THE PREVENTION AND CURE OF CANCER 303 



at which the enzymic response has reached the maximum. If, 

 then, the administration of large doses of Proteals is continued 

 at short intervals, the demands put upon the corpuscles in dealing 

 with the proteins thus introduced may exhaust their resources, 

 tending to induce a condition of pernicious anaemia. 



The rational procedure in such a case is to discontinue for a 

 time the administration of the protein to which the body has 

 become "immunized" ; either giving no treatment at all for a time 

 (days or weeks, according to the progress of the case), or else 

 substituting small doses of different proteins. In either case, the 

 dose of the original protein should be small when its use is 

 resumed. Patients who had discontinued the treatment for a 

 term of weeks have repeatedly been observed, on resumption of 

 the treatment, to react as vigorously to the small doses as if 

 taking it for the first time. 



From all this it will appear that no mere rule of thumb can be 

 applied in determining the dosage, interval of administration, or 

 length of treatment with protein antigens of any individual case 

 of cancer. In general, it may be said that the dose to be aimed 

 at is that which will carry the red blood count and the haemo- 

 globin test to the normal, and keep the large mononuclear leuco- 

 cytes in adequate cohorts. 



It should be recalled that no treatment can hope to produce 

 better general systemic conditions than the individual patient ex- 

 perienced during his normal life; hence that every one who has 

 suffered from cancer must always be more or less liable to recur- 

 rence, unless, indeed, it should ultimately be shown that a meas- 

 ure of immunity results from regression of the neoplasm. 



In other words, the cancer would not originally have developed 

 had there not been certain inherent defects in the bodily mech- 

 anism of the individual. Often these defects are hereditary. 

 Usually they are associated with the on-coming of old age, prema- 

 ture or otherwise. They mark a condition in which the capacity 

 of the organism to deal with protein metabolism is waning. So 

 this individual will probably always need the prop of an artificial 

 stimulant to the cytogenic apparatus from time to time. Proteals 

 supply such a prop. Their use will probably become routine prac- 

 tice not only in the post-operative treatment of cancer subjects, 

 but in the after-year treatment of cases that have had the neo- 

 plasms removed by the action of Proteals themselves. 



Obviously the same thing applies to cases treated successfully 

 with X-ray and radium. 



In a word, it may be expected that the province of Proteal 

 therapy will be by no means confined to the treatment of cancer, 

 but will have a place at least as important, and conceivably more 

 important, in the prevention of recurrence after the local neoplasm 



