MEDICAL NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 27, 1 August 1923, Page 11

MEDICAL NOTES

NEW WORK ON CANCER

CAVITIES OF THE BRAIN.

(PROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 15th June. Sir John Bland-Sutton, lecturing at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School on the cavities or ventricles of the brain as secreting organs, pointed out that the fluid in which the brain and spinal cord are bathed used to be regarded by anatomists as being destined to protect the brain against damage by rough shocks and jars. In the last twenty-five years a remarkable series of experiments had been made on the fluid, which showed that it was not only useful to the individual, but that in certain circumstances it might involve the individual in danger, even causng death. The fluid was now known to be secreted by curious • structures in the brain's cavities known as the chorid plexuses, which floated in the fluid, and to tlio naked eye resembled the gills of salamanders, as they can be studied in the Zoological Gardens. If from any cause there was not free communication between the cavities of the brain the fluid pressing on the soft structure of the brain caused grievous damage. There was a parallel between the action of the cavities. in the brain and tha"t of the kidneys, and striking agreement in the principles of structure of the two organs. A blocking uj> of the passages between the brain cavities in children and in adults was as fatal as the complete blocking up of the secretions from the kidneys. Advantage had been taken of this discovery, for in serious diseases of the brain valuable information could be obtained by removing fluid from the spinal cord during life, and examining it for abnormalities on lines similar to those, on which the blood was habitually examined in the case of many infectious diseases. CANCER NOT INFECTIOUS. In view of the. Empire campaign against cancer, Dr. • Charles Walker's book, Theories and Problems of Cancer > ' ]ust published by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughtou, is particularly interesting. About one man in seventeen and about one woman in twelve who reach the age of thirty-five will die of cancer. .The dread disease is neither infectious nor contagious. This is the conclusion at which Dr. Walker, the Director of Cancer Research in Glasgow arTives at. He was- formerly engaged in the same work at Liverpool University At the present time," he says, "the only means available which affords any reasonable chance for the patient is complete removal by a surgical operation. Under surgical operation' may be included treatment by X-rays or radium in certain cases, keeping in mind that what is done is to kill the cells of the malignant growth by : these means instead of removing them. "Complete removal is generally only possible in the early stages, and the only cases, as a rule, in which there is a really good prospect of success are superficial cancers, which are diagnosed very clearly. We have learned much concerning the nature of cancer during the past twenty years; while none of the present lines of inquiry seems to promise immediate success, the results already obtained serve to suggest the ultirr.ate discovery of one or more methods of curing a large number of cases of malignant disease. It may be said with certainty that cancel' is neither infectious nor contagious in the ordinary sense of these words, and that there is no risk of catching cancer from a cancer patient unless in the highly improbable event of living cancer cells being introduced into an accidental wound incurred by the surgeon during an operation." DIET CAN NEITHER CAUSE NOR CURE CANCER. Diet, Dr. Walker maintains, can neither cause cancer nor cure it. "For many years there has been a widespread belief _ that: localities and even houses exist in which cancer is unusually common. . Cancer houses are firmly believed in by many, people." Dr. Walker's conclusion is that' the actual locality apparently has no' influence on the. incidence of the disease. Cancer is not caused by a parasite growth, but "is known to follow on prolonged and more °" 'eS3 .continuous irritation and inflammation." It is going much too far.to suggest, as has been done, that cancer is due to food and drink taken at a high temperature, and to the free use of wine, beer, tpirits, flesh, coffee, tea, end tobacco." _ It is interesting to learn that cancer is nearly as common among mice as among men, and that among human beings it is essentially a disease of middle life and old age. "Thirty-five is generally accepted as the beginning of the cancer age " Dr. Walker points out that beyond the experimental production of cancer in animals by the Japanese, little progress has been made by scientists during the last twenty years