The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-07-01
IS KILLING MORE
Cancer Deaths Show Increase
Sixty Fatalities in 1921,
Prevalence of Disease Follows
Upward Trend Over Q. S.
TH-YEAR DEATH LIST is 413
Disease Most Common Among
Highly Civilized Peoples.
Ignorance and Proer%tinatiOn
Reasons for the Prevalence.

ten years. and the disease is steadily
on the increase, the records Of the
health department OF the city show.
Inc Death list IN 1912 credited thtr-
ty-eight deaths to the disease In
1921 there were sixty deaths in the
city from the same cause
The number OF deaths per year. be-
ginning in 1912. decreased to thirty
twenty-five IN 1915, and thtrty-three
In 1915 Then TIE increase began
again In 1917 there were forty-five
deaths from cancer; in 1913 rorty-two;
in 1919 forry-seven5 in 1890, fifty
five. and in 1921, sixty.
Comparatively little IS known about
cancer 1t Is known that the disease
Is not infectious, and it is not heredt-
tary- It Is due TO the independent
growth OF epttheltal cells, and what is
the primary cause, the medical men
do not know.
Pain Is q 'sIats symptom'-does not
appear until the disease Is well ad-
vznced in its raEages. and much OF
1t may be overlooked because It Is not
painful. until II has attained stage
at which treatment IS hopeless
Cancer never begins in a healthy
tissue. In cases OF external cancer,
thsre are always some irregularities
from which the growth starts TO
spread. either warts. moleS, little, IN
healed areas, or q slight bump or
ncduIa underneath the skin Once
started, the disease spreads in all d.
rectfons into the surrounding tissue
Dr. Joseph Colt Bloodgood OF Baltt-
more. Nd, one Of the leading al
thorities on the disease in the United
States, says 1T may be trurhfully
stated that external cancer is 4 dis
ease which develops under Ignorance.
skepdcisn- or proscras1iuadon, oe-
cause OF an entirely needless rear OF
an operation"
-. ct
causes Of death in persons more than
forty years OF age. Now that the death
rate from tuberculosis has been some
what reduced many statisticians claim
that cancer is the most frequent
cause OF death in persons more than
forty years OF age
Cancer Always Gives Warning
There is always definite warning OF
a caacerous conditions In a woman
more than twenty-five years OF age,
the finding OF a lump in the breast Is
definite warning OF cancer OF the
breast II the lump is subject 70
treatment at Cuce. the chances are so
per cent that it is not cancer
IN cases Of cancer OF the lips and
tongue. there is also warning There
is always some defect plainly to be
seen and felt When the warning is
needed and treatment started. the
probabilities Of a cure amount to al
most 100 per cent
It IS only n cancer OF the stomach
that there are no certain, definite,
early signs. There the symptoms are
Of discomfort. usually associated with
SO called indigestion
ANY irritation of a skin defect, or
injury TO a noduIe under the skin. in
creases the probability Of the develop
ment OF cancer
The easier the diagnosis" says Dr.
Earle c. Brown. city healath officer
'-the worse the prognosis-'' DE- Brown
=,
the disease had made enough pro-
Eress to be readily recognizable, the
chances for 4 cure are poor
Medicine which relieves pain, may
be very harmful" Dr. Brown de-
cIarss- ct does not. as q rule. have
any effect upon the disease itself It
produces a period OF freedom from
discomfort and by 50 much delays the
best time for treatment This is the
secret Of the SO called sure cure
medicines.
Durable I'm Early Stages
Most cancers are durable IL re-
moved in the early stages The warn
tngs Of cancer are not different from
the warnings Of some diseases which
are not cancer These warnings must
excite fear for the beginning OF can
Ger, so that the victim viii seek i'm
mediate advice. The physician must
diagnose and treat"
Cancer always begins IN = single
SPOT on the body.
There is always an interval be-
tween the first warnings OF cancer,
and the development Of the disease
itself" says DR.. Brown, and there IS
always warning between the develop
ment OF cancer and the time it begins
to spread Cancer always begins in
q single spot in the body"
Statistics show that il Is usually the
healthy woman who develops cancer
of the breast, and the healthy, Wig
crous man who develops cancer Of the
lips, tongue Or stomach. Most Of the
persons in whom cancer begins are
otherwise absolutely healthy. Cancer
In never brought about by previous
facilitating diseases. nor fastened
when the bodily resistance has been
lowered by some other disease
Cancer decreases in frequency with
Increasing distance from the equator
and is found in greater frequency
among the more highly civilized peo-
PIE. Savagsry apparently confers i'm
munfty from the disease. but refined,
highly civilized peoples are the most
ready victims to the scourge-
It has been noted that Chinese men
are more subject to cancer than Chi
nese women, and the theory has be4r
advanced that IL is because the Chi
nese man eats his rice hot. and the
Chinese woman. waiting upon her lord
and master, lets hers get cold The
hot rice gives the man cancer. possibly
thru the irritation Of his threat and
mouth where the disease has started
while the Chinese woman Is seldom
afflicted with the disease
Frederick L Hoffman. statistician
for the Prudential Insurance company
states that the liability to cancer is
unqusstiouably on the increase ana
the disease is more OF q menace to-
day than at any time in the past This
IS accredited to the raising of the
standards OF living thruout the world
In 1920 the rate OF deaths per 100
e00 population in the United States
where vital statistics are kept. was
SAT In 1917. cancer ranked fifth
amnn- the -auses Of dAarh il, rha