At the outset of his 1902 publication in the Lancet, Dr. John Beard discloses that as an embryologist he is not the most socially licensed scientist to be proposing a theory regarding the etiology of cancer. He advises that it is the current protocol for this subject matter to be left to the surgeons and pathologists, as it is concerned with dying, not of coming-into-being. Beard boldly notes that these professionals had thus far failed to define the cause of cancer. He goes on to reason that an embryologist may have more success at this task, as cancer is ultimately…