CANCER OR ?

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2902, 14 October 1916, Page 10

CANCER OR ?

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—ln your leader of the sth in- "" Btant,_y6u properly rejoice over the decline in. the death-rate from tuberculosis, and discussing Dr. Herbert's views, you mention cancer as now the diseaso in which the death-rate is highest. Heaven forbid that anyono should say one word that would mako for the slackening of effort to counteract these horrible diseases of consumption and cancer. .Your, note, indeed, is, if I may • say so, admirable'. ' But. I wish to point ■ out that cancer is not the disease with the highest death-rate in New Zealand (I can as truthfully write, in the civilised world). .Here are the figures of the.Government.Statistician, which let ..'/{•'•-.yho .willimpugn:— ... > ; '/Causes? "" '.Xumbef of.deatlis!' .- ••. V - -Sept.',- ' ■ 1912.1913.1911.1916. - . .. -Tuberculosis •:r..v"'667~'666 ' -576" ' 27 '. Cancer 812 856 904 •19 Organic heart' . . diseaso ...... 1,271 1,227 1,301 45 i .;VAt .a glance it. appears that organic heart disease iS more than twice as fre- ■ queritly the cause of death in any . year as consumption, and almost as frequent- ■ ly as tho tivb others taken-together • ■ I am a,ivare f-hat , medicine will turn t, up its ndso at .the: comparison, on the ~ ground that . organic diseaso of the • heart is not a specific disease.. It is sijilicieni; to reply to, that, that if the ■ , faculty, can convince a man with worn '. heartTValves' that "he is not suffering from a disease, it can hold such a su- ;' t perior position and can talk from iit; '. -""Otherwise-it: will help us if jiiodicine J. . ' will talk I to'..the-facts tabulated by: the- ■; •: 'Government-Statistician with the moan-. - , ing given to words by the man in the strefet; and perhaps you will give it the opportunity ofdoing 60.—1 am, etc., Wellington, October 13, 1916.