Origin of Malignant Tumors.

Another theory for the development of malignant tumors is added to the long list. The author's work on mitoses in eggs of sea urchins serves as the basis for his belief that tumors arise from a single primordial cell, and that their characteristics as neoplastic cells are due to a "wrongly combined chromosome complex." This abnormality in distribution of chromosomes is the result of multipolar mitosis brought about by a variety of conditions. Little is said concerning what these conditions are. Admitting the author's theory we are thus still without knowing the cause of malignant tumors; the theory propounded being, in the last analysis, concerned only with the mechanism of neoplastic development once this has begun. The volume is primarily of interest to the cytophysiologist. The style makes it difficult reading for others. This treatise, however, should serve to stimulate further interest in the study of the individual neoplastic cells.