The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1912-07-30
TAKE CANCER IN TIME.
Thousands Of Deaths Might Be Pre-
vented if Prompt Action
Were Taken.

LlOn, ana is puDllShed IN the nope
that it may prevent some one
from delaying in case it is found
that cancer is developing. The
article says that cancer causes
thousands of preventable deaths
because people do not seek sur
gical treatment in time, even aft
er they know they have the dis
ease. Surgeons with practices
so extensive that their reports
furnish a reliable guide have
shown that cancer patients even
after discovering some suspicious
symptoms wait on the average a
whole year before they seek
treatment. To control the dis
ease with our present knowledge
the first thing to do is to elimi-
nate this fatal delay. To do this
it is necessary to understand why
patients are so 10th to seek eX-
animation. A misapprehension
which constitutes one reason for
reluctance to consult a physician
in time, is the notion which still
prevails that cancer is a constitu-
tional disease caused by some
poison in the blood. Those who
hold this mistaken opinion COM
monty believe that the disease is
hereditary and in a vague way
they think there must be some
taint handed down from one gen.
GRAFTON to another which causes
cancer to flourish in certain fam
lilies. Such misapprehension COM
bined with the notion which has
long prevailed that cancer is in
curable and that it is of no use
to try to have anything done for
it, accounts for the extraordinary
delay Of the sufferer in seeking
relief in some cases. A further
probable cause is the fact that
cancer in the early stages is rela-
lively painless. Many a surgeon
has wished that cancer in its
early manifestations might cause
the sufferer nalf as much trouble |
as the toothache, in which case
the patient would surely be driv-
en- to seek relief in time. Cancer
is at first local growth and not |
a general disease of the system. |
This fact is of the utmost i'm
portance, since it holds out the
high hope of cure if the malig-
nant growth is removed before
it has time to spread to other
parts of the body. Cancer APP
pears in other places because
small particles or cells are carried
away from the first site and start
new growths elsewhere. The
great hope of cure therefore lies
in removing cancer entirely from
the system before it has chance
to spread from its first foothold.
The reason why so many peo-
pie came to believe that cancer
was a blood disease is because it
was observed to come again in
the same or other parts OF the
body after having been apparent
ly cut out. 1t was natural to as
sumo that when the disease kept
coming back in this manner there
must be some faint in the blood.
The trouble was that in earlier
times cancer was not really cut
out. Surgeons then did the best
they knew how, but without the
advantages of modern methods
they were unable successfully to
eXterminate the, disease even in
its incipent and local stage. This
was principally because they did
not operate extensively enough.
The microscope has now shown
us the paths by which cancer
cells start their invasion of the
body and modern surgeons are
repeatedly successful in remov-
ing the disease once for all. Can
Ger is not a blood disease, and
there is no conclusive evidence
that it is hereditary. Many eff
forts have been made to show
that the disease is transmitted
from one generation to another
or that at least certain suscep-
tibility to cancer is thus passed
on. The evidence on this point
however, remains insufIicie n t.
On the other hand, there is much
statistical and experimental evil
dence to show that heredity plays
a very small part if any, in the