CANCER AND RESEARCH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4701, 21 May 1924, Page 2

CANCER AND RESEARCH.

the disease and civilisation. DIET THOUGHT TO BE A FACTOR. Cancer is one of the outstanding international problems (writes An Expert” in the Daily Mail). Figures prove conclusively that it continues to increase with alarming rapidity. This increase, too, is real, and not. as argued by some, due largely to the fact that by the aid of modem medical methods its detection is more frequent than formerly. It seems that no great progress hhs been made in discovering its origin. However, an encouraging feature of the si-nation is that the. fight against cancer is beginning to be recognised as an international question of the first importance in which all civilised countries have a common concern. Striking evidence of the interest of the Canadian medical profession n the matter is afforded by the issue in March of a special cancer number of die Canadian “Practitioner,” Toronto. This number contains contributions by American, English, Canadian, and French authorities. Many of the articles are on treatment by radiation. and for the most part are written by the brilliant group of specialists on that subject attached to the Cancer Memorial Hospital, Now York. THE VALUE OF RADIATION. The first of these is by Dr. James Ewing, Director of Cancer Research in that hospital. It is suggestive, and strikes a new note. The writer points out that radiation has not only proved a curative and remedial agent of great value, but it has stimulated the study of tumours to so great au extent that our knowledge of cancerous growths has been widened immensely thereby. In addition, a new field in the scientific study of tumours has been opened. He also explains why some tumours are peculiarly susceptible tp radiation without much damage to healthy tissue, which, by the way. is one of the chief drawbacks to the general use of radium or X-rays. Dr. A- J- Ochsuer. of Chicago, the president of the American College of Surgeons, comments favourably on his experience of radiatipn in treatment. Dr. Dcgrais, of Paris, states that the results compare favourably with those of surgery. On the whole, the views of the specialists who contribute to the cancer number are that radiation is valuable in suitable cases, either used alone or as an adjunct to surgical measures. That cancer is a problem of civilisation due to faulty diet and a too artificial mode of living generally is the belief of a considerable section of the medical profession in this country and elsewhere. Colonel McCarrisok who lived for many years in a reg’on of the Himalayas peopled by a primitive race, is convinced that such is the case. He ascribed the freedom of these uncivilised people from digestive troubles to the fact that they are reared and brought up on the unsophisticated food of nature. Other medical men who have lived among naHve races give similar evidence. FOOD POISONING AND CANCER. Sir Arbuthnot Lane, who lias con--Bi,stx*ntly preached the same doctrine, has a paper in the Toronto journal. He insists that to the manner in which civilised persons live as a rule, ami to the errors of diet in particular, arc due the defective functioning of the digestive organs. This eventual!'’ results in a poisoning of the system, which lowers its resisting powers and leaves the body open to the attacks of disease. Cancer in his opinion should not. be regarded as a primary condition, but as part of a mechanical sequence and as never , affecting a healthy organ. According to his views, poisoning by the prolonged retention of food first provides a suitable soil for the growth of cancer. The same retention of food and poisoning may provide sources of irritation in the tract through which food passes which act as exciting eai’scs of the disease. It is well known that chronic irritation is apt to induce cancer, and therefore in older to prevent cancer chronic irritation should be avoided. Sir Arbuthnot Lane states that the only way in which this result can be achieved is by a complete revolution in cur diet and in our habits of life. We must assimilate them to those- of the natives, among whom the entire stasis sequence is unknown. These views are also supported by Dr A. C. Jordan, a radiologist, an.l by Dr. N. Mutch and Mr Chapple. Sir Lenthal Cheatle gives a thoughtful paper in which he somewhat’ discounts the importance of local irritation in inducing cancer, and points out that other matters must be taken into account in discussing the carcinoma problem. Prevention is ahvay.s better than cure. There appears to be an intimate i elationship between cancer and civilisation in which diet plays the chief role. The disease occurs most frequently among well-fed, prosperous people, and over-feeding may be a factor in its causation. But whether it be eating too much or eating food deficient in elements essential to good health which arc causes of cancer or whether cancer is owing to other causes, the relationship between civilisation a-nd cancer is too suggestive to be ignored. It appears that further investigations in this direction are called for. Tn the meantime it will be wise to take Sir Arbuthnot Lane’s advice and lead a more simple life.