Daily AncestorScirrhus
Scirrhus was an old medical name for a hard cancerous tumor; in earlier use it meant any hardened organ or gland.
The word comes from Greek for hard. Webster's 1913 gives two senses: an old one, a hardened organ or gland, and a newer one, a hard cancerous tumor of gray or bluish color.
Records may write scirrhus of the breast or scirrhous cancer. IPUMS codes cancers by the organ affected in its scheme for the 1850 to 1880 mortality schedules.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Margt. Lowe, 56, F, W, Scirrhus of breast
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Scirrhus." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/scirrhus. Last checked 2026-10-10.