Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1915-01-15
A WORD ABOUT CANCER.

A WORD ABOUT CANCER.
United States government reports
show that during the ten yeas pre-
ceding 1911 the population OF TINS
country increased II per cent Dur
ing this period the death rate peg
100000 from cancer increased ~ PEE
cent among males and " per Gem
among females. The extraor ilhars
increase in the mortality due 10 eau
Ger in this and other countries mas
long since raised that malay 10 'no
proportions Of a great plague. says
an authority who wrote on this SUI
ject recently. THE power OF numan
resistance to this disease seems I"
be steadily declining" He then pro-
ceeds to predict that at the present
rate of increase In another 20 years
cancer will cause more deaths tnan
tuberculosis, typhoid fever ana ma
laria combined.
Scientists throughout the world are
diligently searching for the cause Oh
this fearful scourge Of MANKIND IA
order that a specific preventive ana
cure may be found. Meanwhile ev-
cry individual should be informed
that cancer il to a large degree pre-
ventable If we will but apply the
knowledge we already possess 70
guard against 1t.
There are many theories as to the
cause of cancer, the most Logical one
being that advanced by a group OF
microscopes working along Dloiogi'
cal lines. The basis of this theory IL
that cancer is q state of anarchy with
in the body. To be able to grasp the
theory and also to understand why the
X-ray is at all effective in cases OF
cancer it is necessary to have
thorough comprehension of the prop
osition advanced by Virchow IN 1858.
which l have noted in a previous ar
ticle; namely, that each one OF the
cells composing the human body Ii
q distinct individual possessed OF all
the characteristics Of life. That Ii
to say, every reader of this article
is composed of many billions OF indi-
viduals, each having all the powers
and faculties that the reader Is con-
scious of possessing and differing In
no way save In degree. Every living
thing is constructed of these same In
dividual cells, composed of the same
protoplasm. and differs only In organ
ization.
1t is during the first few years and
more particularly during the FIRST year
of life that the highest human NOR
tally takes place. The newly pro-
liberated cells are not thoroughly or
ganized and the entire organism Ii
therefore weak and unstable. Ordi-
narily we do not think Of working
young children or animals, beause we
know that their tissues are soft and
therefore that they may very easily
be broken down and ruined; but at
maturity we know there IL more per-
feet organization, the cells are more
fixed, stable and adaptable and are
therefore highly resistant This fact
forms the basis for the action Of the
X-rays on cancer.
There is no remedy known to medi-
cine that has q selective influence.
there is nothing that can be put into
these bodies of ours that will drive
disease out and not touch healthy
tissues. But. depending on the state
of the individual cell vitality. tissues
react differently to the same infiu-
ence; hence tissues having marked
power of proliferation are necessarily
composed of masses of these young or
Juvenile" cells and are Of course vast
ly more susceptible to any influence
than are the more fully formed and
stable adult" cells which may often
remain unchanged for years.
An anarchist CELL finds a favora-
BILE location and proceeds to prolifer.
ate; that is to say. 1t multiplies BY
division, as all the somatic cells do.
and these young and weak cells form
what is technically known as "5uve-
nile" tissue within the more stable.
older, or adult tissue of the organ
in which the cancerous process Ii t.
king place. II now the hard" very
penetrating rays Of the X-ray are
turned upon this diseased area one
Of two things takes place-either the
short, sharp oscillations. which we
have noted approximate more than
SOC. 900, 00O, 900 per second. shake these
| woak "iuvopflo" cells into a healthful
reaction, or they destroy them az .
dog kills a rat by shaking 1t. and the
healthy cells are stimulated by the