240 THE PROTEAL TREATMENT OF CANCER 



The results achieved, in the treatment of 49 cases of inoperable 

 cancer in the human subject, were so striking that I shall have 

 occasion to summarize them in a moment, and to make brief 

 quotations from the case records. I shall cite also results attained 

 by Klinger in the treatment of cancer with his animal autoly sates, 

 for comparison with the results attained in the use of vegetable 

 proteins. It will be clear, I think, that there is at least a strong 

 presumption when we note the striking similarity of these inde- 

 pendent reports as to the effect on the pain of the cancer subject, 

 on the character of the discharge from the tumor, and on the 

 tumor itself that a common principle is involved in the three 

 types of therapeutic procedure. And it -seems to 'be scarcely open 

 to question that the most plausible hypothesis to put the case 

 mildly as to the character of this common agent is the assump- 

 tion that it is a protein or a protein derivative. 



Had the authors of the paper in question conceived that pro- 

 teins were indeed the active agent in their remedy, their entire 

 outlook on the subject would have been changed, and in ev^ry 

 probability they would have gone forward to perfect a discovery 

 at the verge of which they paused. That they missed the dis- 

 covery, yet missed it narrowly, is revealed almost pathetically in 

 the summary of conclusion with which they finished their paper, 

 when, following deductions that are not pertinent to the present 

 aspect of the subject, they conclude: 



"(3) That there is a substance common to many tissues, but 

 present in varying degrees, which has a positive influence in 

 immunity and cure in animals. 



"(4) That the application of these results to the treatment of 

 human tumors results in a temporary improvement in some cases, 

 and in some few cases in an apparent cure. 



"(5) That there is still lacking something which will carry 

 improvement observed to a successful issue. In what direction 

 search for such a substance or for an explanation of the problem 

 is to be made is at present unknown." 



The concluding sentence makes it unqualifiedly clear that the 

 authors were entirely at sea ; that their observations were merely 

 empirical ; and that they came to no generalizations that could by 

 any possibility be claimed as constituting the discovery of the 

 protein principle. Had they made such a generalization, the 

 entire history of the cancer problem would have been changed 

 from that moment ; and, quite incidentally, my own work in this 

 field would have been unnecessary and would never have been 

 undertaken. 



Looking back, in the light of recent developments, it seems 

 strange that the authors should have failed of the prevision, the 

 imagination, that would link their observations one with another 



