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Hokitika Guardian, 20 September 1926, Page 2

It is a. great- mistake to suppose, as so many people suppose', that no progress has recently been made in cancer research, says The London Times. The exact opposite is the truth ; cancer research lias never liefore presented so hopeful an aspect as it presents to-day. Within the last decade it has, for example, become possible to produce*the disease lie novo in mice, rats and other animals; and this single discovery has cast, and is casting a flood of light on the mystery of the origin of cancer. Again, research work lias opened the way to the prevention of all those cancers which are caused by prolonged contact with tars and paraffins. The number may ho greater than is at present realised. In the last few years medical science has established beyond doubt the fact that cancer may he caused by certain specific substances and by other substances which have been rendered cancer-producing by exposure to great heat. It has learned, further, that various ravs and certain parasite worms are capable of causing the disease—though the recent work of Leipcr has shown that there is no connection between the last fact and the “cancer houses” of popular legend. “Cancer houses,” like so many other reputed causes of the disease, are a mvtli. Tt- is no mean achievement to have raised the study of cancer, within a decade, to something approaching a vantage ground of scientific accuracy. The work of Gye and Barnard, though it cannot yet he described as unquestioned. has already served as a powerful stimulus to fresh activity in every part of the world. Nor has the treatment of the disease been neglected during these wonderful years. ITumanitowes a great deal to the pioneer researches at the Middlesex Hospital on the propagation of the disease along the lymphatic channels of the bodv. This latter work lias proved of immediate utility to every surgeon, and has undoubtedlv saved many lives. Moreover. the study of cancer has served to stimulate a vast number of other studies—which again help the study of cancer.