El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-02-07
Cancer Germs Live In Water and Are So
Small That They Have Never Been Seen

--By-
Rene Bache

lowering of relative immunity, as a
pathOlOglst would say-and under such
conditions the fnny creatures are eX-
posed to multiplied chances of infection
Problem Is One of Prevention.
So lar as the fishes are concerned, the
problem IS one Of prevention. In the
light of the new knowledge on this sub
iect, efforts viii be made to get rid
OF the disease by the annual cleansing
and painting of Matching troughs, by the
periodical emptylng and sun drying of
dirt ponds Tor a change to cement CON
structiOn1, by the adoption of other
methods hostile to germs. and finally by
the selection and breeding of cancer
resistant races. Some of the salmOnidae
as, for example, the Scotch sea trout
seem to be relatively immune to cancer.
Indians Immune
Here, indeed, is another point in which
fish cancer resembles human cancer. IN
as much as it has a marked prevalence
in certain races, as compared with
others. Immunity to it is specially
marked among American indians. Their
tribes, on reservations from the north
ernmOst to the sOuthernmost limits of
this country, enjoy an almost absolute
freedom from cancer, whereas the whites
living IN their immediate neighbOThOOd
are as much afflicted by the maladY as
elsewhere.
Observation at the hatcheries has
shown that certain "lOts" of fishes are
particularly subject to the cancer in
lection, while other lots are compare
lively immune. Similarly, cancer among
human beings runs in certain fam
lies; IN other families it Is exceedingly
rare
The discovery that the cause of cancer
IS water borne germ accounts for many
phenomena in relation to the disease
which hitherto have seemed mysterious.
1t explains how it happens that the
healthIest persons are often assaIled by
the maIadY, and why inhabitants OF the
best residential sections, enjoying all the
advantages OF a sanitary environment.
are as subject to it as those who dwell
IN filthy Sums. This latter, by the
way, IS one fact that has tended to up
set the theory that the humble and elu-
slVe bedbug acted as a cancer carrier.
Explains Cancer Districts"
II the germ be conveyed in drinking
water, there Is no longer any reason
Tor puZZlement in regard to the sOcalled
cancer districts" Such a district has
been under watch in the village of Cor
mellles, IN Normandy, where in one
street OF 81 houses there are II dwell
ngs Which IN short time have fur
mshed Il cases of cancer. There are
cancer districts in every country. One
OF the best known of them is the town
ship OF Brookfield. close to the center
Of New York state, which for a great
many years has had a cancer death rate
more than double that of surrounding
townships.
If a local water supply be infected.
it does no good to filter it, so far as
cancer Is concerned; the germs, as al
ready stated, are small enough to pass
readily through any filter Nothing
short of boiling IS of any use.
Are there such things as cancer wells
It seems not unlikely There are Ger.
tainlv goiter wells. e., wells which
are infected with the germ that pro-
duces goiteT. And goiter "a swelling
of the thyroid gland in the throat so
readily merGes into cancer of the thv-
TOid, that, as DR.. Gaylord says, there is
mo line of demarcatiOn between the
two"