Evening star., 1925-07-26
FINDING OF CANCER
VIRUS IS INDICATED
2eeish Research May Aid
lght on Other Diseases.
Discovery Hailed.
awsaai Dispatch TO The Star.

w@9AM Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, July 25.-Complete
Details Of experiments toward a can
Ger cure conducted by Drs. w. e. Gye
Ana ]. q. Barnard of London, as con-
tanned in the British medical journal,
the Lancet, reveal that the two Eng
hshmen may have opened the door
10 solution of hitherto unapproach-
able mysteries of many other dis
eases.
The Lancet itself, copies of which
were received here today, boldly
states that the achievements in the
cancer experiments may be applied
along the whole medical 'front.'" and
halls the work as one of the great
est events in medical history, not en-
tirely because of the progress toward
a. cancer cure, but because of the
= possibilities opened in other remedial
achievement.
The achievements of Dr. Earuard
are as romantic as an Arabian Nights
tale, for he has succeeded In photo
graphing germ organisms so small
that they cannot be seen through the
most powerful modern microscope,
ana or such minuteness that no con-
ceivable number of them placed to-
gether would make them visible even
through the most powerful lens.
Light Rays Used.
This seeming impossibility has been
brought about through use of light
rays, which, in lay description, may
be said to project an image of the in
Visible germ on a screen. where 1t may
be Photographed with powerful lenses.
Thus germ billions and billions times
smaller than the finest needle point is
reproduced in picture form and may
be studied by the scientists. Applica-
ton of this method to germs of small
, pox, leprosy, tuberculosis and such
diseases is looked forward to with ex.
treme optimism by the medical profes-
sion and may open unlimited fields
hitherto closed to investigation
through sheer physical handicaps.
Cancer hitherto has been one of the
most impregnable fields of research.
A tumor that would grow on a rat
could not be transplanted through
culture growth to any other animal or
to person. A cat tumor would grow
only on cat, etc. Thus no specific
germ could be found as the cause for
all cancer, and for this reason the
feeling grew that a cure could never
be found.
Think Virus Necessary.
DR.. Gye, working on the chemical
end, has proven through his expert
ments, the Lancet believes, and his
paper in it indicates, that there is a
my cancer virus which must be pres
tInt on any animal or on a human be-
ing before a cancer can come into
being. This virus, however, is not
sufficient in itself to cause cancer on
anything. 1t must combine with what
DIR. Gye terms a Specific factor" and
in every animal this specific factor is
that all horses are quadrupeds but all
QuadrupedS are not horses-the virus
must be present in any cancer growth,
but it must have different type Of
assistance on different animals and
still another type of aid on the human
being.
DIR. eyes work in isolating this
virus was carried out, the complete
text of his paper shows, partly
through unusual filtration methods.
BY processes of filtration elimina-
ton he finally reached a point where
he had a substance which contained
something necessary in every cancer
Gus growth, although this virus was
still invisible, even in the most pow
erful of microscopes. Here DIR. Bar
nard'S ability came in. With an espe-
cially constructed microscope and use
of light rays, he finally located the in
making photographs. which he de-
scribes as anna zing in detail. He went
on with a long series of observations,
watching the life cycle of the virus
and learning that its period of incu-
baton was about seven days.
Observers I'm Danger.
Dr. Barnard's microscope, as de-
scribed in his paper in The Lancet, is
10 of
bits of glass, quartz, etc. BY directing
various rays through these and
through the medium in which the
virus is, the image eventually be-
comes visible through the microscope.
A darkened room is used so that only
the desirable rays, mostly ultraviolet.
come in contact with the virus. There
is considerable danger to the observer
from these rays unless care is taken
The final result of the observation is
a regular Photographic film or plate
from which a print is made. Repro
ductions of these in The Lancet reveal
the cancer virus as a spheroid, gen.
orally gathering in groups. While un-
Sanaginable billions of these would
@Ave to be grouped to be seen through
a enicroscope without the use of light
raHS DR.. Barnard with his combina-
tid6s of rays has succeeded. in talk
ing pictures of individual spheroids
The two researchers are extremely
modest in their own claims, and point
out that their work must not be mis-
interpreted by the thousands of dis
ease sufferers. They have blasted
through only the first stone wall, they
peant out, and attainment of anything
Rke a cure is still far away-many
Years perhaps. Now. however, for the
@Rwt time, the fundamentals of can
he axIyixy lJo1rv41l ,,y.-