WAR ON CANCER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 253, 24 March 1914, Page 6

WAR ON CANCER.

FRENCH DOCTOR'S VIEW. THE CAUSE STILL A MYSTERY. Dr. Arthur Lynch, M.P., who was recently in Paris, gives a graphic account to the London Daily Chronicle of a talk with Dr. Beclere, the doyen of the Hospital of Saint Antoine, an eminent specialist in cancer. In describing the inaugural address of Dr. Beclere, an address which launched into being a series of conferences and demonstrations destined to popularise the linest results of recent research, Dr. Lynch writes: "Remark this, the Government co-operated actively with the medical fraternity in providing all facilities for this work, and in throwing open./gratis, the clinics of Paris to the medical men not of France alone, but of the world." Dr. Beclere'reviewed for us the history of tlie employment of electricity in medicine, from the early epoch when Abbe Xollet sent his electric shock through a chain of gendarmes; to the days of the great Duchenne of Boulogne, whose, book remains an imperishable monument of his labors; to the present time, when we look calmly on wonders which would have filled Duchenne with amazement.

AX IMPRESSIVE SPEAKER. The doctor is of medium stature, greybearded, spectacled, with the aspect of a savant and the manner of a man-df-the-world, and spoke easily and freely from the fulness of his knowledge. His ' audience comprised men from most of the countries of Europe, from England, America, Australia, Japan. There were present one smooth-faced young student, with beautiful regularity of feature and the shimmering light of genius in his eye; near him sat a patriarchal sacant listening with profound attention; eager girl students from Sweden exchanged glances with intellectual dames from Moscow. Seldom had Dr. Lynch seen so curious an assembly; it recalled I the days when he himself sat at the feet of Dubois-Reymond and watched ' his volcanic eye and heard the anvil-ring-ing voice. "I have seen of late much work in the hospitals here,' wrote Dr. Lynch, "many researches which, while seeming at first to shatter old consecrated laws, really expound them with more delicacy and precision and exhibit them in a new light. Then I have had the advantage of a long talk with Dr. Beclere on a / subject interesting to all. A HARBINGER OF HOPE. "Part of our conversation was too technical, perhaps, for transcription, but I may be permitted, since his words were a harbinger of hope, to reproduce as briefly as possible some of the conclusions of this ardent worker, and to help in a small way, since he thinks it desirable, in the education of public opinion on these important matters. "In the first place, Dr. Beclere is convinced that there is no fatality of heredity in cancer. On the other hand, no one is immune to this scourge if the condition of his life are such as to prepare a suitable soil for its inocidation. "Cancer is not a constitution malady, Jas is still generally believed and often [ taught; it is not a disease of the blood: it is strictly local at its first appearance. Certainly, if it be not observed, if it grew, then at length there will be detached from the original mass one or more daughter cells which, by attaching themselves elsewhere, may eventually become the chief centre of mischief.

"Dr. Beclere compares the cancer to a weed of which the seed may be blown into a garden; if it be not destroyed it may grow and propagat" and spread itself, and in the end invade the whole garden. Or again, at another time, lie compared the cancer to a colony of miserable and degenerate people, who, though producing bad stock, yet multiply rapidly. The cancer cells have less vitality in themselves than the healthy cells of the body, but they have a far greater power of reproduction. IF TAKEN IN TIME. "Cancer is curable if it be recognised in time, and if energetic means be taken to destroy it as soon as possible and with entire completeness. If the slightest, even microscopic, fragment is left it is probable that the cancer will grow again and spread. Dr. Beclere affirms that, as far as we know at present, the best agent of destruction in the early stage is the surgeon's knife. He knows of no good serum, nor of any efficacious vaccine." .

Dr. Lynch was convinced that the veritable cause of cancer is unknown. Dr. Bclere is of opinion, however, that everything points to the suggestion that it is of microbic origin, and .further, he believes that when the microbe is at length discovered, and completely identified, it will be found to be very widely distributed. At the same time, the popular impression that cancer is becoming more widespread may be proved false. No nation, no race, no part of the world is immune. It is a mistake,

moreover, to suppose that meat-eating is a ciiusc of cancer, or that vegetarians escape. In addition to the surgeon's knife, applications of extreme cold or of extreme heat, chemical caustics, X-fays, electricity in various form, and, lastly, radium, have all been found effective in certain eases. During his experience Dr. Beclere has only met with two cases of cancer or the tongue in women. He asked one of them if she. smoked, and he found that she had been accustomed to smoke freely in order to alleviate attacks of asthma. Dr. Lynch explains that this does not mean that the devotees of the fragrant weed arc, doomed to cancer; it only means that, when other conditions are unfavorable, smoking may tnrn the balance.