ORIGIN OF CANCER.

Evening Star, Issue 12765, 19 March 1906, Page 4

ORIGIN OF CANCER.

TREATMENT BY VACCINATION. In a telegram sent from Brussels recently it was announced that at a public meeting of the Academy of Medicine in that city Professor Van. Ermenghem had declared, as the result of the researches of Dr Jacobs, that the bacterial origin of cancer. had been made manifest. This aroused great interest in modical circles on the Continent, for the reason, chiefly, that" many of the most advanced scientific investigators wei'o inclined to pin their faith to the parasitic origin of the disease. Tho conclusion Dr Jacobs has arrived at, it is said, is that the treatment must be by vaccination, the remedy having ceased to be a blind experiment, and become positive. Dr Jacobs founds his claim upon a long series of experiments cm the composition of the blood, but as yet, in British medical the data necessary to make clear the claim are not accessible. A leading scientist at one of the first bacteriological laboratories at Home, seen by a London ' Standard' representative, was inclined to caution the reading public to accept the reported discovery with circumspection. "They have a good public health laboratory in,.Bmssels," he said, "and v no doubt any announcement emanating from Professor Van Ennenghem, who is an acknowledged authority on bacteriological matters, is worthy of attention. But cancer is a big subject, and has been studied for years and years, in many laboratories, without anything very positive being arrived at. False hopes have oftentimes been raised, so that it behoves us to be exceedingly cautious in accepting any new discovery with regard to the causation of this fell disease. -The latest disappomfement arose last yeaa - , out of a too euphemistic statement put forward as to the value of the serum claimed to have been discovered by a Parisian scientist. On examination this serum does not seem to aifeot tho course of the malady. To US in England there did not appear to be sufficient basis for the claims that were made, and tic material has not been used in the English hospitals. —Further. Evidence Needed.— " Personally, I have not seen Dr Jacobs's paper, and it is impossible to discuss a scientific treatise- unless you have the text before you. All abstracts of scientific work are misleading, even when prepared by experts, however well-inten-tioned tho writers may be. It will not. be easy to Say anything definite as to the alleged bacterial origin of cancer, and whether or not the treatment is to bo bjr vaccination, until further evidence has been obtained. Meanwhile, the question is being very carefully worked out in connection with the Imperial Cancer .Research Fund, under the direction of Dr BlatcMord. Everything that is published with regard to the pathology of cancer in all countries is examined by the fund experts, and if a prima facie case is made out for any mode of treatment it is subjected to an exhaustive examination. According to the authorities of the Cancer Research" Fund, the experiments they have made on the subject up to the present time have led them to form the opinion that cancer is not caused by bacteria, and Mr Butlin, who has had very extensive experience, and is a great authority on canoer, has recently, in lecturing upon the subject, laid stress upon the parasitic nature of the disease when viewed clinically, and he ha 9 brought evidence forward to show that the cancer coll, which is the essential infective element, so far'as at.prcr: sent can be seeh, oreseiite features "analogous to those exhibited by minute animal parasites of a certain typo which have W\<m associated with the production of the disease.. —Danger of Raising Hopes.— _ " But the great thing in these discussions is to. warn tofoxkmaie people who are suffering from cancer, and who read th'e_ papers, against forming hopes which too* likely, in the near future, to be cast down. It goes without saying that bacteriological discoveries ore entirely matter for exrpefts. In the telegram which has como from Brussels, announcing Dr Jacobs's claim to found a serum which is derived from the cffi&cer microbe itself, together the laws governing its it is said "it must never be applied,.save" by "the. most expert hands.' This is clearly acceptable. Serious ham may happen if inexperienced people ventured to experiment with the serum.",, -,-'. V : . ? '". ■