Summary

In Chapter 2, Sontag expands on the history of the words ‘cancer’ and ‘tuberculosis.’ According to the Oxford English Dictionary, which provides historical definitions, ‘tuberculosis’ was first defined in 1398 and ‘cancer’ was first defined in 1528. Both were described as diseases that included swelling and protuberances, indicating that they shared common symptoms. Sontag emphasizes these similarities, claiming that “from late antiquity until quite recently, tuberculosis was — typologically — cancer” (10). Sontag then argues that the diseases were seen as more distinct from each other after the invention of the microscope in the 1850s, which enabled doctors to better understand the distinct effects of cancer on the body’s cells.

Sontag devotes the remainder of the chapter to describing the differences between the two diseases that emerged after the microscope. First, they are described in different spatial terms: while TB is seen as a disease of one organ (the...