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The Experience of Cancer Illness. Spain and Beyond During The TESIS DOCTORAL The Experience of Cancer Illness Spain and Beyond During the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century Autora: Fanny Hernández Brotons Directores: Javier Moscoso y Fernando Broncano Tutor: Fernando Broncano DEPARTAMENTO DE HUMANIDADES: FILOSOFÍA, LENGUAJE Y LITERATURA Getafe, septiembre de 2017 PhD THESIS The Experience of Cancer Illness Spain and Beyond During the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century Author: Fanny Hernández Brotons Supervisors: Javier Moscoso and Fernando Broncano Tutor: Fernando Broncano CARLOS III UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF HUMANITIES, COMMUNICATION, AND LIBRARY SCIENCE Department of Humanities: Philosophy, Language, and Literature Getafe (Madrid) – 2017 To my father ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I began to develop a taste for scientific research over the course of my undergraduate studies in Political Sciences and Administration at Complutense University, Madrid. During the summers of 2009 and 2010, two consecutive scholarships granted by the JAE Intro programme of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) expanded the scope of my scholarly interests and reinforced my decision to pursue post-graduate studies. In the autumn of 2011, I enrolled in the MA programme in “Cultural Theory and Critique of Culture” at Carlos III University, Madrid. At the same time, I was granted a four-year PhD scholarship by the Spanish FPI-MICINN programme (with reference BES-2011- 046132), which provided me with institutional and financial means to carry out the present thesis. The research I conducted was successively based at the Institute of Philosophy and the Institute of History of the CSIC, along with the Faculty of Humanities, Communication, and Library Science of Carlos III University. In parallel, I had the opportunity to join several foreign academic institutions as a Visiting PhD Student: the Department of History, Classics, and Archaeology of Birkbeck College, University of London; the Research Centre for the History of Emotions of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin; and the Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I am grateful to all the establishments of higher education that hosted my PhD research, and to the many experienced and young researchers I met in each of these places, from whom I learned a great deal. To begin with, this thesis would not have been possible if Professor Javier Moscoso – my main supervisor – had not encouraged me to contribute to such a relevant and sensitive topic as the experience of cancer illness. Whilst it was possible, he offered his guidance and made me feel as an integral part of the research group HIST-EX in History and Philosophy of Experience by counting on me as a member of the team for the projects on the modern history of emotions (FFI2010-20876) and well-being (FFI2013-46361-R) that he led. Professor Fernando Broncano – my co-supervisor – was also very helpful during the initial phase of my research, which culminated in an MA dissertation on the cultural history of cancer. Furthermore, he provided substantial assistance in bringing this thesis to completion. All my HIST-EX colleagues taught me something valuable, both in relation to, and beyond the scope of, my PhD project. A number of them even behaved as ‘academic siblings’ during one period or another of my formative process, including Juan Manuel Zaragoza, Leticia Fernández-Fontecha, Beatriz Pichel, Nike Fakiner, Victoria Diehl, María Gómez Garrido, Dolores Martín Moruno, María González Navarro, Ruth Somalo, Sonsoles Hernández, Amaya García Arregui, and, last but most significant, Violeta Ruiz Cuenca. Within the CSIC, I also had inspiring conversations with scholars working in allied areas – especially with Juan Pimentel, Cristina Jular, and Ángel Alloza – as well as with my fellow PhD candidates Rosana Triviño, Pamela Colombo, Pedro Ochoa, Paula Martos, Victoria Mateos, and Cristina Catalina. During my research stays abroad, I benefited from the guidance of Professor Joanna Bourke, in the UK; Doctor Bettina Hitzer, in Germany; and Professor David Jones, in the US. Each of them was so kind as to accept supervising my work in progress for some months at their home institution. Their constructive criticism and insightful suggestions were extremely useful for improving several chapters of this thesis. In addition, these scholars gave me the possibility to be part of their vibrant academic communities, where I encountered other brilliant and accessible researchers like Carmen Mangion, Simon Jarrett, Geoff Browell, Rhodri Hayward, Adam Shapiro, Yaara Benger, Rob Boddice, Stephanie Olsen, Anja Laukötter, Allan Brandt, and Michael Knipper, along with many more people I wish I had space to mention. Outside academia, I am thankful for the understanding and support I