The Daily News TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1929. WAR AGAINST CANCER.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1929, Page 8

The Daily News TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1929. WAR AGAINST CANCER.

Closely associated with the outpouring of the Empire’s thanksgiving for the recovery of the King from his recent critical illness, is associated, in the Old Country, a widespread effort, as the result of which a quarter of a million sterling was raised for the purchase of radium to be used for fighting against cancer. It is encouraging to find that a similar move has been made in Australia, where, in the light of the experience gained at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, during the past year, when it was proved that radium is a necessary substance for the treatment of certain forms of cancer, first-class radium departments and clinics are to be established at Sydney and St. Vincent hospitals. The Federal Minister of Health takes a larger view, and strongly advocates that radium should be available also for country hospitals, where the necessary medical experience in its use is assured, and has granted permission to the university towards that end. To enable this extension of treatment to be made, the Commonwealth Government will lend to the University a further 1126 grammes of radium as soon as it can be obtained. Even with that additional quantity the Cancer Research Committee will be unable to provide facilities for radium treatment for the whole of New South Wales. At the same time the. research committee will

be able to gain valuable experience and to discover what further supply of radium is needed. In connection with the anti-cancer campaign, considerable interest has been aroused by Professor Hill’s researches in physiology, particularly as to the. effect of oxygen upon nerve tissue. His experiments showed that tissue deprived of oxygen continued to react for a time to stimulation, but only by using an abnormal ■process of recovery, from which the deduction is made that oxygen has something to do with the way in which tissue normally accumulates the stores of energy it subsequently discharges during activity. The question is, therefore, what role does oxygen play in this organisation of the storing of energy for living activity? Another question that follows is, What have these researches to do with the treatment of cancer? It is a fact that living tissue does not always grow with its normal structure, for sometimes, as in cancer tumour, the structure is abnormal. It. is almost unnecessary to say how desirable is the discovery of the cause and remedy of this abnormality in living tissue. Professor Warburton has shown that if a chick embryo is starved of oxygen it develops processes of storing energy in its tissues similar to those characteristic of cancerous tissues. In fact, it is asserted that the cancerous method of conducting living processes appears to resemble that upon which pieces of nerve tissue fall back when starved of oxygen. These investigations by Professors Hill and Warburg seem to suggest that cancel’ may possibly be caused by disorder of the living cells due to a failure of the mechanism by which oxygen preserves their normal growth and structure. It is, of course, dangerous to speculate too far, just as it is foolish not to speculate at all. At the same time few will dispute that it is right there should be some excitement when a brilliantly stimulating clue to the cancer mystery appears to have been discovered. There can be no cessation of investigation into the cause and treatment of this terrible disease until the problem is finally solved. Every clue must be followed and thoroughly tested, even if extravagant expectations are found to be thoroughly illusory. The mystery is one that may be solved as it were by accident, or rather when least expected, but in the interest of suffering humanity neither time nor money should be spared in research. Meanwhile, radium lias proved of much service, and it is to be hoped sufficient supplies will be available in the near future, if all who can will help, with munitions for the anti-cancer war.