CANARIKS. 



CANCER 



r,..,, 



cost of basins and intermediate stations u not included in time price*, 

 on Account of their very variable importance ; but a* a rude approxi- 

 mation, they may be aanirwtd to coet about one-tenth of the total cost 

 of the rest of the canal. Common, under, or over-bridge* are not 

 included in the above price*; but they may be considered to oort 

 about SOOf. each. 



i \ N \ 1: 1 1 > in mimic, a quick dance-tune, in three-eight time, said 

 to have been imported from the Canary Islamls, though in all pro- 

 bability it wa* exported thither from Normandy !} John de Bethen- 

 t nrt . who invaded them at the done of the 14th century. I'urcell'has, 

 in hi* ' Diocletian,' intnluc< .1 Uic Ontario. Hu tune U in two strains 

 of eight ban each, in tliree-eight time. 



I VKV > >: \-- Thalarit t'anarieiuit) its an annual grass, culti- 

 vated for ita seed*, with which cage bird* are fed. The consumption 

 of thi* *eed i* ao conaiderable a* to make it an article of commerce. 

 Canary aeed in chiefly cultivated in the Isle of Thanet in Kent, and 

 about Sandwich. It require* a good noil, neither too light nor tod 

 wet, and an open country, without many hedge-rows; for small bird* 

 are *o fond of the teed, that where they abound it U scarcely possible 

 to protect the crop from their depredations. The plant grown like a 

 strung gnus, with an oval spike at the extremity of the stem. The 

 seeds are closely enveloped by a strong chaff or liusk, from which they 

 are not easily separated ; they are oval and pointed at both ends, and 

 of a bright straw colour. The kernel of the seed is pleasant to the 

 taste, and has the flavour of nut*. 



Canary grass has been tried in a green state for cattle ; but besides 

 tile price of the seed, which is high compared with that of other 

 grasses, it has not been found sufficiently abundant or nutritious to 

 make it preferable to any of the grasses usually cultivated for that 

 purpose. When sown for the seed it in best sown in drills, about half 

 a bushel to the acre, at the distance of eight or nine inches from each 

 other ; this admit* of hoeing, by which the quantity of seed produced 

 U much increased, and it is kept free from the admixture of weeds. 

 When it is reaped it is left for some time in heaps or wads, and 

 exposed to the dews : this does not injure the seed, and by softening 

 the husk facilitates its separation by threshing. The same effect may 

 be produced by breaking off the heads from the stem with the flail, 

 and pressing them close in casks or bogs before they are perfectly dry ; 

 a slight fermentation takes place which renders the chaff brittle, and 

 after some time the seed comes out very readily. The same thing is 

 done with clover seed. The produce of an acre of canary seed is from 

 three to five quarters. 



CANCER, a disease of a malignant character. This disease depends 

 upon the extidation from the blood of a peculiar matter, accompanied 

 by the development of fibres and cells. This exudation produces a 

 tumour or Hwi-lling, which ultimately ulcerates, forming an open sore. 

 Dr. Bennett divides these 'tumours into three kinds : 1. The structure 

 U very hard, and principally formed of fibres (tchirm*). 2. The 

 ntructure is soft, containing a copious milky fluid, in which numerous 

 corpuscles swim (fncefihaloma). 3. The structure has a fibrous basis, 

 so arranged as to form areoke or loculi, containing a gelatinous gum or 

 glue-like matter (cnlU/id cancer). 



I -'liimir. On making a thin section of a schirrus tumour, it is 

 found to be principally composed of filament*, which vary in size and 

 nin in different directions, sometimes forming waved bands, at others 

 an inextricable plexus, among which nucleated cells may be seen to be 

 mixed. These nucleated cell* are peculiar to cancerous growths, and 

 are called rmcrr ctllt. They are round, oval, caudate, spindlc-sliajMxl, 

 heart-shaped, according to the pressure to which they have been sub- 

 jected. They vary in size from the j^-.th to ,.',,th of an inch. Win 11 

 young, the cell-wall is smooth ami distended; when old, they are 

 more or less corrugated and flaccid. Each cell contains at least one 

 nucleus, sometimes two or more. Such is the microscopic structure of 

 schirru*. 



Schirrus is an indolent, hard, and nearly insensible tumour, accom- 

 panied with little or no discoloration of the surrounding skin. It 

 commonly commences as a small hard knot in the part which it attacks, 

 and from this minute spot spreads in all directions, like rays from a 

 centre. In this state it has little or no pain, and it may be either 

 distinctly circumscribed and movable, or blended with the surrounding 

 substance, and scarcely at all movable. 



As the distant; passes from an indolent into a more active state, the 

 KI/.C of the tumour enlarges; its surface generally, though not invari- 

 ably. Incomes unequal; pain begins to be felt in it, slight at first, 

 recurring at intervals, and progressively increasing, being always of a 

 shooting or lancinating kind ; the skin acquires a purple or livid hue ; 

 the cutaneous veins enlarge, become what is termed varicose, and 

 spread "ut over the .livid and puckered kin iii uch a manner as to 

 present some likeness to the body of a crab with its claws extended, 

 whence it has received the name of cancer. The most charm < 

 marks of a true schimis then are puckering of the skin 

 tumour, dull leaden colour of the integuments around it, knotted 

 i feel of the tumour, and occasional darting pains through it. 

 If to this assemblage of symptoms be added a uniform resistance to all 

 ..icdicn employed to disperse the tumour, a constantly progressive 

 enlargement of the tumour, and a manifest tendency t.. involve con- 

 tiguoii* parts in the same morbid condition, the evidence of the true 

 nature of the malady will be indubitable. 



