Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-02-05

sons employed in factories which ne
had introduced in Congress. He also
attended to his duties as a member
of the Congressional committee of the
District of Columbia
The origin. Of the disease Of the late
Congressman Bremner Is today as
mysterious as the repeated and varied
attempts to check the malady have
been fruitless. There is even some
doubt among the physicians who have
been in attendance of the exact nature
of the affliction. and some noted spe-
cialists have pronounced 1t to be an
osteochondroma, a bony and cartilag-
inous growth similar to and yet UNI
like the malignant cancer which pro-
crosses through the circulation and
the Emphatic glands.
Yet every physician who has be IN
identified with the case has testified
to the remarkable fortitude and re-
s!stance to the disease displayed by
the patient during almost four years.
Although unusual pains attributed to
rheumatism and treated as such, pro-
ceeded the recognition Of the mala dy
it was not until the summer and early
fall of 1910 that the first real ma III
festations of the disease we've appar-
ent Since then the efforts to check
1t resulted In three treatments
serum injections. poultices and finally
the application of radium
Mr. Bremner's first physician was
DR.. John j. Sullivan, who was not
only doctor but friend. When the
patient became aware of his condi-
ton, he went to the Postgraduate
Hospital, in New York city, for X-ray
examination. There the cancer, or
osteochondroma, was found to have
originated on the fourth rib on the
left side. and had already spread over
several ribs and the collarhone. 1t
was a bone cancer. growing from the
rib, and having an appearance not
unlike cartilage and bone.
At this early stage there was q
surface swelling like a small orange
just over the afflicted spot, Exam'n-
ations showed that even then the
cancer was lnoperable. for an opera
ton would have necessitated the re-
moval of the whole series Of ribs.
This would have meant the collapse
of the thoratic cavity, and also the
removal of prominent nerve centres.
Noted specialists saw the patient and
realized the hopelessness of the case,
but Mr.. Bremner's optimism shared
none Of their fears.
Two specialists, who were among
the first to see the patient. were DR..
John T. Erdmsnn and DR.. SilaS p.
Beebe, but the first specific treatment
resorted to was the Coley mixture,
composition of dead erysipelas
germs and monocus intercellalaris.
The treatment was evolved by DR..
William Bradley Coley. a noted
physician and surgeon. 1t was APP
piled to Mr.. Bremner by injection In
DR.. Bulls Sanitarium. SO East Thirty
third street. BY CURIOUS coincidence
Mr.. Bremners room was 80, third
floor.
Suffered from Reaction.
Mr. Bremner was admitted to the
sanitarium in July, 1911. and re-
manned there until September 10, of
the same year. Little Improvement
was seen under the influence OF the
serum. The patient suffered from the
reaction of chill produced by the mix
ture and the cancer continued to be
progressive. While he was in the
sanitarium an incision was made In
Mr.. Bremner's shoulder to one-thou
santh of an inch, and this particle
was subjected to examination on a
microscopic slide by DR.. James Ewing,
professor of pathology at Cornell Uni
versity. Dr. Ewing then pronounced
the disease an osteochondroma, a
any treatment which was intended
for true cancer of the flesh.
Day by day the growth continued
until it forced itself to the surface
and continued over the patients
shoulder. In it's progress it shut off
the nerve supply of the left arm. par
alyzing that member. 1t continued
over the shoulder to the shou' der
blade and under the arm. until 1t al
most met the cancer there.
At the sanltariun1 the Co'ev treat
ment was administered bv DR.. j. P.
Hoguet. DR. Coley's assistant, and the
same physician also gave treatment
later, after Mr.. Bremner had left the
sanltarium for his home. The treat
ment then was quite intermittent for
the patient could not stand is con-
tinued reactions. DR. Frank Nj Stage
was called In as physician at this
time, when the patient was attacked
by weak spell. A numher of other
doctors were called in for consulta-
ton.
For time there was no treatment
administered. Then in February of
1912 Mr.. Bremner returned To New
York He was both at the sanitarium
and at the General Memorial Hos
pital. But there was more relief
without the treatment than there was
in 1t, and its use was suspended,
while the cancer progressed
Undaunted by the constant menace
of death, Mr.. Bremner went into the
political campaign in 1912 when called
and kept up the constant strain of
campaigning. Such was his fight in
the congressional race that Woodrow
Wilson came from Princeton on the
eve of his election as President to aid
Mr.. Bremner's candidacy by speech
at the auditorium of the Paterson
High School.
This condition OF things continued
after Mr.. Bremner's election as con-
gresham until the summer of 1913.
Postmaster Dennis w Mahony, life
long friend and himself a newspaper
man, was seriously i'll with a malig-
nant cancer in the throat. With no
other help in sight he accepted the
proffered aid of two Hungarian chem
lists who had come from budapest, at
the solicitation of a friend, Charles
A. Bleak. of 220 Third street They
were Alexander w. Horowitz and
Charles Dance. professors in the Uni
versity of Budapest, and they claimed
to have cures for cancer and tubercu-
losis.
Although they were unsuccessful In
their treatment Of the late Postmas-
ter Mahony, they effected a temper
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