Cancer has plagued the human body since at least 3000 BC, when the earliest description of tumors was scripted on papyrus in Egypt. However, it wasn’t until the 19th century that oncology developed as a science. In the 1800s, with the advent of the modern microscope, surgeons were able to perfect techniques for the removal of certain cancerous tissues like tumors. Many people with cancerous tumors either didn’t have access to regular medical treatments, or they applied folk remedies that didn’t address the problem, so the problems grew to massive proportions. Below I’ve collected a gallery of seriously sick people from the 1800s, whose tumors and cancers have become huge deformities and were documented by early medical photographers. Enjoy! Just don’t eat while you’re looking at these…
