CANCER CURES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 50, 22 November 1907, Page 10

CANCER CURES.

ABB MOLASSES EFFECTIVE?

A MEDICAL MAN'S WARNING;

A medical man writes to the : "Sydney ; ; Morning Herald" .apropos of a.recent'alleged' cure of cancer in New South' Wales by aid of molasses. .Hβ says; — .■;'.' i. ."Once again the molasses "cure for cancer comes, into proinieiico.. Ao few. years ago, wo were going to cure all: cancers by this, siniplo remedy, which, like so many of the moro dangerous supposed cures, was founded' on a pseudo-scientiiic basis. It >was supposed that perhaps tho ingestion q.f large amounts of sugar might lead to. the dissolution of the tumour by fermentation-; and the remedy received a long and' fair trial. Yet moro people die from cancer than ever before, in spite of• the immense improvement in operative technique; and the annual announcement of an infallible cure. Why is this? ' ; . ■ "•

"In the great hospital to which I have the , honour to be attached, where I-supppso we treat hundreds of cases of cancer-every year, we do not confine .ourselves to operative treatment alone. Unhappily there are many which are too far advanced for, any prospect of removal, and. wo have tried every known method of treatment as soon as it was announced; .Casting one's memory back a few years, one reoalls the violetleaves cure, tho methylene-blue, Doyen's serum, trypsin, amylopsiri, Chian turpen-; tine, molasses, and many others.. All , tnese have received a fair trial, under conditions of rigid surgical and scientific .exactness, and in full view of the professional public. Any properly qualified doctor-is welcome to v our entire experience for tho mere trouble of asking And I can say this, that, so far as I know, no genuine case of cancer has over shown any but the merest illusory improvement under any treatment short of operation, and in a few instances ■ the XraVs, to which it has been, subjected. I make one small exception', in which, by the use of certain salts of zinc, applied in a particular way, there does appear to have been some improvement in a few mild cases;'but this is at present in a purely tentative stage, and not yet ready-for publication or widespread application. •' . ■ ' -.•■•■-■ "Cancer is a curious disease.. In a few cases it seems suddenly to take on a' , process of cure, without any --known-.'- reason,' arid independently of any treatment.' In the vast' majority of these the improvement is moroly temporary, and the disease soon re-' sume's its course to "the grave;; ''But',it is not open to doubt that most' cases of supposed cure rest on mistaken diagnosis. No cure is ever accepted by surgeons nowadays unless the tumour has been examined • and certified to bo cancor by a skilled pathologist; and even then the mere fact of'rdcorery casts doubt on : the examining "pathologist s skill. Several times I have operated and found a , tumour which 'to all appearances was cancerous, and impossible ■' to remove, and I have closed the wound with.'& heavy heart; but to my surprise perfect recovery ensued, the, mass appearing to melt away of' itself. I havo then formed the conclusion that it was not cancer, but quite another, disease. ' .

"I do not wish to be unduly' pessimistic, nor to discourage those.who suffer from? tho most terrible of diseases; but my purposes m writing this is to prevent from allowing valuablo time to slip away; timo during whioh a cure is still-possible, whilo they rush off to less-alarming-but less certain methods of. treatment'. By operation we now. save about pne-third of all.'cases, but if wo could only pqrsuade , patients; to sumit to it earlier ,we could -save many more. No other method of treatment' can show any results in the slightest degreeapproximating to these; ' and any personwho ueglects the only known chance of life is taking a heavy burden of responsibility upon his shoulders. . '.... '. , ■