126 Kansas Academy of Science. 



are carried by the blood to other parts of the body, where 

 they lodge and start new foci of the disease. In our study 

 of this subject many suggestive questions confront us. We 

 know that the oxygen of the blood enters the cells by diffusion ; 

 that a greater amount is consumed in early than advanced life. 

 The cells of advanced life, having a less supply of oxygen, are 

 more amenable to malignant disease. A lack of free oxygen 

 suggests a predisposition to cancer. It is found that a malig- 

 nant disease produces an increased rate of the pulse. We are 

 here notified of a fact, viz., that the tissues are in need of more 

 oxygen for the blood. 



Small lung capacity, with a small pulmonary artery, pre- 

 disposes to cancer. It has been shown that blood taken from a 

 cancer patient contains a greatly reduced amount of hsemo- 

 globin. One thousand grammes of normal blood contains 125 

 grammes of haemoglobin. In cancer there is frequently but 

 25 grammes. Such evidence is usually manifest early in the 

 disease. 



Green, in his work on cancer, gives coal combustion in 

 grates and chimneys as one of the exciting causes. He states 

 that a product of that combustion is sulphurous acid, sulphur 

 dioxide and sulphur trioxide ; that these gases are heavier 

 than air and are frequently recognized as being present in the 

 room ; that soot and coal tar is usually found in abundance in 

 the chimney, and that the air of the room is impregnated from 

 the soot and the sulph-acids. Green further states that, almost 

 without exception, houses in which cancer has occurred have 

 badly drawing chimneys, and he gives it a'' his belief that this 

 is one of the keys to the problem. 



Now, if sulphuric and sulphurous acidvS are important fac- 

 tors — and we believe that they are — in the production of can- 

 cer, then as a preventive we should, where possible, avoid 

 contact with any and all materials that contain them. When 

 the disease is once established, and we hold that it is due to an 

 organism not unlike the Myxomycetes, the question of pre- 

 scribing calcium is of supreme importance. 



Starting with the theory that we have and are combating a 

 parasitic disease, we are forced to take cognizance of the fact 

 that this fungoid organism can flourish only in its optimum 

 temperature. The temperature of a parasitic fungi should 

 approximate that of the body of the host. Otherwise it will 

 not germinate. The normal temperatures of animals vary. 



