THE CURE OF CANCER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7731, 15 June 1903, Page 2

THE CURE OF CANCER.

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ELECTRIC HIGH -FREQUENCY

TREATMENT,

(Daily Mail.)

The London correspondent of the " Manchester Guardian" states, "on good authority," that when the report of the Canoer Commission apeara it will be found to recommend the electric "jhigh-frequency " treatment.

Inquiries show that, although very careful and protracted experiments axe being made in London with high-frequency currents of electricity on patients suffering! from varying forms of cancer t sufficient time has not yet elapsed to permit of a statement defining the effects of the treatment. This much has been proved : in one or two cases at least a marked reduction has occurred in malignant cancerous gro.wths. In one case a euro has, to all ap* pearances, been effected in a short period by the application of this treatment^ but — - and it inusf not be understood that a. cure has at last been discovered— there js^yet the all-important test of time to be undergone before it can be stated with certainty that the end which the whole medical world is striving for has been attained. There is not the least doubt that an important advance has been made in research work during the .past twelve months, but experimenting physicians are naturally very reticent in making statements. We learn, however, that a London surgeon who has given a gi'eat deal of time and thought to the subject is likely soon to make a highly important pronouncement regarding the results of his work. THE CAUSE— THEN THE CURE. A West End surgeon to whom an interviewer was referred as being the best authority on the treatment of cancer, stated that no treatment of the disease at the present time, electrical or otherwise, could be regarded as other than tentative. " What we need to find first of all," said this authority, "is the cause of the disease. Ho far our ignorance concerning it is almost complete. It is held in some quarters that there is a cancer bacillus and there have been many observations which go to support such a theory, but the microbe has never been located. Indeed, we are groping entirely in the dark, and until we find out definitely the cause of cancer our efforts to provide a cure must be unsatisfactory.

'"The research work being conducted in London, on the Continent and in America, at the present time is very extensive. At the Middlesex Hospital, where special attention is given to oancer study and treatment, new theories and suggestions ore constantly coming in from tho outside, and every on© of them is given a thorough trial.

"I have most f«ith : , so far, in llontgon Ray treatment. It has afforded satisfactory results in the treatment of rodent ulcers, and we nrgue from that that it is likely, by some modification, to be ahl« to do great good in tli© treatment ofT>rdmary cancer. There are no cures to its credit yet* bull our knowledge of this new power is only in dts infancy. " Of this I am confident,' that some day we shall find a cure, and I base my belief?— ■ not a small one, in face of the enormity of the problem—on the fact that Nature herself, without any assistance, has at various times cured the disease. Wo want to find out how Nature does it.

" To sum up, I 'believe in the knife now ; I believe in the Rontgou Rays for the future."