CANCER RESEARCH

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18892, 6 January 1927, Page 4

CANCER RESEARCH

* DR. GYE'S THEORY. NEW ZEALAND DOCTOR'S RESULTS. ■■from ova own cohrksfosdent., LONDON', November -'7. Ai ilie annual meeting of the general committee of the Imperial Cancer Research l*'uncl (the Duke of Bedford iu the chair). Sir Humphry Itollesion {chairman of the Executive Committee) made .special reference Ui the research "ork being carried on by Dr. A. -\I. lica<£ (Dunedin). »h<> if ""itli Dr. (.lye at the hitter's laboratories at ilampsiearl.

Sir Humphry Kollescoii said tliai nothing u;is more striking tlian '.lie wav ii° which progress was characterised bv a series of successive period* ot great activity, with periods or relative quiescence between. Each period ot activity was started by some salient discovery or fruitful conception, the corking' nut of which engaged lor a longer," or shorter, time the energies of "those employed in that field. He instanced the application of the spectroscope to stellar astronomy by liugains, the discovery of radio-activ-ity ;~the re-discovery of Mendel's laws of* heredity and also insect transmission of tropical protozoal! disease.-., bacteriophage; and the discovery ot hormonies. The same might be said of the era opened up uy Ehrlich's brilliant achievements in chemotherapenlics. and the isolation of insulin still more recently had started a wave of activity in the study of the physiology of carbohydrate metabolism and the therapeutics of diabetes, which was in full career at the present time. Periods in Research.' Cancer research exhibited the same phenomenon in a very striking manner. The first period was that following the discovery by Jensen and Borrcl of the transplanta'bility of the malignant growths of the mouse. Although there was a tendency for the achievements ol that period to be overshadowed by more recent work, it should Ife recognised that the insight into the properties of cancer cells, which, -we owed to Jensen and his successors, had given a precision to our conceptions of the cancer process as essentially a cell problem which dominated our attitude to all attempts to eludicate its causation to the present-day. The work of the first period dealt with the cancer cell already fully developed, and the attempts at explanation based on it. of the etiology ol the disease, were, in the nature of interferences, more or less happy. In the second period the interest shifted to the study of the .conditions under which cancer arose in the individual primarily attacked. The work ot Kibiger," Vamaciwa and Ichikawa, and Tsutsui gave the primary impetus to an enormous amount of work, which still continued, on the actual production of cancer anew, starting with normal animals. The part played by chronic irritation in the causation of cancer, the relation of the duration and intensity of the irritation to the 'ime necessarv lor the effects to be produced, and the mutual reinforcement winch different agencies cave to each other, had put a rational, sequential facies on many of the features of the natural history of cancer, which, till these investigations had been carried out. still appeared mysterious and capricious. Much remained to be donp along these line*. Anart from the publication bv Dr. M". Cramer of the 'accelerating influence of absorption of spleen tissue on tar-cancer production, this work was not ,yet ready for report. , , Agreement Not Yet Reached. If the interest and activity aroused bo taken as an indication, the work of Gye and Barnard on cancer causation * bv ultra-microscopic microbes, published 18 months ago, could be regarded as starting still a third period ill cancer research. A number of papers had appeared in Europe and America, and. as was to he expected, agreement had not vet been reached, flotli the facts and their interpretation were in dispute, and in these circumstances it was necessary to exercise patience and continue the investigations,

Advanced Work. Sir Humphrey went on to say that of the various lines of work bearing mi the validity of tho conception of Gye, at present in progress in their, laboratories, that of Dr. Begg was farthest advanced. Dr. Bcgg, whose researches were provided for by the generous donation of Lord Atholstan, had worked with the Rous fowl sarcoma and witli another new growth of the domestic; fowl, which although differing in structure, behaved in the same way. His results confirmed the existonce of two factors, as advanced by Oye, in the successful transmission of these tumours, and would shortly be published. The laborious, timeconsuming character of these researches could not be too strongly emphasised, and the public should realise the impossibility of a quick decision of the imnortant problems involved.

This was a welcome opportunity xo thank the American Society for the Control of Cancer for their invitation to the Director to participate in the conference held in September, and lor the courtesy and hospitality offered to him during his visit to America.

1 Pioneer of the Fund. i The Duke of Bedford spoke cf the I loss they had sustained by the death I of Sir Henry .Morris and their grati- ! tudo for the work ho had done for the I fund. If it had not been for Sir Henry : it was very doubtful if the Cancer J Research Fund would ever have !>een started. In 11)02 a. friend went to Sir Henry and expressed a wish to pive a substantial donation if Sir H. Morris could sec his way to starting systematic research into the cause of cancer. The latter consulted with some of his friends. They devised a scheme and made an appeal to the public. The appeal was successful and an endowment was procured. Sir Henrv became the first treasurer of the fund, and during his term of office in that capacity he succeeded in establishing the finances on a satisfactory basis," but even so they would always he anxious on the score of finance. At present they had a gift of £2OOO a year from Lord Atholstan for a limited period, which was most valuable, but even with that and the income from endowments they must always depend on donations and legacies for prosecuting then- activities on a useful scale. Living Filterable Microbe. 1-atcr. Pr. Gye stated to a Press representathc: 'Dr. Begg. described ]>y Sir Humphry Eolleston na "being iln>

most advanced of those following lines of work bearing on my conception, is a young New Zealander. Ho has been in' England for some years and has been working very hard. At present he is in Italy." Dr. (Jyo is satislied that the cancer agent is a living, lilteruWo microbe, and that it is the cause of new growths.