The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-06-03
.FABOUT CANCERS.
they ARE PRONOUNCED INcURAsLE
EXCEPT BY CUTTING.
Two Great Glasses, the Benign and the
Malignant - Cancer Cells, Fibers
and Fluids Not Contagious
But Often Hereditary.
LIndianapolis Journal Interview

as cancer of the tongue very fatal7n
inquired the reporter Of medical friend
Yes since seeing the article on Gen
Grants sad condition in Sundays paper,
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 thiTty-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, and generally are primary. There
is no agreement in the classification of
cancers. All tumoTs and morbid or alb
normal growths are best regarded as forms
of structural degeneration, or vitiated nu-
triton. All such grOwths are referred
to one or the other of two great classes.
There are the benign, or harmless, and
the malignant Fatty, tibrous, and bony
tumOrs are examples of the benign
tumors. BY malignant tumors we
mean such as are prone TO I'M
limited growth in sile. They are dis
astrouS in effect or result. and difficult or
impossible of arrest or cure. fathologic
ally, all malignant grOwths are essentially
canCeIous-their SubdiY .SOns are merely
clinical or surgical Gamer is an Anglo
Saxon word, which means to eat away or
corrode; cank er and chancre are other
forms of it. Eenign tumoTs attach them
selves TO one kind of tiSSue-they are
simple Accommodations of bone, fat or
muscle, and do not include the adjacent
tissues nerves and blood vessels. Cancer
GUS growth are always rich in connective
tissue fibers and enormous production
of cells variously shaped, but of the
epithelial type. I hey involve and de-
strOy all the tissues in the way of their
growth; they rapidly tend to molecular
death, often becoming bloody. gangren'
Gus, and putrid: they are more likely than
not to return after removal. L suppose
from what has been written about Gen.
Grants case it comes under Waldeyers
terse definition of a cancer-an 'atyplcal
epithelial neoplasm. If they have good
deal of hard fibrous tissue in them little of
the so called cancer juice and but few
cells, they are called 'schirrhus, or hard
cancers; if orange or jelly-like, 'colloid';
If of a network 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 and abnormal Tie cells are of va
rious shapes and sizes, averaging the
l. OOOth 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?"
l. 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 a
tissue we'll 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 it has not much significance
Cancers follow after injuries, 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
injury. 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 the use of the knife, at
tracts many The charlatans sometimes
remove benign growths and swear they
are cancerous, they also cure cancers
which do not exist. DR.. Bliss, of Wash
ington, d. c., brought forth '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 tried it. Our consul
at PernambucO has sent samples of new
Brazilian plant. 'alveloz, TO the medical
department at Washington for trial, but
it will go the way of Hiss 'cOndurango,'
very probably. Cancers caused 200 deaths
last year in India-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 of the 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 tongue?"
DR. Clarke is quoted by Agnew as to
thirty-nine 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 five
weeks more-enOugh to justify the opera
ton.