CAUSE OF CANCER

Star (Christchurch), Issue 20073, 9 October 1920, Page 12

CAUSE OF CANCER

SCIENCE OH NEW SEARCH.

LATEST DISCOVERIES.

(Correspondent "Son Francisco Chronicle.”) LONDON. August 27—A. new onslaught, on the cancer scourge is about to bo begun by the Middlesex Hospital in London. Although considerable success has been had by the use of radium and X-rays, those in charge of the research work are not satisfied with the progress made, and are now preparing to concentrate on an attempt to discover some chemical with* which to overcome the disease. Sir John BlandSntton, tho famous surgeon who' haa led tho fight against the disease for several years, to-day told me that the cause of cancer was still as obscure to the medical profession ns at the time of Hippocrates, the father of medicine. , “ But although wo seem no nearer to discovering its origin,” he said, “it is now not too much to say that after 1 2300 years of investigation, complete cures arc now sometimes being effected. The disease is not mustered, however, but certain wises—perhaps only a small proportion—yield to treatment. Somo of the cures have been effected where tii© prospects of success seemed unfavourable. On tho other hand, apparently simple cases often prove the most baffling. I DISEASE TRACED. “One thing can be said with cer-■ tfunty, Cancer is not contagious. Neither is it hereditary, although environment may have something to do with tho occurrence of several cases! in one family. I have thought for a| long time that tho disease has its oti- * gin in a mystery parasite Introduced into the system through uncooked food or water. “Bach ca.se of cancer is peculiar to tlm individual. Tho growth can be transferred to another part of tho body and flourish, while if transferred to a, second person it dies. Cows, dogs and other domestic animals suffer from cancer, but an animal growth does not live in human beings. Houses themselves are not able to harbour tho parasite and pass it on to new tenants. 1 It is a curious fact that cancer is more frequent in certain districts thanm others. For instance, the Thames valley has a record for cancer.” An interesting step in this connection is presented by nows which comes to mo from a prominent London nhysician of a proposal for a cancer cea-us. Tho idea is that we must loam more thoroughly how cancer is localised and also 1 arrive at a closer understanding of lira conditions under which it occurs. It is proposed to carry out tho work in England and possibly in Franc© as well. WORM FOUND IN RATS.

Meanwhile a largo amount of interest has been aroused by the' announcement that Professor Leiper is at work on the further study of the worm found by Professor Filiger in connection with cancel’ in rats. A short period before the war Professor Filiger, who was employing a large number of rats in Ids researches observed that certain of these were affected by cancer of the stomach. The number was considerable and attracted his attention to such an extent that ho made inquiries from tho dealer who

had supplied them'as to where they had been obtained. The answer was that many of them were trapped in a neighbouring sugar refinery. Inquiry at this place revealed the fact that it was infested with cockroaches. Professor Filiger obtained some of the cockroaches and fed healthy rats on them. A considerable number of these also developed cancer.

COCKROACHES AND CANCER. The next step was an examination or the cockroaches. It was found that t logo contained encysted in their muscles, a small worm, and investigation proved this worm to be the agent causing the cancerous growths. The history of the worm was interesting for it appeared to pass ono cycle its hfo in the body of the cockroach. Ihe eggs of the worm were eaten by the cockroach and hatched out in the middle or that insect. The young worms then their way out of the insect’s intestine and entered its muscles, in which they became encysted. If the cockroach was not eaten .by a rat, the matter ended there. If it was eaten, the encysted worms were set free and travelled, about the rat’s stomach, in which they . set up inflammation and nAsht give rise to cancer. It «as evident that for the production of this type of cancer in rats a cockroach was essential. If the worm did not find this secondary host, it apparently could not complete its life history, and so could not propagate itself. Tons, wore one determined to wipe out this type of cancer in rats, doctors say one would inaugurate a strenuous campaign against cockroaches, after the manner of the campaign against the anopheles mosquito, the rat flea, and the louse, for maieriu, plague and typhus fever respectively. It is, however, pretty nearly certain that this work, so dangerous to the rat, can possess little or no danger for men. Wo do not eat cockroaches for one tiling, STILL SEARCHING.’ What must therefore be determined is whether or not any other worm exists wuich can produqe. in human beings these phenomena, and which is likely to enter tile human body. If it does exist then it, too, may have an intermediate host in the insect world, against which efforts on a great scale might bo made. Granted .such a discovery, doctors ask what light ill would throw on the problem of cancer? Expert workers have failed over and over again to find anything resembling a parasite in human cancerous tissue. Few or none of us, doctors declare, ' are without examples, somewhere in the skin, of innocent tumors or new growths. fciuoh growths reproduce, more or less, the characteristics of some normal tissue, such as fatty tissues; they do not invade, though they may press upon, surrounding tissues. Nevertheless, tlie.se innocent growths may become malignant, especially if subjected to repeated irritation, and the borderland between innocent a'nd malignant growths has as part of its area the borderland between normal and cancerous tissues.