(4 of 6)
Cause of Cancer. Sir George Lenthal Cheatle (Kings College Hospital, London) says in Cancer: "Turning to this question of the genesis of carcinoma [one of the several ways Cancer manifests itself] it is one in which I have a completely open, not to say vacant, mind." Nor does any one else know for certain what causes Cancer.
Almost positively, no germ is blamable.
There are two schools of thought on what may be the cause:
1) The "localized" school thinks that, since Cancer always appears in connection with prolonged irritation (bruises, unhealed wounds, sores, chemicals, heat, burns) it is the irritation which is the important cause of the Cancer. The mechanism is supposed to be this: the irritation kills certain body cells; new cells replace the dead ones; the irritation kills the new ones, and continues to kill succeeding new crops; eventually the body becomes vexed, as it were, and rushes the production of new cells; those hastily created cells grow so fast that they get beyond control of that mechanism in the body which regulates growth; and there is the Cancer.
2) The "generalized constitutional" school thinks that the system as a whole gets out of kilter over a long period of time. It gets so that it cannot manage itself with normal efficiency. Along comes an irritation which disables one of its parts, say the breast. The body hastily drafts its defense forces. Like Falstaff's paltry men, they are unhealthy, poorly armed. They scurry to the site of the injury, stumble hither and thither, heedless of leadership, out of control — Cancer.
Supporting Theory No. 2 is the fact that the blood and other body fluids of cancerous people is more alkaline than the fluids of normal people.
Cancer in all probability is not hereditary. But it may be that the predisposition to Cancer is hereditary.
Treatment. Until the cause (or causes) of Cancer is known there can be no specific prevention. But eminent students like Professor Ewing already know sufficient to warn the public against needless irritants — tight brassieres, ragged teeth, ill-fitting dental work, foods too hot or spicy, too much smoking, burns, wounds which do not heal. One should not pick at warts or moles. A woman should see that she is thoroughly repaired after child birth.
The earlier a cancer is attacked the better the chance for cure. Indeed, cancer experts aver they can cure every case of cancer which they can reach if they get at it in its early stages. Trouble is, most cancer victims delay until the disease has started to invade their bodies.
But, because no one knows the cause (or causes) of Cancer, no exact method of prevention exists.
No drugs — neither galenicals, minerals, chemicals, vitamins nor hormones — pre vent the growth of Cancer.
Surgery, X-rays, and radium are the standbys for treatment and cure. In sur gery, of course, some sound flesh goes with the bad. The cancer surgeon can no more avoid some waste than the housewife when she reams the eyes out of potatoes.
Another and more serious surgical diffi culty is that microscopic bits of cancerous tissue may hide in some unseen pocket.
Then the Cancer regrows.