Evening star., 1926-02-21
BY HAROLD X. PHILIPS.


BALTIMORE, February 2o.-The
long search for the dreaded cancer
germ" having apparently failed thus
far. scientists of the Carnegie Institu-
ton of Washington and Johns Hop
kins University have together
launched an assau ult on the malignant
tumor from an entirely new angle.
They have succeeded in artificially
living body, where, under the power
full eye Of the microscope. their deadly
movements may be watched and &C
curately charted.
No drug or chemical, however, has
yet been found which will destroy the
cells without killing the human suf-
ferer too. Periodical dispatches from
Europe detailing newly discovered
cures only excite smiles in the labo-
ratories here; there is a more or less
accepted suspicion among leading
American specialists that cancer is not
germ after all. and that II living
organisms have anything to do with
the disease, 1t Is only in q contribu-
tory sense.
Working toward that line Of thought,
DR.. Warren H. Lewis, professor of
anatomy in Johns Hopkins University,
and research specialist on the staff of
the department of embryology of the
Carnegie Institution Of Washington,
and his wife. herself a pathologist Of
international renown, have begun a
number Of investigations which al
ready have produced some important
results and give hope Of aiding ma
terially in medical sciences conquest
OF the cancer scourge.
Cannot Destroy Growth.
They have succeeded in taking Sec
tions OF malignant tumors from rats
and cultivating them in warm boxes
under microscopes. BY keeping these
sections alive for days, weeks and
| months, DR.. and Mrs. Lewis have
| watched the tumors give of perfect
| cells. comparable to some body cells,
which begin to scatter in orderly lines
| over the glass slides on which the tbs.
! sues are kept. But they have not yet
| found the compound which either will
stay their propa cation or destroy them
Under the newer theory of cancer
| origin, a malignant tumor might be
| described as a group of living cells
4gone mad" Every human body
reaches a point where growth ceases
| That is, 1t was explained. some force
within the body assumes control OF
the cells and regulates their growth
to a point where they multiply only
fast enough to maintain life. at a
| rate sufficient to replace the cells
! that have been destroyed in the nor
! NAL process Of living and there
| cease.
! Now" 1t is contended. suppose
| that power within the body should
! lose control Of some Of those cells.
| tremendous rate. while the other
cells kept on their orderly way. The
result would be chaos and q malig-
| nant sore. Finally, some Of the re-
bellious cells would break away. as
they were seen to do through the
microscope, and set up similar cell
revolutions throughout the body
until they would have destroyed the
body itself and produced death"
| Cause Is Problem.
| This. It was carefully explained. is
| not q definite fact as yet: 1t is
simply a new explanation which has
| received tremendous support from
more recent Investigations. One OF
the first big questions to be answered
said. is what causes this rebellion OF
: the cells. It might be produced by
! the effects of a germ. or 1t might be
the result Of a chemical reaction
among the cells. in which q Eern1
| would have no part.
| An older theory. which Is said to
+, be losing adherents. was that the
flare up was the awakening Of a
, number Of primitive cells which the
body had carried from the days when
1t was an embryo. The extreme
| rapidity with which the cells begin
their destructive revolution would
lend some support to this theory. 1t
| was said. because primitive cells
multiply extremely fast. It might
| even be the cause Of some cancers,
scientists believe. but hardly OF all
AS to the part germs might play
in cancer origins, scientists have
| found only one kind Of q cancer from
which they have been able to make
| q virus. That Is a particularly deadly
| tumor. found only in chickens. II
| works so fast that it kills the fowl
| in two or three weeks, and the writer
] Vas shown IN example WHARF tn