50 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 



The tendency is definitely away from classifying all 

 cases of thyroid enlargement as goitre in need of iodine 

 and all cases without such enlargement as being without 

 that need. 



CANCER 



Statistics show that the death rate from cancer is in- 

 creasing. This increase is greater than the increase in 

 population forty years and over. Part of this apparent 

 increase is due to greater dependability of the diagnosis 

 as given on the death certificate, and a part of that im- 

 provement is due to public education on the cancer ques- 

 tion. It has happened with cancer, as with other dis- 

 eases, that interesting the public in the disease has shown 

 a primary apparent increase in its prevalence. In spite 

 of this apparent loss of ground in cancer, the year 1923- 

 24 witnessed some gains in the fight against the disease. 



Operations for cancer have gained ground in that they 

 have been done earlier and, therefore, offer a greater 

 liklihood of permanent cure. The people and the general 

 practitioners are diagnosing cancer in its earlier stages 

 and some of the cases come for operation while just de- 

 veloping. The need of making the diagnosis before pain 

 appears as a symptom is coming to be fairly well known. 

 The use of radiation by radium or X-rays, or both, be- 

 fore and after surgical procedures, has become more 

 general. 



The evidence is increasing that cancer of many inter- 

 nal organs, as well as of most surface structures, can be 

 removed with a good possibility that at the end of a five 

 year period there will have been no recurrence. 



But the valuable work of the year in cancer consists in 

 foundation work done in research laboratories and in the 

 field of vital statistics. These relate to such subjects as 

 the inheritability of cancer; the inheritance laws of can- 

 cer; the tendency of cancer to appear at certain age lev- 

 els; the tendency of inherited cancers to appear in cer- 

 tain organs ; the chemistry of cancer cells ; the biology of 

 cancer cells; the effect of different kinds of radiation on 

 the biology and chemistry of cancer cells. 



