A NEW METHOD OF TREATING CANCER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2145, 14 November 1885, Page 2

A NEW METHOD OF TREATING CANCER.

The London Lancet gives some particulars of investigations at Queen's Hospital, Birmingham, byJ)r John Clay, touching a new method of treating cancer, A study of the pathology of cancer led him to the opinion that a carbohydrate of some kind might prove beneficial, and for some reasons he decided that China .turpentine might prove fcho most suitable. Mr Clay reports several cases in which remarkable benefit evidently resulted,; with every prospect of permanent cure. The new remedy was administered in pills as follows: China turpentine, six grains; flowers of grains; to be made into two pills, to be taken every four hours. In a case whero the turpentine could not be digested in pills, it, was made into an emulsion. An etheral solution of China turpentine was prepared by dissolving one ounce of the turpentine in two ounces of pure sulphuric ether (antes:

thefcic). Of this solutqn £oz; solution of j tragacanth, 4oz; syrup, loz; flowers of sulphur, 40 grains; water, "16oz; loz three times daily.:- The maximum dose of China turpentine .which can be safely and _ continuously; given is twenty-five graihsdaiTy. It is advisable to discontinue the remedy for a few days after ten or twelve weeks' constant administration, and then to resume it as before. ■ Commehting'on the effects'of the new mediciho, Dr Clay says: "The turpentine appears to'act upon the periphery of the growth with great vigor, causing tho apeedy disappearance of what is usually termed the' cancerous infiltration, and thereby arresting the further development of the tumor. It produces equally efficient results on the whole-mass, seemingly destroying its vitality, but more slowly, lb appears to dissolve all the cancer cells, leaving tho vessells to become suddenly atrophied, and causes the structures gradually togaina comparatively normal condition. Itisamostefficientanodyne, causing an entire cessation of paiiv in; a few days, and far more effectually than 1 any sedative I have ever giveu. In the cases I have described no Bedative was employed in any.instance, although in some cases where great pain had existed previously to commencing the treatment, large doses had be'en giveu. Whether this arrest of pain arises from the death of the tumor, or i 3 |due to there being no longer irritation of the sentient nerves (in consequence of tension being withdrawn by the removal of the cells), the fact is the same."