536 THE POPULAR SCIEXCE MONTHLY. 



naturalists are familiar. According to present beliefs, suppuration and 

 " blood-poisoning " — pyaemia, septicoemia, erysipelas, and lock-jaw — are 

 due to the growth in the wound of microbes which are parasites there ; 

 and within the last few years we have learned how to stop the growth 

 of these microbes, and to prevent inflammation after operations with 

 mathematical accuracy. In the application of these methods to the 

 work of removing malignant growths, operators fearlessly expose all 

 infected tissues for great distances, and remove every vestige of the 

 disease in cases in which a few years ago they would not have dared 

 to operate thoroughly for fear of the resulting inflammation. 



Treatment by medicines is of no avail in curing malignant growths. 

 The reason why medicines are useless in such cases is evident if we 

 look at the subject through the germ theory, for it can be readily un- 

 derstood that any drug which is powerful enough to destroy cancer 

 microbes would also destroy the blood-corpuscles. It is safe to say, 

 that we shall never have a drug which will cure cancer, in sjiite of the 

 statements contained in the patent-medicine advertisements. Local 

 applications of caustics for the purpose of curing cancer are seldom 

 made by reputable surgeons to-day, because a glance at the anatomy 

 of a malignant growth is sufficient to show the folly of attempting to 

 reach the deeply-infected lymphatic vessels with anything except the 

 fingers aided by sharp eyes. Very small malignant growths can be 

 cured by means of the local application of caustics, and large growths 

 can sometimes be removed temporarily ; and as this is easily done, 

 charlatans have found a large field for work by appealing to the 

 patient's dread of the knife, and promising to cure by milder means. 

 While the patient is trying other methods than the one which sur- 

 geons of responsibility employ, the disease is usually getting such a 

 foothold that opportunities for hel^D are lost. 



Many lives would be saved daily if cancer patients could be so 

 educated that the delusions which lead them to tamper with so-called 

 blood-purifying medicines and with irregular methods of surgical 

 treatment would give place to fairly good reason. There are no se- 

 cret methods of cui-e, notwithstanding advertisements to the con- 

 trary ; and there are no ways or means for the cure of cancer that 

 are not known to the responsible surgeons of all civilized countries. 



Probably little can be done, however, in the way of directing the 

 majority of patients properly, because the emotions of a victim of the 

 disease are apt to be exalted, and the intellectual faculties are in con- 

 sequence de])rived of the exercise which they would have in conducting 

 the ordinary affairs of life. 



Legislation which prohibits illicit medical practice and the sale of 

 useless medicines is becoming more and more strict in the European 

 countries and in the large American cities, and it is through proper 

 legislation alone that we can expect to see any marked decrease in the 

 number of deaths which yearly occur from cancer. 



