The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-02-15
SAYS SMOKING
CAUSES CANCER
Emancipated Woman Sup
plies That knowledge,
DR.. WOlbach Asserts
WARNS OF DANGERS
OF NEW GROWTHS
All Abrupt Changes In Health Should
Be Investigated Surgery Best
Remedy for Disease - 10000 Deaths
from Cancer In United States Yearly.

/
| BE Investigated - Surgery Best
! Remedy for Disease 10000 Deaths
from Cancer In United States Yearly.
! BOSTON. Feb. 15.-The public impor-
'tance of cancer, because of the economic
loss entailed, the need for individual
lwatchfulness in observing what may be
symptoms of the disease, and the neces-
sity for discrimination as to the kind of
| treatment, were the high lights of a lee
| ure given by Dr. s. L. WOlbach on New
Growths and Cancer, in the public course
at the Harvard medical school.
Because cancer is so peculiarly a mat
! ter that affects the individual; as 1t can
not be transplanted from one person TO
another and as the statisucianS OF the
/ great insurance companies say II Is not
matter of heredity. the lecturer said, it
might be asked why it is public con-
Germ, justifying such 4 movement as a
! cancer week with a countrywide effort
/ to enlighten individuals as to their re
/ sponsibilities toward themselves.
10000 Deaths Year.
| Aside from the economic loss, he said,
/ there is the Discrimination of the medical
profession to being confronted with such a
+ large number of cases, the outcome OF
which is fatal because they are submitted
/ to medical treatment too late.
! In the United States yearly 10000
deaths result from cancer, of which about
| 5000 are from cases of breast cancer,
which could have been cured if taken in
time. Cancer, he said, causes One-teHth
! of all deaths.
! He prefaced his talk with description,
| illustrated with lantern slides, of the
! cellular structure of tissue. This struc-
| ture is characterized by order that prac-
tically amounts to architecture. An ex-
cess production of cells is a tumor, some
of which may be, he explained. malignant
and others nOn-malignant or benign. y
ma jOrity of tumOrS are acknowledgement.
What Is actually known a. the causes
4 of tumOr. he said, divides itself under two
| heads; the tumors of early life, affecting
/ infancy and childhood, and the tumOrS of
| late life, practically beyond 40 years of
| age. All. or practically all, the tumors
! of early life are due or secondary to de
lvelopmentaI defects, which defects he il
| Illustrated by mentioning hare-lip and cleft
| palate, observing that usually they are
associated with congenital defects. Tu-
mOrs of early life are malignant, he said,
I and the solid tumOrS of childhood are
usually fatal
TumOr of Late Life.
\ study of the tumor of late life had
led in the past few years, he stated, to
the general acceptance of the view that
certain intiammatOry processes, known as
chronic, are responsible for the initiation
of certain kinds of new growth, particu-
larly that of the epithelium, or covering
tissue of the body, which, he explained,
includes the covering of the mouth cavity
and entire intestinal tract as well as the
/ epidermis which covers the outer body sur
| face. As he phrased it, a series of re-
peated injuries is likely to be followed by
the growth of cancer.
As proofs of this he cited the growth of
cancers on the faces and hands of persons
who handle coal tar or products distilled
from coal tar; but perhaps the best ex-
ample, he said. was cancer on the faces
and hands of doctors who have used the
X-ray a great deal in their practice.
Smoking, statistics show, has made re-
markable increase in cancer of the mouth
and tongue. This knowledge, he re-
marked, to the amusement of the audience,
cmancipated woman had contributed to
the world by adoption of the practice of
smoking.
The goal of cancer research. he as
serted, is to find some agent that will
destroy tumor cells without material dam
age to the normal cells of the body. The
practical results of this research may be
summed up as radium, the X-ray and
surgery. The last, he said, aims at COM
plete removal; cancer is a local thing and
he said is the safest treatment for tumor.
Radium and the N-ray have a place, but
are more dangerous than surgery; the
best use for them, he said, is as an adj
junct to surgery, to destroy parts of the
tumor that the surgeon has been unable
to remove.
Watch All Strange Growth.
He urged people, particularly those of
middle life, to take heed of their respOn
sibilities; to consider any strange growth,
sore or swelling upon their bodies, even
though these may seem to be trivial.
Any lump on the breast doctors now
think, should be regarded with suspicion.
Any sore or assure on the mucous mem
brane in any part of the body also should
receive attention. The average person is
carless about himself and negligent of
symptoms that appear insignificant, but
the thinking person, he said, should regard
with suspicion the appearance of any.
thing new and strange in their physical
makeup. The idea that cancer is ac-l
companied by pain should be dismissed,
he explained, as tumor has no nerve
supply and there is no sensation of pain
unless ii presses upon sensitive tissue.
Any fairly abrupt change in the general
state of health, as in the regularity of the
bowels, or any sudden onset, such as a
discharge from any Orifce of the body.
I I -