have received from my friends and ‘guardian angels’ all the way through the PhD. I feel lucky to have been surrounded by such incredible people as Andrea, Mònica, Aida, Carlos, Julia, Pablo, Edu, Imène, Carles, Marcos, Irene, Verena, Jesús, Antonio, and Macu. Finally, my warmest acknowledgements are due to my family at both sides of the Pyrenees. Special mentions go to my cousin Adrián for his cheerful encouragements; to my nephews Daniel and Nicolás for reminding me how important it is to do some things just for fun; to my mother Francine and my sister Irene for their loving care and infinite patience; and last, but most heartily, to my father Jose Manuel, for giving me tons of wise, affectionate advice, and for making my world a safer place to live in. CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………………..….……….….……… xi PRELIMINARY NOTE ………………………………………………………………..……….…….……… xv INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………………………….…. 1 What Is Cancer? ………………………………………………………………..…………………………………. 2 Illness Experience ……………………………………………………………………..………….………………. 13 Social Relevance ………………………………………………………………...……………………………….. 21 Outline of Chapters ………………………………………………………..……………………………….…….. 24 PART I: ON CELLS AND SKIN ………………………………..…………………….…………….… 29 I.1. MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS …………………………………………………..…………………….….. 31 I.1.1. Karkinos, the Crab ………………………………………………………..…………………………… 31 I.1.2. Histology ……………………………………………………………………………………..….…………. 40 I.1.3. Under the Microscope ……………………………………………………..………………….…….. 46 I.1.4. Framing the Cancer Patient ……………………………………...……………………...……….. 56 I.2. SURGICAL CURE ………………………………………………………..…………………….……... 65 I.2.1. The Death of “Prince Carcinoma” …………………………………………………...………… 65 I.2.2. Ether and Chloroform ………………………………………………………….………………......... 76 I.2.3. Carbolic Acid …………………………………………………………………………………..…...…….. 90 I.3. POPULAR UNDERSTANDING …………………...……………………………….…..…….. 98 I.3.1. An Illiterate and Catholic Majority …………………………………………………...…..…….. 98 I.3.2. On Patron Saints ………………………………………………………………………..……………… 103 I.3.3. On Chastised Sinners ………………………………………………………..………….…………... 121 PART II: ILLNESS MEANINGS ……………………………...……..…………………….…………. 135 II.4. SYMPTOMS …………………………………………………..…………………….……........................ 137 II.4.1. Illness Idioms ………………………………………………………..…………………..………………. 137 II.4.2. Falling Ill ……………………………………………………………………………………..………….….. 141 II.4.3. Denial ……………………………………………………..………………………..................................... 149 II.4.4. Chronic Pain ……………………………………...…………………………………………………..….. 156 II.4.5. Stigma ……………………………………...……………………………………………………………..…. 166 II.5. DISEASE LABEL ………………………………………………………..……………………...…….. 176 II.5.1. Ageing …………………………………………………………............................................................... 176 II.5.2. Why Me? ………………………………………………………………………........................................ 181 II.5.3. The Medical Marketplace …………………………………………………………………..……… 188 Facing Cancer Surgery …………………………………………………………………….……….. 192 Pills, Ointments, Beverages, Powders ……………………………………………………... 197 “A Quack comme il faut”……………………………………………………..…………..………….. 203 II.6. BIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………….…..……….............................. 211 II.6.1. Singularity …………………………………………………..……………………………..………………. 211 II.6.2. Joaquín María López ………………………………………………………………………………... 215 The Meanings of a Tongue ………………………………………………………..……..………. 215 Facing Ahead …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 220 Time of Remembrance ………………………………………………………………….………….. 227 II.6.3. Visual Narratives ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 235 Ada Lovelace …………………………………………………………………………...………………... 238 Alice James …………………………………………………………………………..…………………... 244 CONCLUSIONS ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 251 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 265 LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 Georg Albert Lücke, Different forms of cells that carcinoma can present, 1869. Drawing extracted from Georg Albert Lücke, Compendio de oncología, o tratado de los tumores bajo el doble punto de vista de la anatomía y de la clínica, Vol. 2, trans. Ger., and ed., Salvador Badía y Andreu and Juan Giné y Partagás (Madrid: Carlos Bailly-Baillière, 1874), 122. 1.2 Some genera of neoplasms in the 1860s. Table elaborated by the thesis author with data from Rudolf Virchow, Pathologie des tumeurs, trans. Ger. Paul Aronssohn, 3 Vols. (Paris: Germer Baillière, 1867-71). 1.3 Number of deaths attributed to cancer per 100,000 people in different European countries (1880-1900). Table extracted from Pierre Darmon, Les cellules folles: l’homme face au cancer de l’Antiquité à nos jours (Paris: Plon, 1993), 177; transl. thesis author. 2.1 D.A. Castelucho, Prince Carcinoma dying of apoplexy, 1888. Drawing extracted from Juan Giné y Partagás (auth.) and D.A. Castelucho (illustr.), La familia
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