# Who first noticed metastasis in cancer?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-noticed-metastasis-in-cancer/361629>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 21, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-noticed-metastasis-in-cancer/361629 "2006-06-21T21:04:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-noticed-metastasis-in-cancer/361629/1 "2006-06-21T21:04:54Z")

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What was the first record of the concept of cancer metastasizing? I’m going to assume that the we’ve known for a long time that cancer can spread by burrowing into surrounding tissues, but is any one person in particular credited with first noticing the “dandelion” nature of cancerous tumors?

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**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-noticed-metastasis-in-cancer/361629/2 "2006-06-22T00:12:14Z")

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[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]  
What was the first record of the concept of cancer metastasizing? I’m going to assume that the we’ve known for a long time that cancer can spread by burrowing into surrounding tissues, but is any one person in particular credited with first noticing the “dandelion” nature of cancerous tumors?  
[/QUOTE]

The father of the “seed and soil” hypothesis of metastasis is \<a href=“[Milestones in Cancer](http://www.nature.com/milestones/milecancer/full/milecancer01.html)”\>Stephen Paget\</a\> (1855-1926). Prior to him, cancers that were in different tissues were thought to result from independent processes, rather than being ‘seeded’ from another site.

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**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-noticed-metastasis-in-cancer/361629/3 "2006-06-22T00:19:40Z")

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:smack: I’m slow today.  
[De-munged link](http://www.nature.com/milestones/milecancer/full/milecancer01.html)

He wasn’t the first to note that cancer spreads, of course…but I see references of that all the way back to Hippocrates.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-noticed-metastasis-in-cancer/361629/4 "2006-06-22T03:25:03Z")

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Many thanks!