STUDY OF CANCER

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3440, 8 March 1932, Page 2

STUDY OF CANCER

"EVOLUTION; NOT REVOLUTION."

"When a cure for cancer is found it will probably be the result of decades of arduous research, and not the fruit of some startling discovery',' said Sir Louis Barnett, the distinguished cancer specialist of Dunedin, on his arrival in Australia to attend the conference of the Royal ! College, of Surgeons of Australasia. "It will be a case of evolution," he said, "as opposed to revolution." The amount of work needed to ;: make-even a slight increase in the -.-; knowledge of the subject was appal- ' ling. Years of work were often fruitless. .The subject was infinitely complex, and success would only be at- : tained by the devoted, and often unappreciated, work of hundreds of 1 research workers, whose toil slowly

H solved the many problems. Each dis§|l covery, however small, was circulated ? among investigators, and the gaps in &v-knowledge were being slowly filled in. 1 ; .Different avenues were being explored and serum treatment promised re- ? suits. Dr. Gye, an eminent research ; worker,had come to the conclusion | that bacterial virus contributed to & the development of cancerous

growths. His work was proceeding, but its results had not been confirmed by outside laboratories.

Sir Louis Barnett commented on the reported cures by a Belgian, Dr. Bendien, who believes he has discovered a new and efficient method of diagnosing and curing cancer. Doctors in England, Belgium, and other European countries had investigated his claims, and had decided that no great advance had been made. People were rather inclined to think that the medical profession threw cold water on new discoveries, but bitter disappointments in the past had taught doctors not to raise the hopes of the sufferers until a new method had been proved. Treatment by radium was progressing more successfully as knowledge increased and technique improved. Old methods were being discarded year by year, and better ones were being substituted. Most work was carried out with solid radium or emanations. The use of large pieces of radium, worth many thousands of pounds, had been rejected as wasteful and unsuccessful. Central hospitals with an expert staff and the latest equipment constituted the best method of radium work, as divided treatment by individual doctors was comparatively unsuccessful.