The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-01-21

ASTROLOGICAL CANCER HOUSES.
There has heen considerable discuss
sion recently Of the old question Of
cancer houses'' and cancer streets"
Statements by eminent investigators.
which have been given wide currency.
have tended to strengthen the impress
sion that there are houses and streets
where the disease occurs with unusual
frequency, the implication being that
relation of some kind exists and that
cancer IL in some way an infectious
disease. says the Journal Of the Amer.
lean Medical Association. This view
and the alleged evidence to support it
were vigorously attacked by DIR. E. F.
Bashford. the general director of the
work of the Imperial Cancer Research
Fund. in his report to the annual
meeting of the Fund, held in London
in July. According to DIR. Bashford.
cancer houses. in the sense that people
living in theYb become infected, are as
much Of q myth as cancer cages" in
the case of animals, and he hopes that
these fancied dangers will cease alike
to alarm the public and divert the ener-
gies of investigators from fruitful lines
OF inquiry. According to DIR. Bashford
the public is misled by statements
based on simple enumeration of houses
in which one. two. or three. or more
cases of cancer had occurred. Such an
inquiry can be only preliminary to an
accurate determination of whether can
Ger is really more frequent In one house
than in another. To reach the true
it would be necessary to
consider all the details of the popula-
ton, not only OF the cancer houses"
but also of the other houses in the
same neighborhood as to age. sex, ma
ture and site of the disease. duration OF
stay, occupation and habits. Some
houses might be sought after by OLD
people because of low rental or house
might be let to couples without chill
dren or it might be frequented by aged
dodgers. Even If it were scientifically
established that cancer is more ire
uuent in certain houses, it would De
to jump to the conclusion
that cancer is infectious. In all sucn
inquiries we must not overlook the
great frequency of the disease, espe-
cially in adult life, and the part when
ordinary chance would play in count
ing up cases in certain houses and GER
tain localities AS DIR. Bashford points
out, the British statistics for 1911 show
that out of a total Of las, 703 deaths OF
males over S5 years of age. 1883 died
of cancer, and out of 1920 deaths OF
females over IS years of age. 1883 died
of cancer. 1t is easy to calculate there
from that the chance that a man over
So will die from cancer is one in 81.
and for a woman over IS. one in IA. 1t
would indeed be strange if this large
number of deaths from cancer were dis
tributed evenly and it is perfectly
natural to suppose that some houses
and some families would exhibit many
more cases, and might even by the
laws of chance continue to exhibit
high rate over long periods of time. The
conclusion that cancer is either tnfec-
tious or hereditary would, on such evil
dence, be unwarranted. Sir Thomas
Oliver in a recent address referred to
one street in which between 1888 and
1908, nineteen persons and one dog had
died of cancer. Careful examination
shows that the death rate of this street
was only a little above the average for
the whole country