? - more fruitful fields of research	p. 111
Why was Hansemann forgotten? - scientific faults of his work	p. 112
Why was Hansemann forgotten? - other factors	p. 114
What might have been	p. 116
Notes to chapter 6	p. 117
Part II Translations	p. 121
Chapter 7 On the asymmetrical division of cells in epithelial carcinomata and their biological importance (1890a)	p. 123
Chapter 8 On pathological mitoses (1891a)	p. 145
Chapter 9 Karyokinesis and "Cellular Pathology" (1891c)	p. 159
Chapter 10 On the anaplasia of tumour cells and asymmetric mitosis (1892a)	p. 167
Chapter 11 "Studies on the Specificity, the Altruism and the Anaplasia of cells with Special Reference to Tumours" (1893c)	p. 179
Introduction	p. 182
I Specificity	p. 185
II Altruism	p. 219
III Anaplasia	p. 234
Chapter 12 Hansemann's other articles and books on tumours and related topics	p. 277
Introduction	p. 277
Pathological/anatomical and histological experiences after Koch's treatment (1891b)	p. 277
Pathological/anatomical and histological observations after Koch's treatment (1891g)	p. 278
Cell division in the human epidermis (1891h)	p. 278
The cancer stroma and Grawitz' theory of dormant cells (1893a)	p. 279
Critical reflections on the aetiology of carcinomas (1894a)	p. 279
On the specificity of the division of cells (1894i)	p. 280
On the so-called interstitial cells of the testis and their significance in pathological conditions (1895b)	p. 281
Pathological anatomy and bacteriology (1895d)	p. 281
The diagnosis of malignant tumours: a clinical lecture delivered at the University of Berlin (1895i)	p. 282
On cure and curability (1897g)	p. 283
"The Diagnosis of Malignant Tumours" (1897o) (second edition, 1902h)	p. 283
On the term "anaplasia" and its essential nature (1900b)	p. 286
On nuclear division figures of malignant tumours: addendum to the short communication of Messrs Farmer, Moore and Walker (1904c)	p. 287
Malignant growths and normal reproductive tissues (1904q)	p. 289
On the functional abilities of cancer cells. A discussion - observation on Beneke's position paper on physiological and pathological growth (1905c)	p. 291
Critical contemplations on the tumour theory (1905f)	p. 292
Talks by Prof von Hansemann and Geheimrat von Leyden on "The Aetiology of Cancers" at the Berlin Society of Medicine 8[superscript th] March 1905 (1905k)	p. 293
What do we know of the origin of malignant tumours? (1905l)	p. 295
On the function of tumour cells (1906c)	p. 296
A few remarks on the anaplasia of tumour cells (1907c)	p. 297
On the nomenclature of epithelial neoplasms (1908d)	p. 298
What is anaplasia? (1909a)	p. 298
"Origin and Pathology. Studies and Thoughts in Comparative Biology" (1909f)	p. 299
"Atlas of Malignant Tumours" (1910k)	p. 302
Pathological anatomy and the diagnosis of cancer (1910l)	p. 304
Experimental chemotherapy of animals with tumours (1912a) (with v. Wassermann)	p. 304
Discussion (of Experimental chemotherapy of animals with tumours) (1912b)	p. 305
Experimental chemotherapy of animals with tumours (1912c) (with v. Wassermann)	p. 305
On altruistic diseases: A talk delivered to the Society for Doctors' continuing education in Gorlitz, 13th January, 1912 (1912d)	p. 305
"On Conditional Thinking in Medicine and its Importance for Practice" (1912f)	p. 308
On precancerous conditions (1913e)	p. 313
Demonstration of slides produced by Herr Fibiger concerning the artificial induction of cancer (1913g)	p. 313
A working hypothesis for research on Leukemia (1914a)	p. 314
On changes in the tissues and tumours after ray treatment: Demonstration lecture before the Hufeland Society 19th March 1914 (1914b)	p. 314
On the cancer problem (1914d)	p. 314
Cancer therapeutics in theory and practice (1914i)	p. 315
The problem of cancer malignancy (1920a)	p. 315
Appendix A Hansemann's early curriculum vitae; letters	p. 317
Appendix B Supplementary index entries to "The Science of Cancerous Disease from Earliest Times to the Present" (Wolff, 1907)	p. 319
Appendix C Published obituaries	p. 323
Appendix D Bibliography of David Paul von Hansemann	p. 331
Literature cited	p. 347
Index	p. 363

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