In the second century A.D., the Greek physician Claudius Galen proposed that cancer was an excess of an oily liquid called black bile. His view of cancer as a hopeless, systemic disease prevailed for ...

I refer to Sue Armstrong’s excellent article “A pill to rewind time” (Life & Arts, May 11), where reference is made to “the Roman physician Claudius Galen in the 2nd century AD”. It is true that Galen ...