BIOLOGICAL MEASURES IN THE TREATMENT OF CANCER 237 



that the animal and bacterial foreign proteins now under discus- 

 sion as furnishing the agents to stimulate the corpuscular en- 

 zymes, are in themselves more or less toxic bodies. All foreign 

 serums have elements of toxicity, and this may be so pronounced 

 that the aggregate effect of introduction of the foreign proteins 

 may be the opposite of remedial. As a case in point, the intro- 

 duction of a foreign blood serum may cause active haemolysis, 

 so that the blood count goes down instead of up. But this, prop- 

 erly interpreted, is in itself an evidence of such activities of a 

 foreign protein as are above postulated, the destruction of the 

 red blood corpuscles evidencing exactly such activities in connec- 

 tion with the elimination of the byproducts of hydrolosis of for- 

 eign proteins as is postulated in the Proteomorphic Theory. 



But it is obvious that from a therapeutic standpoint the relative 

 toxicity of the protein introduced is of paramount importance. 

 And this observation furnishes the clue to a comprehensive criti- 

 cism of the entire list of biological agents, above referred to as 

 comprising the various cancer remedies. The bacterial agents 

 employed in making the various serums of Emmerich and Wyeth 

 and Coley are confessedly toxic; and the various and sundry 

 animal serums are all known to have active toxicity when intro- 

 duced into heterologous parenteral systems. 



Hence in practice it happens that in using any of these various 

 vaccines and serums we are introducing agents capable, to some 

 extent, of combating the cancer cell (indirectly), but also agents 

 that put a severe tax on the enzyme- forming organs (blood cor- 

 puscles and cytogenic apparatus) they are designed to aid. In 

 using these agents, then, there is always danger that when we 

 take one step up the hill we shall slip back the length of two 

 steps. In other words, while we are by way of "curing" the can- 

 cer, we may kill the patient. 



As I have already suggested, it is only in a small residual mini- 

 mum of cases that we can hope to find the balance of nutritional 

 conditions in the system such that, when by a happy chance we 

 stumble on the right dosage of foreign protein, the aggregate 

 results of our effort is beneficial, and the local neoplasm is caused 

 to regress. 



Nevertheless, the evidence of these scattered and isolated cases, 

 in the midst of the great mass of failures, is in the highest degree 

 encouraging and enheartening, because, properly interpreted, it 

 tends to establish the general principle that the use of foreign 

 proteins may be of value in the treatment of the cancerous con- 

 dition. Even though the entire list of "biological remedies" 

 should stand condemned, these tentative remedies will have served 

 a useful purpose in pointing the way to a line of medication which 

 retains their advantages and eliminates their disadvantages. 



