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current through the regenerating
animal.
In Colorado they can cause
cancers in cockroaches merely by
cutting sympathetic nerve sup
plying the salivary glands.
AT Seattle University they are
feeding laboratory animals drugs
that humans commonly consume
to see what effect they have upon
nerves to the adrenal glands.
At Bar Harbor. Me-, they've de-
veloped a strain of mice which are
literally frightened to death at
the ringing of deorbell.
At Washington University, st.
Louis, they have bred strain of
rotifers which live five times that
animals normal life span-and
another strain which dies of old
age at birth.
At the University of Southern
California they're taking apart.
chemical by chemical, the virus
which cripples and kills mice by
encephalitis.
The foregoing is a small sample
of the fundamental research sup
ported by the American Cancer
Society with the dollars contrib
uted each year by the public.
Studies Offer Best Hope.
These may seem to be a long
way from curing human cancer,
but in the opinion of the Commit
tee on Growth, National Research
Council, a group of more than 100
of Americas great scientists, these
basic studies offer us the most
hope of eventually conquering
cancer. AS the Societys guide in
alloting grants for research. the
Committee on Growth emphasizes
fundamental research, although it
also recommends research to de-
velop techniqueS which promise
to help the 2 million Americans i'll
with cancer now and those who
will face the problem in the COM
ing year.
From such basic work almost
all the worlds great medical dis
coveries came. Roentgen's lights
and shadows, Pasteur's fetish for
invisible life, the Curies' patient
search for a compound that glows
in the dark, Fleming's concern
with a common laboratory pest
called penicillin. country doctor
Koch's determination to identify
bacteria, Austrian monk Menders
experiments with pink and white
peas-only time told the real i'm
pertance of these seemingly abb
stract projects which gave rise to
their great discoveries.
! Accidents Sometimes Help.
: Not only the stated purpose OF
: the project but the by-products
/. which may come by chance obser-
walton or accidental stumbling fire.
Z quently hits the scientific jackpot.
The Utah experiments offer an
opportunity to observe right before
ones eyes the physical and chemi-I
cal operations Of a stomach in
action. Somewhere in this oper-
alton there is the difference be-
tween normal stomach tissues and
the small cancer that will kill.
The difference may be in an en-
lyme function, reaction to nervous
stimuli, dietary abuses. From the
known functions of the normal
mouse stomach, much can be
learned-possibly some funda-
mentals about cancer.
The Iowa two-headed worm IL
lustrates phenomenon Of growth,
an electrical polarity and potential
which can change completely the
types of cells and tissues pro-
duced. Can cancer cells be
changed from their useless, in
vasive nature to become controlled
and useful parts of the body? Are
polarity and potential a key to
this problem?
The Colorado cockroaches have
shown already that the severed
nerve is only one of cancers fac
tors. Investigation discloses that
hormones are involved-male hor-
mones slowing the disease just as
death.
Drugs Act on Glands.
The Seattle experiments are
showing that some drugs stimulate
secretion of the nerve governing
the adrenal glands. These glands
give us strength for emergencies,
govern growth and influence the
development Of cancer. The ex-
perimentS may or may not throw
new light on human cancer; but
they should give us new facts
about growth and factors influenc-
much as female hormones hasten
ing it.
The Bar Harbor mice are
frightened to death by a bell be-
cause of the faulty operation of
their adrenals. The stress of ex-
citement, which should be borne
by the glands, proves too great.
Future experiments may show that
the same genetic factor control
ling this weakness may also con-
troll the animals susceptibility or
resistance to cancer.
While cancer is one of the lead
ing killers of children, it primarily
is a disease of old age. The Wash
ington University rotifers are re-
vealing new facts about the phys
les and chemistry of old age and
its relationship to growth. Cancer
is the growth of eternal youth
against backdrop of an aging
body.
Important Study of Virus.
No human cancer is known to
be caused hv virus ALTHOUGH q