192 ALLOPATHIC TREATMENT. 



beneath its venerated branches, which now extend to 

 every quarter of the globe, palm upon the public their 

 worthless nostrums, and extort from the timid and 

 unwary fabulous sums of money." under the plea that 

 cancer is a curable disease, and as such is as amenable to 

 treatment as any common disorder. What glorious 

 news this would be to suffering humanity ! But such is 

 not the case. Cancer has remained as the " opprobrium 

 medicorum " from the far-off epoch of Hippocrates to 

 the present time ; remedies innumerable have been 

 suggested, tried, and found wanting ; hospitals have 

 been established, and the wards of others have been 

 richly endowed for the special treatment of this dire 

 pest of mortality ; and fabulous sums have been off 

 by many a victim to any man, who could discover a 

 remedy that would grapple successfully with this 

 hydra-headed monster. No talismanic wand has yet 

 revealed toman the^i-and specific : it still nestles in the 

 mysterious womb of nature. The various honest ant In us 

 who have written on this subject dismiss it with but a 

 few passing remarks. The treatment of these organic 

 diseases of the livei. 'liiy. is simply pallia: 



the treatment of cancer of the liver, says Walshe, should 

 be generally conducted as that of cancer of the stomach ; 

 and it has appeared to that author that the progress of 

 the affection has been stayed by a liberal inunction of 

 the iodide of lead ointment over the hepatic region 

 and the internal administration of liquor pota-s,.- in 

 infusion of taraxacum. The treatment of malignant 

 diseases of the liver, says I>udd, should be simply 

 palliative ; practitioners have hoped to destroy c 

 cerous tumours by some powerful alterative, or at all 



