SPECIFIC FERMENTS OF THE CANCER CELL 419 



going upon the cancer cell, we would state that it seems 

 possible to conceive that a cancer cell is one which has lost 

 its power of forcing its reproductive ferment back into an 

 inactive stage. It is a cell whose chemical nature has become 

 so altered that the reproductive ferment is uppermost and 

 can no longer be influenced by outside stimuli. Just like 

 the typhoid bacillus in the test-tube, its sole purpose is now 

 one of active reproduction, and the reproduction will 

 persist until the cancer cell has used up all protein that it 

 is capable of transferring into its own specific protein, or 

 until it itself is destroyed through the formation by the 

 body cells of an antiferment in sufficient amount to destroy 

 all cancer cells. How often the body itself does this it is 

 difficult to surmise, but we do know that once such cells 

 have multiplied so as to form a palpable tumor, the body 

 is very seldom able to cope with it. 



With the foregoing in mind the following experiments 

 will throw some light upon the subject, especially with 

 regard to the formation of an antiferment for the cancer cell. 



As has been brought out in a previous article, 1 certain 

 definite and characteristic blood changes are brought about 

 by the injection of small amounts of dead cancer protein 

 into a living host. Two forms of vaccine have been used 

 in this work, cancer residue and a vaccine made of the 

 cancer cell in its entirety. 



Cancer residue is prepared by dissecting as freely as 

 possible the cancer material from all surrounding tissues. 

 The cancer material is next ground in a meat grinder, then 

 is washed w r ith water, diluted salt solution, alcohol, and 

 lastly ether. This process removes salts, fats, wax, several 

 protein bodies, and traces of carbohydrates. The remaining 

 substance is then heated in a flask with a reflux condenser, 

 with from fifteen to twenty times its weight of a 2 per cent, 

 solution of sodium hydroxide in absolute alcohol, and by 

 this means it is split into a toxic and a non-toxic group. 

 The toxic portion is soluble in the alcohol, the non-toxic 



1 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., November 16, 1912. 



