Science.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 441, 29 September 1904, Page 7

Science.

CANCER, •VAX HEN we come to investigate opiny&jMXWt ionß we fl fl(J tkat not one rests on any distinct basis of fact. Taking that opinion which asserts that tomatoes are capable of causing cancer it would be necessary in order to support such a view that we should be able to prove the greater prevalence of eaneer amongst those persons who indulge in tomatoes than those who do not. No evidence of this kind, I need hardly say, is ever afforded us, and the view that cancer is caused by the eating of cheese, an utterly silly notion, would stand on the same platform and basis as many of the theories to which allusion has just been made. We clearly see then that in the case of cancer the research which is proceeding actively at the present time in this country and abroad is that of endeavouring to discover is cancerous tumours some element, germ, or microbe which, universally present, might be regarded as the cause of the ailment. Various bodies of the nature of living gfirms have certainly been found in .cancerous tumours, but the evidence that any one of them is the direct cause of cancer at present falls abort of that degree of excellence which would warrant us in crediting to any microbe that has yet been found the pewer 'of producing cancer. We thus note that the true line of research will take the direction of a thorough and continuous examination of the

different kinds of cancerous tumours by way of aaparating oat ot isolating the tfirm or gwma auek e*t may befprther piwvad to bare dite&se producing p*w«re. When tiki* stage kae been waohed, tie farther will, no doubt, take | the line of suggesting a cur*. Thia will be arrived at, in all probability, through ou<r kaowledga of the germ itself, of its history, its manner of.development, and of the agents whioh may be ÜBed to provent or arrest its growth. One important consideration in connection with cancer is that which gives to it what physicians eall its ' malignant' character. An ordinary simple tumour, enoh ss fatty tamour, may attain a large sise, but is not dangerous to life. It may grow to an enormous extent, but it has no tendency, as it were, so invade other parts of the body, and its mere growth does not exercise any destructive elect upon the. cell* and tissues with which it is in contaofc, In tbo caaa of cancer, things are vary different. The malignant nature of th» diseiea consists first in i*s tendency to dsettoy the tissues in wkieh it is situated. It grows and spreads, and involving other organs, breaks thorn down, and causes practically dageneuatioa o! all arcund it. Squally important iu the fact that those malignant growths have a tendency to spread to other organs and pasts of the body. We find, in this latter fact, a piece of evidence which tends vary largoly to Bupparfc the idea that they asa caused by special germs or microbes, for it is only on the supposition that such germs are conveyed by the blood from the original cancer to soma other parts, there to settle down and to develop new cancerous growths, that we can aecount for such a feature oi? the disease. The latest information regarding cancer and Wa euro comes from a German source, and my readers may have met with refettfiea to thia topic in various newspapers and journals, A German physician thinks that- he h.m at last separated out the Bpscifcl miorobit, or Kerm, to which cancer, oirfls ita origin, H« has cultivated this pararito, and by inoculating a horse or shsep therewith has been capable of producing in the blocd of the animal a parjbicular principle which we may practically terra an ' anti-toxin,' This sabsfeanee may be regarded as presenting a similarity in nature to the similar substance whioh is obtained from the blood of the horse, and which is used for the cure of diphtheria. In this way the parasite, being, as it were, transmitted through the body of another animal, and its prcdaca baing need to inoculate a human poison, may be said to be practically made to fight against itself. Oases have been recorded in connection with thia new discovery which seem to imply that at the very least it is deserving of. careful attention of medical men. I should like, however, ts> give my readers a word of warning, namely, to the effect that they must not accept the idea that any so-called cancer cure is effective until it has been thoroughly investigated and tried by medical men, I give this warning in order that poor sufferers from cancer, eager to grasp at the first chance of cure and relief, may not find reason for bitter,diaappoiatment if the investigations do not prove to be of a successful character. At the very least, it will take a very considerable time for science to give a definite pronouncement regarding the merits of this new cure.—Dr. WifcsoK.