Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1885-07-22
,'tAB0UT CANCERS.
THEY ARE PRONOUNCED INcuRAsLs
EXCEPT BY CUTTING.
Two Great Glasses, the Benign and tho
Malignant - Cancer Cells, Fibers
and Fluids Not Contagious
But Often Hereditary.
indianapolis Journal Interview, ]

inquired the reporter OF medical friend
@leS since seeing the article on Gen.
Grants sad condition in Sundays paper,
I looked up the statistics In the new edi.
ton Of Agnews Surgery OF seventy,
two cases Of cancer Of the tongue ana
lyzed by Dr. Agnew. forty were males
and thirty.two females Most of the cases
occur between 40 and so, and most die
within year
do many cases of cancer recover"
~That depends on the kind Of cancer
its degree of malignity, and the time of
operation, If removal be resorted to.
Most tongue cancers are of the epithelial
form, aud generally are primary. There
is no agreement In the classification OF
cancers. All tumors and morbid or alb.
normal growths are best regarded as forms
of structural degeneration. or vitiated nu.
triton. All such growths are referred
10 one or the other of two great classes.
There are the benign, or harmless, and
the malignant Fatty, ibrouS, and bony
tumors are examples of the benign
tumors Fy malignant tumors we
mean such as are prone to un.
limited growth in size They are dis
astrous in effect or result, and difficult or
impossible of arrest or cure latbUlOgic'
ally, all malignant 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 them.
selves to one kind of tissue-they are
simple accumulations OF bone, fat or
muscle, and do not Include the adjacent
tissues, nerves and blood vessels Cancer
Gus gfowth are always rich in connective
tissue hbers and enormous production
of cells. variously shaped. but Of the
Cpithelial type They involve and de
stroy all the tissues In the way Of their
growth; they rar.dly tend TO molecular
dealt, often bee Jming bloody, gangren
GUS and putrid they are more likely than
not to return after removal. | suppose
from what has been written about Gen.
Grants case il comes under Maldeyers
terse definition of cancer-an atypical
epithelial neopasm.' II they have good
deal of hard rbrous tissue In them little OF
the so called cancer juice aud but few
cells. they are called 'schlrrhus, or hard
cancers; If orange or jelly-like, 'colloid'
IL Of a net work Of fibers, and with great
variety of cell forms, they are called
brain like cancers, encepahloid. or medul-
larry"
MAY a cancer be known by its micro
scopic appearance?"
Yes, and no. The microscope con-
firms rather than determines the diagnosis
Pathologists and micrologists no longer
believe in distinctive cancer cell The
cells, fibers, and fluids Of cancer are va.
rious aud abnormal. The cells are of va.
rious shapes and sizes, averaging the
1.000th of an inch in diameter. The cells
are like the cells Of glandular structures
generally, but they are longer; they are
lawless in their growth. and do not norm.
ally belong to the part where they grow.
They are not foreign implantations. but
rather distortions Of the natural elements
of the body"
what makes them so painful?"
They are not always so; the physician
sometimes recognizes uterine or other
cancer before the patient is aware Of its
presence by pain or discomfort The
pain comes when the cancer extends TO
tissue well endowed with nerves They
bleed or not, according as they have or
have not Included vascular parts
What causes them? Are they conta
gious or hereditary"
-They are not contagious; they are
often hereditary. There EXISTS in some
families a Cancerous CaCheXia.' or ten.
dency, but il has not much significance
Cancers follow after injuries us Of the hip
or knee, from falling; from pressure. as
'tobacco-pipe cancer Of the lin, and often
in the uterus at the change of life. or
in ury No part Of the body Is exempt
There is no cure except removal; all treat
ment is palliative only, and all so called
cancer doctors are without ex.
ception quacks and impostors. But
the legend Cancer cured with
out tie use Of the knife at.
tracts many. The charlalans sometimes
remove benign gTowths and swear they
are caneerous, they also cure cancers
which do not exist DR. Bliss. Of Wash.
ington, d. c.. brought forth 'coudurango
rs a constitutional remedy and cure much
70 his own chagrin, we may LoIe and
certainly 10 the modification OF those of
the procession who tried il Cur consul
at Pernambuco has sent samples Of a new
Brazilian plant 'alyeloz. TO the medical
department at Washington for trial. but
IL will go The way of Hiss 'condunngo,
very probably. Cancers caused 200 deaths
last year in reported rs such in the
health board statistlcs-probably many
more. They cause over per cent Of The
total mortality korty.fve were reported
cancer of the stomach, twelve If the liver,
and one Of tie tongue. Such statistics
amount to but little without the evidence
OF pOst,mOrtem examination, however.
How long do patients survive after re
moval Of The cancerOus tongueg"
DIR. Clarke is quoted by Agnew as "a
thirtynine cases, Of which the average
duration Of life was eighty.six weeks
twenty-five were operated on and life was
prolonged on an average of forty.fiyv
ton