| Summary: | Evidence from paleopathology indicates that cancer is a very ancient disease. Preserved relies of prehistoric times reveal wide geographic and zoologic distribution of malignancy. Dinosaurs of the Mesozoic period are said to have shown signs of cancer, and other evidence of its antiquity (Sambon cited by Haddow) (68) are to be found in the treasures of the pyramids, from the Etruscan tombs, from Peruvian mummies and from the cuneiform tablets of the library of Nineveh. The earliest medical record known to man (94) is the "Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus". This anonymous relic of antiquity is generally regarded by historians as having been originally written in the Egyptian Pyramid Age in the Old Kingdom (3000- 2500 B.C .), although speculation by Breasted and Cooper (16) suggest that this document may form part of the teachings of the oldest known physician, Imhotep, the 'patriach and sage of primitive medicine' (94) who lived in the thirteenth century B.C.
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