THEORIES AND PROBLEMS OF CANCER 227 



him, estimated per gramme of gallstone by the ether extraction 

 method and also by the incineration method : 



Cases. 



Non-malignant . 



Carcinoma primary at sites other 



than gall-bladder . 

 Primary carcinoma of gall-bladder 



Frequency of 



gall-stones 



per cent. 



4"94 



8-51 

 100 or 8yi 



Amount of radium per gramme 

 of gall-stone. 



Ether extraction 

 method. 



127 X io _lu mgr 



47'9 

 314*3 



n 

 » 



Incineration 

 method. 



Hi , 



ox io~'"mgr, 



2 - I 



468 



Granting the accuracy of the observations, there seems to 

 be no doubt as to the correlation between cancer and gallstones, 

 more particularly primary cancer of the gall-bladder. Also there 

 does not appear to be any doubt that in the gallstones occurring 

 in cases of cancer, again more particularly in cases of primary 

 cancer of the gall-bladder, a larger quantity of radium was pre- 

 sent in the malignant than in the non-malignant cases. But it 

 is difficult at present to see what the real significance of this 

 may be. Lazarus-Barlow suggests that radium is found more 

 frequently and in larger quantities in cancerous than in non- 

 cancerous tissues but does not show whether more radium is 

 present in the tissues generally of a cancerous than of a non- 

 cancerous subject. Is then the radium in the gallstones and 

 the frequency of the occurrence of gallstones in cases of cancer 

 secondary to the cancerous condition ; or is the presence of 

 radium the possible cause of the cancer ? Neither supposition 

 involves the belief that gallstones in themselves or the presence 

 in them of radium are causes of cancer. Lazarus-Barlow claims 

 that the nucleus of a gallstone may collect radium ; it may be 

 that if an excess of radium in the tissues of the organism be 

 connected with cancer, this excess must exist for a long period 

 and is accentuated in the gallstones. These, however, are 

 speculations into which Lazarus-Barlow himself has not entered. 

 We know that in many cases cancer follows upon prolonged 

 irritation and that radium acts as an irritant but in the present 

 state of knowledge it is hardly safe to form a definite opinion 

 upon the matter. 



Experimental Work bearing upon a Cure 



We may dismiss the various advertised cancer cures without 

 any detailed comment : there is no evidence in favour of any 



