The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-04-28

IN Boston. The third report On lnts
commission Is the latest subject, yet It
must be said that it does little except
deepen the mystery surrounding this
terrible disease. -..,.
In the last Harvard Graduates Ma
gazine. Edward H. Nichols discusses
the work OF the Harvard committee,
and is obliged to confess at the end
that it has on the whole been ''destruc-
tive and not constructive. 1t has
shown. he thinks, that the idea that
cancer is due to parasitic yeast is
erroneous; it has shown that the Pc
culiar cancer bodies are not protoza.
and are not parasites, but are due to
a modified secretion in cancer cells.
Some foreign observers have shown
that it is possible to transplant a GER
tain type of cancer from one animal TO
another of the same species, but this
transference represents transplanta-
ton of cells, not infection by paras-
lite. And they have produced a serum
which inhibits the growth of peculiar
TYPE Of animal cancer, but ozone has
produced a serum Of character which
has any effect upon human cancer. In
view of the great diminution in diph-
iberia mortality since the employment
of the serum treatment, this result is
most discouraging. The Harvard COM
mittee inclfnes to accept. .Cohpheim's
hypothesis that cancer is due to ma
llign cell-growth. '.. ;*ss:.; I'D 4
At the same time, it would be I'M
lwise to halt a moment in the efforts
Ito detect the secret of malignant dis
lease. As Dr., Mayo Robson; Of the
Royal College of Surgeons remarked
lin recent lecture: How many
years were spent in fruitless search
before Koch found the tuberculosis Is
Ibacillus?-a discovery that has placed
tuberculosis ON quite another platform.
land one which bids fair to the stamp
ling out of the disease. Does any one
doubt the origin of measles, scarlet
fever. or syphilis from organisms, yet
how much uncertainty there Isl" He
makes the interesting suggestion that
1.-THE cause of eccentricities of the can
Icer cells may lie in organisms infinite-
'ly smaller than the smallest niicrococ-
Gus, and he calls attention in eennec-.
ton with this to the recent startling
enlargement of the power OF mieros-
copes, which would make the eye of a
fly, for instance, appear as an object
"a feet long by 10 broad. @ -.@.4
The discovery within a few years, of
the mosquito as the carrier of yellow
fever and malaria suggests the wisdom
of making the field Of research as wide
as possible, and exploring every nook
and corner of the woods where criminal
diseases Turk. Who knows but that IN
isects are the provoking causes Of can
lcer? A case is on record Of a man be-
ing bitten on the cheek by large fly
In the exact spot where in short time
an epithelioma grew; and Moran show
led that by introducing fieas which had
occupied the cages Of eancerous mice
Into cages occupied by healthy mice,
the latter with few exceptions develop
led cancer. For the present, too, It may
be wise not to discard the notion that
the cancer germ may come into the
system with insuffieiently washed, url-
Cooked vegetables The tomato theory
lis, of course, the veriest nonsense; II
tomatoes We're the cause of cancer
There would be 10000 cases in this
country to one in Germany. But, re-
lgarding vegetables In general, the OBJ
lservations of DR., sBehia are suggest
live. In the town Of Luckau he found
THAT in about dtfafter of d century
4 there were no cancer cases at all in q
part Of the place which lies over sandy,
ldry soil, while they We're frequent IN
1.-THE part that is pierced by a stream OF
lsemi-stagrant water, from which all
1.-THE gardens are watered. %7 -.5!
|, Usually, physicians deprecate the dis
icussfon of medical topics in the press,
but in cases of cancer they make ex-
lception. They want everybody to know
THAT drugs have never healed cancer
THAT x-ray are useful only In certain
superficial cases, and that the only
chance of a real cure is offered by
prompt excelsior in the early stages
Professor Duhrssen of Berlin has re-
lpeatedly implored the journalists Of his
country to call the attention of their
READERS to the fact that in Germany al
lone there are every year 10000 fatal
leases of abdominal cancer In women,
most of whom could have been saved
by an early operation. The chief diff
ficulty is the fact that in its early stag
es cancer Is usually painless, wherefore
no attention is paid to it. 1t is suggest
ed that nures should be, above all, train
ed in the diagnosis Of cancer: Such
teaching" says an English writer, lis
really a form Of first aid and would
save more lives, in year than M
|struction in the differential diagonsis
lof fractures and dislocations or the
various forms of unconsciousness
would save in century" New York
Evening Post. -.- :. !.