APPENDIX C 



"WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CANCER 



Francis Carter Wood, M.D. 



Condensed from the Bulletin of the New York State Department of Health. 



Cancer not a Germ Disease. — The cause of cancer is still 

 unknown, but this does not prevent our being able to cure it. 

 The disease is quite unlike those due to germs, of which so 

 much has been learned in the last thirty years, and no germ 

 which is capable of causing cancer in human beings or in ani- 

 mals has been found. Cancer is, therefore, not contagious, and 

 there is no danger in treating or in dressing a cancer case. 

 Ordinary cleanliness, however, requires that the soiled dress- 

 ings shall be burned — not because there is any danger of 

 contagion of cancer, but because the discharges and dressings 

 contain germs such as those which cause boils, erysipelas, and 

 other skin inflammations. 



Cancer not Contagious. — As cancer is not contagious there 

 is no reason to believe the stories, so often told, of " cancer 

 houses," or " cancer villages " or " cancer belts." The occur- 

 rence of a large number of cases of cancer in a house can 

 usually be shown to be due to the fact that the house has been 

 occupied by old people. Since cancer is a disease of old age 

 there will naturally be more cases of the disease in such a 

 house than in one which has been occupied by a number of 

 young people. 



Cancer not Hereditary. — Cancer is not hereditary, although 

 much has been said and written about certain experiments with 

 strains of white mice to show that, by inbreeding, the occur- 

 rence of cancer in these animals is much increased. While 



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