New-York tribune., 1903-04-21
THE CAUSE OF CANCER.

Almost simultaneously two announcements
are made concerning the nature of cancer. DR..
| Bertram II. Buxton and Professor Il. August
Witthaus, Of the Cornell Medical School, think
that one form Of this disease, sarcoma, exer-
cises the power of fermentation, and that its
development may be checked by introducing
into the patients system the germs OF eryslpe-
las Captain Rost of the British military ser
vice in India, attributes both Sarcoma ana car
cinoma to a lack of chlorine in the victims sys-
TEN. He therefore fights them by administer
ing plenty Of common salt, to make good the
deficiency. The American investigators con-
ducted their studies and tests in Bellevue Hos
pital, in this city, and the East Indian expert
worked in a similar institution in Rangoon.
It is somewhat puzzling to the general reader
TO be told that improv was noticed in con-
sequence OF both methods of treatment and
that one or more cures were apparently effected
by each Medical men are so accustomed 10
contradictions of this sort that they will not De
surprised, but they will certainly wait awhile
before fully accepting either story in full. 30
many unconfirmed discoveries have been made
by cancer specialists OF high standing in the
last few years that the profession feels Obliged
to maintain an attitude of extreme caution.
Even yet it is not satisfied that any one has
found the cause.
tageously for the Buxton-Witthaus theory. The
fundamental feature of the latter is that NOR
bid conditions are product Of chemical action
and not of a microscopic organism. Seepticism
in regard to cancer germs. therefore, prepares
one the more readily to believe In the ex-
PLANTATION advanced by the Cornell collaborators,
Without a violent stretch of the ina aginatlon
one can reconcile the latest American hypoth-
esis with the reported effects of the chloride
of sodium treatment. If the fermentation
which is said to be associated with cancerous
tissue could be regarded as in any sense a
cause, and not merely an incidental effect, then
a simple antiseptic like common salt might ex-
ercise a restraining and hence beneficial infu-
enee. To be sure, Captain Rost believes that
there is a characteristic germ Of cancer, and
Drs Buxton and Witthaus do not and only
one side or the other of this question can be
correct The East Indian might be wrong on
this particular point, though, and yet not far
from the truth In suspeeting that plenty Of
chlorine in the blood checks the disease. It is
remotely possible that he supplies the key to
the chemical mystery which has bothered Drs.
Buxton and Witthaus.
When particulars enough for guidance are
supplied by the technical press it is to be hoped
that the two systems here mentioned will be
tried in other hospitals and in private practice
Only by broadening out the feId Of observation
can the truth be learned. What the world
wants is verif1cation. Past failures should not
he allowed to stand in the way of a careful
examination of new claims. Some day, it may
he affirmed with confidence the secret of cancer
will be found If, indeed, it has not already been
laid bare Who can yet say that Drs. Buxton
and Witthaus and Captain Rost are Mistaken