The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1901-11-01
THAT OTHER TERRIBLE DI5EAs=.'

A Stimulus to Medical Men in the Battle
with Cancer.
The tragic ending of the tragic life
of the Empress Frederick has given
a new meaning to the pathetic appeal
which King Edward made the other
day to English medical men to spare
no effort to combat that other terri
BILE disease-cancer" Sir James Pa
get, the famous English physician.
once declared that every one would
have cancer il only he lived long
enough" and that must, l suppose. be
accepted as a fact; but 1t is evident
from the medical comments OF the
week that there is no ground for as
serting that the disease is on the in
crease in this country. An English
physician who speaks with authority
assures me on the contrary that al
though the essential nature Of the dis
ease has so far baffied research, con-
siderable progress can be recorded
during the past two decades. In some
notes he he's sent me he says:
Just as In the case of consump-
ton, cancer was believed to be mainly
due to some inherited fault of consti-
tuition, and it need hardly be said that
this hypothesis engendered a despair
ing frame of mind in the practitioner
as well as the patient. The present
general belief throughout the British
medical profession. in support Of which
numerous facts might be adduced, is
that the disease is at first entirely 10
cal or limited, and in all probability
the result of the growth of some spe-
ciic micro-organism. The constitu-
ton may possibly have some influence
1T is question of relative suitability
Of soil and seed-but 1t would not ap-
pear to be nearly so important factor
as in some other parasitic diseases. tu-
berculosis, for example. The conclu-
sion follows that IL the disease is rec
ognized early enough, and is in some
accessible part from which it can be
removed freely by the surgeon. there
should be a fair chance that it may
never recur: and modern improve
ments In diagnosis and methods of OPP
Grafton have actually accomplished
this in large numbers of cases. II.
however. precious time is wasted by |
hesitating and temporizing. or by sub
hitting to the treatment Of quacks. |
the malignant growth not only de- |
stroys the part 1t has first attacked.
but particles are carried to neighbor- |
ing glands or to internal organs. just |
as the seeds of a noxious weed may
be scattered over the whole garden.
Assuming this view to be correct. |
the directions in which improvement |
may be looked for are two-in the |
first place, the recognition of the par
asite; and secondly. as is now being |!
done in the case Of tuberculosis,
plague. malaria and many other dis
cases, the attainment of knowledge |
concerning its life history and the
conditions which favor its growth. I'm /
til lately the real nature of all these !
disorders was unknown, although ply
sicians suspected the existence of NOR
bific germs long before it was possible
to see these under a microscope or cul-
tivate them in test tube: but, thanks
to improvements in the instruments
and methods of the laboratory, the ad-
vances in the sister sciences Of chem
istry and biology. and the brilliant
of certain Investigators, we
are now no longer dependent on mere
theories, which have aided US so little
in the past"