CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANCER

Hokitika Guardian, 3 September 1927, Page 4

CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANCER

ADDRESS BY SIR. LOUIS BARJsETT

In tho course of an address at tlie annual meeting of the Otago Peace Council Sir Lonis Barnett said he wished to say something about cancer, that dreadful scourge of civilised mankind, which killed more people than any other malady known except heart disease. And yet cancer was not quite so had as it was painted. It did not kill many young people. Those who ultimately fall victims to cancer averaged 60 years in age. They had had at any rate a moderate innings, and a moderate run For their money. Nevertheless all people dreaded cancer, because they knew it was so olten incurable, and the later stages were so trgaiu and heartrending lo all concerned, the patient, the relatives, the doctors, and the nurses.' Doctors were sometimes held up to scorn and derision because it was alleged that they knew nothing about cancer, but ho assured them that doctors knew a

great deal about it. although they had much to learn yet. They wore ready and willing to teach the. people first, how cancer could sometimes he prevented; secondly, how cancer could sometimes be cured absolutely, and thirdly, how cancer could .sometimes ho controlled. The h uinan body started as olio 1 little microscopic cell, a tiny package uf protoplasm, a thousandth pari of a pinhead in size ,originating in the mother. This single cell, when .stimulated to a life-long activity by impregnation, multiplied hour by hour, day by day, week hv week, month by month, into countless myriads of other cells, some of which formed the skin, some the digestive organs, some tho heart, and blood vessels, some the brain and nerves and sense organs, some the muscles, the hones, and so on, until finally a new human being was produced living and whole. Then after birth and all through life these various cells went on multiplying for the purposes of growth, maintenance and repair. As soon as the cells got worn out or damn ged they were replaced by new cells of tho right kind and in the right quantity, and s.t a beautifully co-ordinated balance between growth and waste was maintained all through life and all originating in tho mysterious vital impulse produced l>y the union of one single cell. Exactly the same process occurred in all other animals and in plants. In cancer there was some interference with this marvellous adjustment between growth and waste. In some particular cell or cells this regulation or control of multiplication accoiding to the requirements of the body was lost. A cell started off io multiply in excessive fashion just as if it had received some stimulus akin to that received by the ovnrim cell. It multiplied and multiplied until a great mass of new cells was formed, and every one of these new cells possessed tho same uncontrollable tendency to multiply. The needs of tho body were , „ot regarded. Tho cells were as if

possessed by an evil spirit—they mustmultiply—and so they spread further and further afield. They invaded, compressed and destroyed neighbouring tissues anil organs. They entered tho circulation, and wore carried to glands and distant parts where again, thov multiplied and founded new colonies of cells, still insanely growing, without control, without physologieal need, and ultimately they killed the patient. That, in brief, was cancer. Medical science had not yet discovered what that mysterious influence was that caused certain cells of the bodv to multiply in this insane and riotous fashion, .or how the process once set going could be checked, except by actual and complete destruction of every cell possessed ot this cancerous impulse. Doctors knew that every continued irritation of any part of the human body produces a condition that, could easily become cancerous. The lower lip, for example, was often tho site of a cancerous growth, but only in those addicted to excessive pipe smoking at work and at play and at rest. At any rate, cancer'of the lower lip was extremely rare in any other class of individual. The breast was often the site of cancer owing to tile irritation changes associated with the function of lactation, especially, It was interesting to note, with the non-performance of that

function, for cancer of the breast occurred more commonly in women who had never suckled or only imperfectly suckled children. I’arts of tho hotly that, were unduly exposed to weather, to the excessive influence of the sic-

linio rays of the situ, to heat and cold and wind and wet became more liable to cancer than normally protected issues. That was why malignant formations like rodent ulcers, and other skin cancers were morecommon on the face and on the hack of the hands of weather-beaten country folk. Unhealed or partly healed cracks, fissures and abrasions, warty growths, pigmeted moles might become through irritation the site of actual cancer. The bctelnut chewers of India were specially liable- to cancer of tlie mouth, anil the hill dwellers in Kashmir, who in winter wore a charcoal brazier next their bodies to keep their stomachs warm, were the only people in the world who suffered from Vcancor of the skin of the abdominal wall. Highly civilised people who irritated tho lining of their stomachs by unsuitable and ill-masti-cated food or over-hot food or food contaminated by tho sepis of bad teeth became specially liable to cancer of the stomach, and it was well to remember that this particular location of cancer caused more deaths by far than any other. All this information about the predisposing causes of cancer was well known to the medical profession and to those who had had Red Cross instruction, and it was information that could and should he repeatedly brought under the notice of the public. This also they knew about cancer: That it was strictly localised to begin with that it started in a very small way in a strictly limited area, and jn this early stage it was definitely curable by any means such as operations or radium or X-ray treatment which would remove or destroy tli-o little group of cancer cells before they had had time to spread to adjacent- glands or distant parts of tho body. If every cancer case was submitted to medical treatment in the

verv early stages, when the growth was no larger, say, than a pea, then tho cures would be in tho neighbourhood of 100 per cent. The unfortunate thing was that cancer cases did not, as a rule, come under surgical j or radiological treatment in this early ! and favourable condition, partly beI cause ithe cancer at this period gave rise to no symptoms worth mentioning and partly Because patients ns a class had a very natural dread of doctors, and held aloof from them as long as they could. When cancer once became strongly established and extensive cure was, as a rule, impossible. That was the present state of knowledge. Radium and X-ray treatment, and lead, copper, and magnesium treatment were being increasingly employed in cancer cases, sometimes in association with operative measures. Although disappointments lyere many, good results were often obtained, and nj well equipped bane hospital was to-day without if a department.

! The Red Cross sooieties had interested themselves with conspicuous zeal in the cancer campaign, and in Dunedin they were much beholden to them for their help in the raising of the radium and X-ray fund, which was instrumental in establishing as its /present 'basis the radiology department at the Dunedin Hospital, and which, by the way, set an example that .was followed by each of the other chief towns of the Dominion. Doctors, with the help of operations, radium, Xrays, and certain chemicals, could do a great deal for the victims of cancer, but the only good chance they had of getting an absolute cure was in the early stages of the malady, and here again lied Cross workers could ho very helpful in warning people of the urgent necessity of seeking medical advice early when they become aware of any abnormal lumps or discharges which might be evidence of beginning cancer.