History Lung cancer was uncommon before the advent of cigarette smoking. Surgeon Alton Ochsner recalled that as a Washington University medical student in 1919, his entire medical school class was summoned to witness an autopsy of a man who had died from lung cancer, and told they may never see such a case again. In Isaac Adler's 1912 Primary Malignant Growths of the Lungs and Bronchi, he called lung cancer "among the rarest forms of disease"; Adler tabulated the 374 cases of lung cancer that had been published to that time, concluding the disease was increasing in incidence. By the 1920s, several theories had been put forward linking the increase in lung cancer to various chemical exposures that had increased including tobacco smoke, asphalt dust, industrial air pollution, and poisonous gasses from World War I.
History Lung cancer was uncommon before the advent of cigarette smoking Surgeon Alton Ochsner recalled that as a Washington University medical student in 1919 his entire medical school class was summoned to witness an autopsy of a man who had died from lung cancer and told they may never see such a case again In Isaac Adler's 1912 Primary Malignant Growths of the Lungs and Bronchi he called lung cancer "among the rarest forms of disease"; Adler tabulated the 374 cases of lung cancer that had been published to that time concluding the disease was increasing in incidence By the 1920s several theories had been put forward linking the increase in lung cancer to various chemical exposures that had increased including tobacco smoke asphalt dust industrial air pollution and poisonous gasses from World War I