[3] The term "tumor" literally means a swelling, and thus has been applied to the prominence caused by an overdistended bladder, to the enlargement of pregnancy, to the swelling produced by an abscess, to the overgrowth of tissue (hyperplasia) associated with injury and consequent inflammation, and to numerous other phases of tissue enlargement directly connected with recognized disease processes. For this reason it is becoming more common for scientists to apply the word "neoplasm" to the new growths described in this chapter. Because of the still popular use of the word "tumor," it is retained in this chapter for the designation of those new growths to which the sevenfold characterization of our descriptive definition applies.
