Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-11-07
CANCERLOSlNC
GROUND, DOCTOR
TELLS KIWANlS
Hitchcock Says Increasing
Number of Patients Are
Being saved.

While cancer has been increasing
at a rate that has aroused the inter-
est of medical men, research and ad-
vance in surgical knowledge has made
it possible to save an increasing num-
Der of persons afflicted with the dis
ease, DR.. e. ID. Hitchcock told mem
bers of the Kiwanis club Monday ut
their luncheon meeting, in a talk that
marked the club observance of cancer
| week.
DR.. Hitchcock told the club mem
bers that cance now ranks fourth
among the diseases causing the great
est number of deaths in the United
States. 1t causes the death OF $4,000
persons each year compared with
pneumonia, $4,000; organic heart
trouble, 10000; tuberculosis, $1,000.
1t is the cause of $40 per cent of the
deaths in Montana and is increasing
at the rate of $50 per cent each year.
Cancer may be likened to the
bricks in a house." he said. "In the
case of the body, the body is built
up instead of with bricks and mortar,
with living material. Cancer is a con-
dition when some of the cells escape
from the governing laws of the body
and become outlaws departing from
the natural restraint. They revert to
their embryonic type and form a small
mass. 1t is natural for the cells of the
body to die and be cast off. The can
Ger cells retain life and grow new
parts.
Cancer Not Contagious
The difficulty with the treatment
Of the disease is the fatalistic attitude
that the patients take. Although aware
of tumors, they refuse to consult a
| physician. They are afraid to face the
situation and a possible operation.
Cancers, in fact, even cancers of the
stomach. can be handled successfully
by the medical profession today even
taken in an early stage.
The first question we are asked OF
cancer is: Is cancer contagious? 2
Not in any sense.
1.-THE next is: is cancer heredi-
tary! Not in the least. Even though
your father and MOTHER and many of
| your relatives died of cancer, W. have
no reason to believe that you are more
| prone to contract the disease than any
one else.
Then we are asked: Is cancer a
blood diseasep Not in the sense that
syphilis and other venereal diseases
are. There is no faint to be attached
to anyone because they have cancer"
f. DIR. Hitchcock then outlined some of
the things which have been found to
have caused cancer. Among these he
mentioned first of all irritation. such
as lip cancer from the burn Of a pipe.
The Irish are especially susceptible
to cancer of the lip due to the smok-
ing of clay pipes, he said. Small
growths such as moles and the like
cause skin cancers, he said.
He said that he believed the time
will come when cancer will be cured
by radium and X-Ray. but said that
that time has not get come.
AT present. he said, sit is found
that the only way is to operate and use
the radium or X-Ray In post-opera-
tive work. The remedies you find ad-
yertised, when a cream. a paste, a
medicine or what not. if they are not
actually harmful. at least waste valu-
able time. Time is mighty valuable in
treating cancer"
Consult Physicians Early
He closed by urging that persons al
ways consult their physician in cases
of growths or conditions that might be
incipient cancer. DR.. C. 7. Titus who
presided at the program, spoke briefly
following DR.. Hitchcock He said that
the physician rarely charges for dag
nosis of cancer unless it is stomach
cancer or some such case where act
ual expense is incurred in the dag
nosis. He urged that cases be given
early attention.
N. F. Sturgus of Spokane, Wash,
representing the commission for Ar
menian relief, spoke on his work. Fra
ger Smith of Anaconda, a member of
the Anaconda Kiwanis, spoke of the
work of that club.
Programs for the next three meet
ings of the club were announced by
Claire Flint, president. The next
meeting will feature father and son
week. The following meeting will be
spent at the smelter and wire plant
as the guests of the Anaconda Copper
Mining company. The third program
will deal with Il study of the consti-
tuition of the United States.