258 THE PROTEAL TREATMENT OF CANCER 



It must be evident, I think, that reports made under such cir- 

 cumstances have peculiar value. In the nature of the case, they 

 are candid, frank, and uncolored. 



On the other hand, it must be borne in mind that, by the same 

 token, these men are for the most part not specialists of wide 

 experience in the treatment of cancer cases. A number of them 

 are such, to be sure, but in the main the physicians of the group 

 under consideration are general practitioners. But in a way 

 that makes their testimony all the more important, inasmuch as 

 it shows what the new line of treatment may be expected to 

 accomplish in the hands of the average practitioner. One of the 

 greatest merits of the Proteal treatment is that it enables isolated 

 physicians, in the remotest hamlets, to do something tangible and 

 definite toward ameliorating the condition of the cancer patient 

 who has passed beyond the reach of the surgeon. 



Thanks to the new treatment, the most inexperienced practi- 

 tioner can do more to-day for the amelioration of the condition 

 cf a late stage, inoperable cancer case that could hitherto be 

 accomplished by the most experienced practitioner in the best 

 metropolitan cancer hospital. 



The substantial unanimity of opinion as to the character of 

 results attained in their own practice by some hundreds of phy- 

 sicians scattered about the country, and in foreign countries, is 

 so striking a phenomenon that it is susceptible of but one inter- 

 pretation. It is impossible that all these men should be mistaken. 

 Their individual observations, when aggregated, pile mountain 

 high the evidence that the proteal treatment has remarkable effect 

 in relieving pain of the inoperable cancer subject; removing the 

 bad odor of cancerous discharges; improving the general health 

 of the patient ; and conspicuously modifying the condition of the 

 malignant neoplasm. 



After carefully scrutinizing the evidence, it is difficult to avoid 

 the conclusion that these beneficial effects of the proteal treat- 

 ment, in varying degree, may be observed in an overwhelming 

 proportion (not less, in my opinion, than 80 per cent.) of cases 

 of inoperable cancer, wherever located, in which the remedy is 

 administered in .suitable doses. 



This, it will be observed, postulates nothing as to the ultimate 

 effects of the treatment. It says nothing as to the "cure" of 

 cancer. As to that, I shall have something to say in detail a 

 little later. Here it suffices to note that the records under con- 

 sideration tell of definite and unequivocal improvement of the 

 most tangible character in a large proportion of cases ; such im- 

 provement amounting in a certain number of cases to seeming 

 clinical recovery. 