The rapidity of the progress of a schirrous tumour to open cancer is 

 different in every different case. Sometimes indeed the induration 

 remains in the state of schirrus for many years, and even to the termi- 

 nation of life, the skin never actually breaking. At other times the 

 interval is short from the first discoloration of the skin to its termi- 

 nation in the state of ulceration, or the formation of open cancer. 



The carcinomatous ulcer consists of a large chasm formed in the 

 substance of the part in which the malady is seated, the chasm being 

 produced partly by a sloughing and partly by an ulcerating process. 

 The opened tumour is now found to consist of cells ; as these cells burst 

 and pour out their contents, which consist of a pulpy matter of different 

 degrees of consistence and of various colours, the surrounding parU are 

 irritated by an excoriating ichor. Thi* discharge sometimes takes place 

 with a celerity which would induce the belief that it can scarcely result 

 from the process of secretion. When the diseased actions have in a 

 manner exhausted themselves, an attempt at reparation appears t 

 place, analogous to those which in other cases lead to the restoration 

 of a part from a diseased to a healthy state. New flesh is formed, but 

 instead of healthy muscle it consists of a fungus of peculiar hardness, 

 the formative vessels communicating to the new product the same 

 qualities as to the tumour previously generated by their morbid 

 action. This diseased fungus occasionally even cicatrises, and so arrests 

 for a time the progress of the Him<m But the morbid action, though 

 mitigated or suspended, is not subdued ; it soon recommences its 

 destructive course, and the part never returns to a healthy condition. 

 In the meantime the disease extends through the medium of the 

 absorbing vessels, and by their agency is propagated to parts at a con- 

 siderable distance from the original tumour. 



In the progress of the ulceration a good deal of blood is oft. 

 from the destruction of the coats of the blood vessels. A burniu 

 is felt universally over the ulcerated surface, the source of unceasing 

 torment. The shooting lancinating pains, sufficiently distressing in 

 the occult state of the disease, now increase both in degree and con- 

 stancy, and the strongest constitutions ultimately sink under the pro- 

 gressively augmenting irritation and suffering. 



When a section is made in a schirrous tumour, in the early stage of 

 its formation, its central portion is found to be more compact and 

 hauler than the other parts of its substance. This central portion, 

 which often does not exceed in magnitude the size of a silver penny, is 

 nearly of the consistence of cartilage, and from this centre radiate in 

 all directions, white, firm, ligamentous Kinds, which are crossed by 

 transverse bands of a somewhat fainter appearance, and in this manner 

 is formed a kind of net work, in the meshes of which the new-formed 

 substance is enclosed. 



In an advanced stage of the tumour the whole of the diseased part 

 has a more uniform structure ; no central point can be distingu 

 and the ligamentous bonds which extend in every direction, and w lu'rh 

 are still very apparent . do not follow any regular course, or at least not 

 distinct enough to be traced. 



When the tumour passes into the state of ulceration, the central part 

 of the ulcer consists of a small irregular cavity, which is filled up \\ ith 

 a bloody fluid, the edges of the cavity being hard, jagged, and S]K>M_-\ . 

 and exquisitely painful. " Beyond the edges of the cavity the i 

 radiated appearance of ligamentous bands, diverging towards the cir- 

 cumference ; but the tumour nearer the circumference is more 

 compact, and is' made up of distinct portions, each of which has a 

 centre, surrounded by ligament. >us bands in concentric circles." 



/'ii'-i/ilialnma also presents a fibrous structure, but it is very loose 

 when compared with that of schimis. In the harder parts it presents 

 fibres, but ui the softer parts no traces of fibres can be found. On cutting 

 into one of these tumours it is found t be more or less mottle'! with a 

 gniyish, pinkish, reddish, yellow, or blackish colour, from varying 

 degrees of voscularity. The reddish forms of these tumours arc what 

 is known by the name of Funtjut lurmatoitte*. The yellowish forms are 

 dejiendent on a fatty degeneration of the cancerous matter, whiUt 

 the black forms are owing to the growth of block pigment cells. This 

 constitutes the nulamm* or lOf/anic nitmr of some authors. 



On placing some of the soft cream-like fluid under the microscope, 

 it presents a large number of the cancer-cells, which are mixed w ith a 

 number of rude cells and granules, com|>oiind granular cells, blood 

 corpuscles, and more or less fibres. The cells are -Mt<-d. pre- 



senting crystals of margarine and chohwtorinc. S..,,,, tinn> it i- mixed 

 with a good deal of calcareous matter. 



3. Uvllii'ul riitn-' r is composed of fibres arranged in such a manner 

 as to form areoUo or loculi which are filled with a gray or amber- 

 coloured glutinous matter, which is noun 1 parent, at others 

 opalescent or si mi o|vi.|iie. This matter is sometimes found quite 

 structureless, or exhibits only a finely molecular surface. At other 

 times it contains numerous cancer cells. It occurs on free surfaces, as 

 the peritoneum, Ac. When collected in masses it has an irregular 

 nodulated aspect. 



These throe forms of disease occur at all periods of life, attack all 



organs of the body, and both sexes. They are less frequent in the 



young than in the aged. Females are more liable to them than moles. 



i has a tendency to attack the glands of the body, and is 



e*|>ccially frequent in the female breast. [BitKAST, DISEASES OP.] 



The causcH which lead to the development of these terrible cells, 

 which when once they have begun to form, go on to form others 



