Cancer of the male breast is rare and the end-results are disappointing. Among the factors that contribute to the poor prognosis is the fact that to many physicians mammary carcinoma in the male is something of a myth—an oddity in medicine—and for that reason inconsequential. Unfortunately, both the medical profession and the layman underestimate any mammary lesion in the male, and diagnosis is made too late for adequate intervention to effect a cure. The infrequency of tumors of the male breast may be explained on both anatomical and physiological grounds. Most textbooks of anatomy present an erroneous impression of the male mammary gland. Cunningham and Gray pass over the subject superficially, describing the male breast as a vestigial and rudimentary organ, and one is left with the impression that it contains only scraps of glandular tissue. A good anatomical description is to be found in the paper by Andrews, whose observations are based on sections of normal breasts taken from subjects of all ages. I...