The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-02
GENERAL GRANTS APPLETON.
Information About Cancers, Which Are Pro.
pSunced Incurahle Except by Cutting.


IFS cancer of the tongue very fatalf" inquired
Journal reporter Of a medical friend.
Eyes. Since seeing the article on General
Grants sad condition in Sundays paper,
looked up the statistics in the new edition OF
Agnew's Surgery. OF seventy two cases of can
Ger of the tongue, analysed by DR.. Agnew, forty
were males and thirty two females. Most of the
cases occur between forty and fifty, and most
die within year"
"Do many cases Of cancer recoverp
'"That depends on the kind of cancer, its de-
gree of malignity, and the time Of operation, il
removal be resorted to. Most tongue cancers
are Of the epithelial form. and generally are
primary There is no agreement in the classif
cation of cancers Ali tumors and morbid OF
abnormal growths are best regarded as forms Of
structural degeneration, vitiated nutrition.
All such growths are referred to one or the
other of two great classes. These are the be-
nign or harmless, and the malignant. Fatty,
fibrous, and bony tumors are examples of the
benign tumors. BY malignant tumors we mean
such as are prone to unlimited growth in size;
they are disastrous in effect or result, and
difficult or impossible of arrest or cure. Path.
ologically, all malg t growths are essentially
cancerous; their subdivisions are merely clinical
or surgical. Cancer is an Anglo Saxon word,
which means to eat away or corrode; canker and
chancre are other forms of it. Benign tumors
attach themselves to one kind of tissue-they
are simple accumulatons of bone, fat or
muscle. and do not include the adjacent tissues,
nerves and blood vessels. Cancerous growth
are always rich in connective tissue fbers, and
enormous production of cells, variously shaped,
but of the epithelial type They involve and de
stroy all the tissues in the Way of their growth
they rapidly tend to molecular death, often be-
coming bloody, gangrenous, and putrid; they are
more likely than not to return after removal
suppose from what has been written about Gen
Grants case it comes under Waldeyer's terse def
milton of cancer-an 'atypical epithelia
neoplasm.' If they have a good deal of hard
ibrous tissue in Them little of the socalled
cancer juice, and but few cells, they are called
'scirrhus' or hard cancer; if orange jelly like
'colloid;'if of network of ibers, and with 9
great variety Of cell FORMS they called brain
| like cancers, 'encephaloid,' or medullary"
May cancer be known by its microscopic
| appearances | see that a microscopist, accord
ing to the Journals special. confirmed Dr. Doug
lass's diagnosis and DR.. Barkers earlier suspi
| cions that the growth at the root of Genera
| Grants tongue is cancerous."
Eyes, and no. The microscope confirms rather
than determines the diagnosis. Pathologists and
| micrologists no longer believe in a distinctive
cancer CELL The cells, fibers and fluids of can
| Ger are very various and all abnormal The
cells are Of various shapes and sizes, averaging
| the 1.0O0th of an inch in diameter. The cells
are like the cells of glandular structures gener
| ally, but they are longer; they are lawless in
their growth and do not normally belong to the
| part where they grow. They are not foreign
| implantations, but rather distortions Of natural
| elements of the body"
what makes them SO painfulq"
They are not always SO; the physician some
times recognizes uterine or other cancer, before
the patient is aware of its presence by pain OF
discomfort The pain comes when the cancer
extends to tissue well endowed with nerves.
They bleed, or not, according as they have OF
have not included vascular parts"
What causes them? Are they contagious or
| hereditary?'.
They are not contagious; they are often he
reditary. There exists in some families can
cerous cachexia,' or tendency, but it has not
much significance Cancers follow after in
juries, as of the hip or knee from falling; from
pressure. as tobacco pipe cancer of the lip and
often in the uterus at the change of life or from
injury. No part of the body is exempt. There
is no cure except removal; all treatment is palli
alive only, and all so-called cancer doctors are
without exception, quacks and imposters, But
the legend, Cancer cured without the use OF
the KnlIo, dtLfacCS many. Inc cnarlaLanS some
times remove benign growths and swear they are
cancerous;they also cure cancers which do not
list. DR.. Bliss, of Washington. d. c., brougbtforth
condurango' as a constitutional remedy and
cure, much to his own chagrin, we may hope, and
certainly to the modification of those of the
profession who triedit Our consul at Pernambuce
has sent samples of a new Brazilian plant,
| 'alveloZ,' to the Medical Department at Wash.
| ngton for trial. but it will go the way of Bliss's
| 'condurango,' very probably. Cancers caused
| 200 deaths last year in Indiana-reported as
| such in the Health Board statistics-probably
| many more. They cause over per cent. of the
| total mortality. Forty five were reported cancer
of the stomach twelve of the liver and one oil
| the tongue Such statistics amount to but little
| without the evidence of poSt-mortem eXamna
| ton. however"
How long do patients survive death after re-
| moval of the cancerous tongue9'
CDR. Clarke is quoted by Agnew as 20 thirty
nine cases. of which the average duration of life
was eighty six weeks; twenty-five were operated
| on and life was prolonged an average of forty
| five weeks more-enough to justify the opera.
| ton
do the patients lose the power of speech
| when the tongue is removed2"
No Abolition of the tongue was once a
| common punishment for Christian martyrs
They spoke SO we'll after that it was regarded as
| miraculous. By law of Louis TX of France,
| blasphemers and perjurers had their tongues
| burned out with hot iron. They could still ar
| ticulate distinctly. / do not think there is
! sufficient evidence that General Grants sad
affection was brought about by the use of to-
bacco. Cancer of the lip, from pressure of a
pipe stem is, however, not uncommon"
ADJUSTMENTS.
Tonight Mr. Robert L. Downing will com