TALKS ON HEALTH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16307, 23 December 1920, Page 6

TALKS ON HEALTH.

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR. is THERE a cancer germ? It is true we have not yet solved tho problem of cancer and other forma of malignant disease. I quite agree that the public have a right to look to the doctors to relieve them from the burden of deaths from cancer; the total amount of human suffering that would be saved if wo wore free from cancer would be very large. The suffering is borne by the friends and relatives, ft would lie a relief to all of us, not merely to the actual sufferers. ’When microbes were discovered and wc could attach to so many of tho well-known diseases their peculiar germ, it was a groat temptation to jump to tho conclusion that there was a germ associated with cancer. Wc know for certain that a germ is at the back of all cases of consumption, diphtheria, venereal. disease, typhoid fever, and so on with a long list. There are other diseases, such as measles and chickenpox, whoso germ has never been discovered, but wo feel certain that tho germ is there; it has probably escaped detection on account of its very small size or because it will not take up the sti'ain that is used for showing up germs under tho microscope. It is still possible that further research will reveal a cancer germ, but as time goes oti and the most strenuous efforts, carried on in every laboratory all over Uio world, have failed to demonstrate a germ in cancerous growth, the likelihood grows less.

CANCER IS NOT HEREDITARY. Tho inquiries into tho cause and nature of cancer have, however, revealed the falsity of some old-fashioned ideas on the subject, and it is right that even if we cannot show a cancer germ wo should at least clear away mistaken theories which merely cumber tho ground. .For it is some comfort to know' that the influence of heredity is very slight. We need not worry on our own behalf because our relatives have died of cancer. It must bo that when you aro reckoning up the statistics of a common complaint you will find a fair number of examples of families suffering. If you inquired into the number of broken logs, you would find plenty of men who could truthfully say that they had had broken legs, and so had their sons. Rut broken legs are not hereditary. If it is possible to produce figures showing the presence of malignant growths in father and son, it is, on tho other hand, an easier task to produce .figures demonstrating that numbers of parents who have died of cancer leave behind them children who never show tho slightest sign of the same disease. So, you see, I cannot allow- you to be made miserable by a bogey that has only an imaginary existence. BEWARE OF THE QUACK. It used to be said that certain houses were dangerous to the inhabitants, who always died of cancer; tho belief in cancer-houses is not yet eradicated. And yet the belief has no basis in scientific fact. Certain houses were poor and miserable and 1 of very low rent, they were avoided by the young, healthy wage-earner, but were snapped Up by the old, who could only afford a very small rent. And' so it happened that the house was inhabited by a succession of old folk, and, .as cancer is a disease of old age, many of these inhabitants died of that disease. But they suffered from the disease in the ordinary course of affairs; they were not infected by the house. We have found no cure for cancer. Our ignorance of a euro gives the quack his chance, for ho boldly announces that he has a certain, cure for all forms of cancer, and to prove his case lie quotes the letter from a washerwoman in the Isle of -Man thanking him for the wonderful stuff, and there is her picture as large as life to show how well slm is. It is a significant fact that no cure outside tho medical profession’s domain has ever proved efficacious. Some day we shall find the cure; but I prophesy that it will comef rom someone working in a medical laboratory and not from someone working in the advertisement columns of tho daily Press. OUR CELLULAR FRAME. I think I nave taught you before that the whole body is made of cells. As a house is made of bricks, so is the body made of cells. One cell is a minute mass of jelly, so small that hundreds could be placed on the point of a_ needle. Each cell grows and then divides into two, the two into four, and so on : it is tins process of cell-division that lies at the root of. all growth. An acorn; is converted into an oak by cell-division; a baby grows into a man by this same process. In the healthy body tho cells all keep their pre-ordain-ed positions. .Eye-cells remain in tho eye; skin cells remain in the skin; tongue cells stay in. the tongue. But when we come to study a cancer under tho microscope we find that the cells wander all over tho body. They continue Co divide exactly as the cells of the healthy body do, but they spread and burrow and they travel in the blood-stream to distant parts. Thus wo find fells from the breast situated in the liver; colls from the boweli in the brain; these are called secondary growths. A RELENTLESS ENEMY.

I explain this to you because it haa a real and practical importance. YVe want to attack the cancerous growth in the early stages before it has 'spread to distant parts. If only the surgeon could attack every case of cancer in its very earliest inception much suffering would bo saved. Cancer is commoner in women than in men because the breast and the womb are such common sites. This is very sad, but there is this bright side to a sad question, the breast and the womb are useless organs in the elderly, and may be removed without danger to tho subject. Tho kindest thing a surgeon can teach is that all tumours of the breast or any irregularity in the elderly should at onco receive medical attention. It is of no avail to lire in a fool’s paraduse and say 'perhaps it is nothing after ail. and the tumour may perhaps bo dispersed by rubbing on some liniment. Cancer is a. relentless enemy ana must bet fought resolutely. So there wo are, left with this ono weapon to fight with—early diagnosis and early eradication. Eut we must look forward to tho day when a roal cun- can he announced. I hope it will bo an Engh.sjynan who makes the c!hooverv