Evening star., 1924-04-11

be recognized If any material i'm
provensnt IN the mortality is to~be
brought about"
- + +
= Two requisites are important, as
indicated by the society, in choosing
a physician for diagnosis and treat
ment of cancer. He must be one who
Is progressive in keeping In touch
with current discoveries in his
tscicnce, rather than trusting in what
he learned five or fifty years ago: in
some medical textbook or college. He
must be man of courage and de-.
ctsion, capable of prompt action Wpen
the diagnosis so indicates, and not an
easy-going optimist ready to wait for
further Developments to connrm sus-
picion, for the essence of the treat
ment is promptness. When the symp-
toms become sufficiently pronounced
to leave no doubt, 1t is too late Tor
effective operation. There are doc-
tors who attribute the apparent In
crease in the number of cases OF can
Ger to the fact that cancer is now rec
ogniZed earlier and many cases Ior-
merly attributed TO indigestion or
gallstones or something else are now
rated as cancer, for which treatment
wholly ineffective. No medicines
whatever help when the disease ls
really cancer. Other explanations OF
the statistical increase of cancer take
cognizance Of the fact that general
longevity has been improved ten
years within the last fifty Years. so
that the average length OF life. 1or-
merly forty-six, is now fifty-six years,
and more people live to reach the can
Ger period-mostly between forty ana
fifty years of age.
Aside from the Improvement In
discovering the earlier symptoms or
approaching cancer, the medical pro-
fession confesses that the disease is
still about as battling as 1t was $500
years ago. The treatment with ra-
dunn is not explainable; nobody
knows how the radium destroys the
disease. The same Is true of the
Roentgen ray. Last week the johns
Hopkins University announced the
, perfecting Of new Roentgen ray ap-
paratus, whereby more effectlEe treat
ment can be applied without injuring
healthy flesh surrounding the seat
of the disease.
Practically all research has ac-
complished nothing except in neg
ative way through checking up what
cancer is not-rather than discover
ing what cancer is. Scientists are
certain that concer is not hereditary
nor infectious. 1t is not 'fn the
blood" 1t is not due to a parasite
1t cannot be communicated from the
patient to his nurse or anybody, yet
the disease may, be scattered broad
cast through the patients body BY
clumsy surgery cutting into the
original sore. According TO some au-
thorities the disease is increasing at
annum, doubling every forty years.
In 1915 there were approximately
80, 600 cancer fatalities. and, at the
ratio of increase, in 1924 there will
be about $4,000 such deaths in
America But this is not Of accepts @;eI ted d
there are 50 per cent more women
than men.
Preventive medicine has made more
progress in cancer than has curative
treatment. BY this is meant, for ex-
ample. that a person who is en-
ployed in analine, manufacture and
by reason of such environment begins
1 TO show signs of cancer OF the blad-
der is taken out of such contact: or
the man whose skin is normally del
! icate would be in danger Of cancer
of the skin IL exposed to outdoor
sun and wind. as would farmer or
sailor He is advised to remain in
doors for his work
! &. There are several kinds of cancer,
chief Of which is cancer OF the
stomach and liver. constituting three
| eights of the total cases
Herodotus records that while Dan
iel was a captive in Babylon DR..
Democedes, a Greek, cured Princess
+ Atossa, daughter Of Darius, King Of
Persia. The diagnosis was cancer,
which was familiar. since it had been
recorded in medical lore for a thou
sand years. But although 3,425
years have passed since the Demo-
cedes cure. the most that modern sci
ence can do today is to cut out the
| first signs of the mysterious and ma
! lignant growth. That is the measure
OF advance in $500 years.
Copyright 1924 BIZ Paul V CoilinsA