CANCER HERO'S EXPERIMENT

Evening Star, Issue 19272, 10 June 1926, Page 5

CANCER HERO'S EXPERIMENT

DEATH RISKED FOR HUMANITY A ROLL OF HONOR. Amazing experiments in order to demonstrate his theory that human cancer cannot he transferred to a healthy subject have, been made by Dr Kurtzkahn, a well-known German scientist. Though, for all ho knew, he might have been sealing his doom, the surgeon removed a portion of a cancerous breast tumor, which ho implanted in his leg. Anxious days passed while _ho watched the olfect 'of the operation. Would the tumor die away? Or would it grow and spell failure and death? It was an ordeal to send any ordinary man’s hair while under the strain. But the heroic doctor took it calmly. “ If 3 die, at least, ] shall have accomplished something,” ho said. Ho proved his theory; after a few weeks the minor subsided and vanished. A ROLL OF HONOR. Still unsatisfied in his search for the causation of the scourge, Dr Kurtzkahn next vaccinated himself with cancer, and prepared a serum from hi.s own blond with which lie sought to cure cancer patients. Again he escaped contagion. When medical science was still groping its way through a mass of abysmal ignorance regarding disease, there was no lack of surgeons and scientists who risked their lives to make discoveries which might be of benefit to the human race.

[Medical history, in fact, is one long roll of honor of heroin men who did not hesitate to impregnate themselves with deadly diseases fn their fight to keep them under eontroi. When the Panama Canal was being cut, hundreds of workmen were dying like flies from the effects of yellow fever and malaria. It was not then established that mosquitoes were the chief cause of all the trouble, but a little band of doctors had n, theory that they were, and decided to make cx'perimnnts. BITTEN BY MOSQUITO.

Knowing that human beings were necessary for the tests, they agreed that they would first of nil experiment upon themselves. A mosquito, therefore, was injected hy allowing it to bite a patient suffering train the fever. One of the experimenters—Dr James Carroll—then allowed himself to be bitten in turn. In a short time he was down with raging “ Yellow Jack.” For several days his life was despaired of, hut in the end—thanks to the heroic efforts of his colleagues— lie managed to pull through. Any doubts that mosquitoes were the carriers of the disease were dispelled in characteristic fashion by another of the band, Dr Lareav, Whil® he was in a. fever hospital taking samples of blood from patients, an insect alighted on his hand. Instead of brushing it off and applying antiseptics, he calmly watched it reed, and made a note of its movements.

Two days later he was dead. Another great pioneer who never hesitated to expose himself to deadly peril was Lord Lister, the great surgeon, whoso discovery of antiseptic treatment for wounds revolutionised surgery and saved thousands of lives.