The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-06-18
THE STUDY OF
PLANT CANCER.

Secretary Wilson has stated that
bulletin 235, bureau of plant industry.
just issued by the u. S. department
of agriculture. is a good answer to
those who have said that this depart
ment cares nothing for the health of
men and women but will at any time
SEND an expert across the continent
] a desperate hurry for the sake Of a
SICK pig. The bulletin is entitled The
structure n Development of Crown
Gall, and it would have only a botani-
cal interest but for its substitute: A
Plant Cancer. The substance Of the
bulletin, which is fully illustrated by
photographs taken from the micro
scope, is devoted to showing the vari-
GUS ways in which a common growth
on plants is like malignant human
tumors. Fol the most part the IL
Illustrations speak for themselves, but
a lucid commentary is added, and
many striking comparisons are made,
which ought to go far toward stimulat-
ing additional researches into the cause
OF cancer in a considering that in
spite OF many studies nothing is yet
known as to it's cause.
Curiously enough, in all the years
or cancer research and out Of all the
effort put forth to discover the cause
OF this mysterious disease, it has
never occurred to investigators that
there might be an analogous disease OF
plants which would throw light on its
origin.
The laboratory of plant pathology
bureau Of plant industry, has been
giving a good deal Of attention in re-
cent years to the subject OF tunaors
IN plants. These tumors range in
size from a half inch or less in sdia..
meter to a half foot or more. The
name commonly applied to them is
crown gall, but they grow on various
parts of the plant. They occur on
fruit trees, berry bushes, rose bushes
ornamental trees, etc. and are very
common throughout the entire Unit.
ed States and also In the old world
AS is we'll known, canoe in human
beings and animals is able to spread
through the system and cause an out
break of the disease in parts preyi-
ously healthy and often at consider
able distance from the original tumor
Removal of a lancer is successful in
checking the disease only when the
operation is performed before the di-
sease is well established and has
spread its ibers far beyond the af-
fected part. This habit of insiduously
creeping along the various channels OF
the body, from the diseased to healthy
parts, makes anc hard to eradicate
Up to the present day no absolute
proof Of the cause Of cancer has been
given. Many other diseases of man.
kind are known to be caused by spe.
cifc organisms that can be isolated
and studied. but the cause of cancer
has continued to elude the search OF
hundreds of careful scientists. Many
thoroughly trained investigators are
giving every thought and energy to,
ward solving this great problem anC
without doubt 1t will be solved.
Some of the facts brought to ligh'
by the department. studies are these
Crown gals consist of an o~vergrowtt
of the plant tissues themselves, and in
general appearance are not unlike can,
GERS, and which like the latter are de-
~structiye to the individuals harborint
them. Like breast cancers, these
growths send out roots into the deep
err sound tissues n upon these root;
secondary tumors develop, so tina
when excisions are attempted if an!
portion remain a new growth de,
velops: also the secondary tn
mors developed from the strand
or roots have the structure o
the mother tumor. For example, whel
a primary tumor has developed on {
stem the roots of this tumor Otter
enter the leaves and there develop sec
l OilddL " IhAilOlc WlllSii 49, hON
leaves but have the structure Q
stems: the tumor then DESTROYS tn
leaf, developing as a morbid perisha,
BILE stem. Other ~likelinesses are point
ed out.
What makes the matter SO interest
ing is the discovery made in the de
partment that these plant cancers ar
due to a micro-organisnn which ha
been cultivated pure and with whicl
they can be produced at will. TIL
bacteria have been isolated both iron
the primary and from secondar!
tumors. The organisms occur insid
the cells and under Its stimulus tn
mechanism of abnormal growth ts &C
compllshed. BY these experiments
which number hundreds, n searchl.gh
has been thrown, 1t would seem, o
the whole cancer problem. for il ther
lis a specific organism causing q dis
ease in plants which closely parallel
cancer in its inception and name
Of development (and the bulletin
seer1s to prove that i~ndisputablyl thel
there is every reason to think tina
cancer in men and animals must ais
be due to some parasitic organism, up
on the discovery of which q renned.
may be conditioned. The many diff
~culties encountered IN determining TIL
cause of this plant disease should a
least interest students of human
tun1ors to reconsider the possibility o
| their parasitic origin.