The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-09-30
INCUBATION FOR CANCER.

NEW YORK, Sept. pa man and a
woman are now undergoing treatment for
cancer by new method in the cancer
hospital at No. West One Hundred and
Sixth street. This disease has always
been regarded as incurable. and if the new
method which is being tried in these two
cases proves a success, it will revolutionizs
one branch of surgery. The new cure is
on the inoculation principle. OF late
years it has been suspected that cancer,
like consumption and smallpox, is the
result Of the invasion of the human body
by a specific germ. Many attempts to
isolate this germ have been made but so
far none has been completely successful
The evolution of the discovery OF the new
idea was very like that Of Jenner, who
noted the fact that cows suffered from a
disease that was similar to smallpox. He
observed that milkmaids who caught cow
pox were never subject to smallpox. The
theory Of vaccination was the idea that
resulted. In the same way it was noted by
medical men that erysipelltic conditions
were prevalent with cancerous conditions.
The same line of reasoning developed the
hypothesis that the erysipelas poison was
the element of cancerous disease, and it
was but step further to reason that in
ocuiation of the patient with the cultiva-
tion of this poison would cure the disease.
The cultivation is said to be effected By
the usual methods in sterilized gelatlne,
in which are produced the bacteria which
destroyed the death.dealing power of the
cancer bacteria. Such in brief is the theory
in which Drs. William T. Bull. of 35 West
Thirty y-fifth street, and Coley, of IS West
Sixteenth street, are working at the cancer
hospital The experiment. has not gone
far enough yet to hazard any certain pre-
diction whether the hypothesis Is well
founded or not.
1t was only in the latter part of July
that the first patient, woman, was Sc
lected upon whom to try the new medical
idea. She was suffering from carcinoma
of the breast-one of the multIform devel-
opments of cancerous nature, She has
now been treated pretty thoroughly with
the new method, and has been kept lsolat-
ed from the other patients, in one of the
two portable pavilions erected for that
especial purpose. Though the case has
not been under observation two months,
the appearance Of the signs of the disease
have mostly disappeared. She still suffers
a great amount of pain, and it can not be
predicted whether the treatment will end
in ultimate success. Another case, that
OF man, is being tried at the same lnstl-
tuition, but the experiment has not as yet
proceeded far enough to ascertain what
the result is likely to be in his case. Other
experiments are hlsO DciuS LllaOC Al tuo
same line in Bellevue hospital.
The principle on which the experiments
are based is the old theory that the pro-
duet of the disease being cultivated will
cure that disease, and that such diseases AS
these that have been successfully treated
by the method of incubation, can be
cured by the injection OF the element that
causes the disease itself. The Cases that
have been tried thus far are incurable
cases as far as medical science has yet been
able TO discover; SO that the protessio I
will consider it little less than miracle if
the patients are cured in the end. In fact,
the principle on which the surgeons have
worked in the past in these cases has been
simply to ameliorate the condition Of these
unfortunates as much rs possible, and per-
haps to prolong their lives, and not to cure
them.
The doctors in charge have done every
thing possible to prevent the publication
of their researches in these cases, which
are said to be the first ever tried in this
country. Some experiments in this line
have, however, been made in the last
three months in Partisan hospitals. but no
authoritative statements of the results
have been as yet given out for publication.