The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-24

dividuals. and the well-to-do are not less subject to it than the poor. Wo- men are much more liable to 1t than men.
 Assuming, for the sake of argument, that there is a germ of cancer, how are we to suppose that it is carried? Through what agency is it conveyed? Is it in food? Shall meat-eating be held accountable Some theorists' have so argued, but evidence is lacking How about raw vegetables? The to- matoS has been specifically accused And what about beer? The greatest beer-drinking districts of Germany heading the list Then there is the idea that some insect is the carrier. The bedbug has been suspected. But, if the bedbug were guilty. cancer ought certainly to be far more prev alent in filthy .slums than in the resi- upper Fifth avenue in New York. But it isn't.
 Just at present the government is attacking the problem from a new point of view, through the study of cancer in fishes. For this purpose congress recently appropriated the sum of $50,000, and the work is to be carried on in connection with the investigations at the laboratory in Buffalo. Fishes. it appears, are very
 liable to cancer, a certain form of which has become actually epidemic in two of Uncle Sam's biggest trout hatcheries. It attacks. the thyroid gland. in the the throat, causing tumor which assumes malignant charact cter, and which is in all respects exactly like a corresponding type of cancer in man.
 Cancer is almost unknown among wild fshes Only among domestfcat- ndf f4s01 ha of stances being such as to point to the conclusion that germ is concerned The evidence of a specific infection, which rapidly spreads, is overwhelm- ing. But how Is this infection car ried? By water, almost undoubted- ly But this is question not yet settled It will surely be determined before long by the experiments of the fisheries bureau, one of which will con- sist in allowing water to flow from a pool containing cancerous trout into another pool containing only healthy trout. If the latter catch the dis ease, the theory of a water-borne germ will be pretty we'll established
 This is deemed very important be- cause, in all likelihood, trout can cer and human cancer are derived from common origin. Once discov- CT the source of trout cancer, and we may know the cause of the ma1- ady in human beings If it proves to be a germ carried by water the next step will be to determine whence the microbe is originally derived A bit of evidence in favor of this notion, by the way, was afforded not long ago by the town of Luckau, in Germany, where seventy three cases of cancer occurred within an area covered by three city blocks. The plague seem ed to follow the course of a filthy ditch, which ran through the gardens of the afflicted houses, and the water of which was used by the people for washing vegetables.
 Quacks who advertise to cure can cer without the use of the knife, are responsible for a great many deaths, because. they prevent people from resorting while there is yet time to surgical treatment, which alone, up to the present time, has availed to effect a cure. Especially in mid dle life and after one should look with suspicion upon any lump or swelling that has an abnormal appearance. Probably it is unimportant, but one should make sure by consulting a doc tor. If it be cancer, and is prompt ly removed, it will not return in four cases out of five. But, if allowed to remain, it means sure death