CANCER AND OIL

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 133, 3 December 1930, Page 16

CANCER AND OIL

IMPORTANT DISCOVERY

Many years have passed, says the London "Times," since attention was first drawn to the fact that cancer of the .skin was more, prevalent among workers engaged in the Scottish shale industry than among the rest of the population. That discovery was followed by the recognition of cancer-pro-ducing substances which, when applied to the skin of au ai^Tiial, give rise to malignant growths. The nature of these substances has engaged worldwide interest, and many attempts have been made to isolate the principle or element concerned in the production of cancer. So far these efforts have not succeeded, though a body of new knowledge has been acquired. The most striking among many facts is that very high temperatures appear to be necessary for the production ot' most of tho cancer-producing substances. As such temperatures lie far beyond the capacity of the animal body, it has been assumed that living tissue is capable of a synthesis at low temperatures which can only be produced outside the body by the use of great heat. The matter stood thus until recently, but has now been carried a stage forward by the discovery, in the Research Institute, of the Cancer Hospital, that a certain cancer-producing substance shows a blue-violet fluorescence which becomes very intense in a beam of ultra-violet light. This fluorescent light gives a characteristic spectrum with three bands. "Work is now in progress to discover whether this spectrum is obtainable from all cancer-producing substances. In a recent report published in the "British Medical Journal," Dr. Kennav/ay and his co-worker expressed the hope that the; very frequent recurrence of the fluorescent spectrum iv cancerproducing substances might make it possible to use the spectrum in the preliminary examination of materials, such as lubricati:'. oils, suspected of containing these substances. The manufacturers of lubricatiug oils have helped the research work in many ways, and have shown a lively anxiety to free their products from injurious elfiineuts. It is a gratifying thought that knowledge which may prove ot: the highest importance has rewarded tliis co-operation of the factory and the laboratory. •