Jose Rizal, doctor, teacher, linguist, poet, writer, and national hero, wrote Noli Me Tangere (The Social Cancer) in outburst of his indignation at the abuses, atrocities, and inhumanities wrought by the Spaniards in the Philippines. One book that gave him inspiration was Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel about the miseries of Negro slaves in the United States. Dr. Rizal met with a group of Filipinos in Pedro Paterno's home in Madrid to propose a book about the Philippines. Among those who agreed were Paterno, Maximino Paterno, Graciano Lopez jaena, Valentin Ventura, Evaristo Aguirre. He started writing the novel in 1884 and finished it in 1886. due to financial hardship, he could not have it printed at once. Later, wealthy Dr. Maximo Viola offered to pay the expenses but to make the printing less expensive, some parts had to be taken out, like the whole chapter about Elias and Salome. Dr. Rizal sent the first printed copies to his friends Ferdinand Blumentritt, Antonio Ma. Regidor, Graciano lopez Jaena, Mariano Ponce and Felix Hidalgo. In his letter to Blumentritt, he said, "This is a fair and true account about the life of the Filipino. The government and the friars would certainly become angry, but I know that God sees the way the Filipinos are being maltreated by the Spaniards." The title of the novel, Rizal said, was inspired by the Biblical words; "Do not touch me." "The contents of the novel are matters that until now nobody has dared mention. Also in the novel are political affairs, our beliefs, our hopes and dreams, our sadness. "This novel," he added," may be lacking in literary and artistic qualities, but no one can accuse me of being unfair and untruthful."