512 THE CHEMISTRY OF TUMORS 



not been ascertained.^^ They seem more indicative of the excessive 

 catabohsm of cachexia than of cancer tissue itself. SaxP* has as- 

 cribed part of the increased sulphur elimination to abnormal excre- 

 tion of sulphocyanid, and as small doses of sulphocyanides lead to 

 increased oxyproteic acid in the urine he suggests that in cancer there 

 is a specific disturbance in sulphocyanid metabolism, an hypothesis 

 that awaits confirmation. Of similar status is the excessive excretion 

 of glycuronic acid described by Roger. ^^ 



Israel, and also Engelmann, have reported the occurrence of a 

 marked increase in the lowering of the freezing-point of the blood in 

 carcinoma (as low as —0.60° to —0.63°, the normal being —0.56°), 

 which they attributed to the presence of excessive products of protein 

 decomposition in the blood. Engel,^" however, found no such in- 

 creased lowering of the freezing-point in his cases, and questions the 

 significance of the results of Israel and Engelmann. There may be a 

 dietary increase in the blood sugar in cancer, ^^ which rises more rapidly 

 and remains high longer than normal.^- The total protein of the blood 

 is low, with some increase in the proportion of globulin as is usual in 

 cachexia. ^^ According to Moore and Wilson^'' the acid-neutralizing 

 power of the blood ("alkalinity") is increased in cancer; this is prob- 

 ably related to if not the cause of the decreased HCl content of the 

 gastric juice, which occurs whether the cancer is in the stomach or not. 

 As this alkalinity is not associated with an increase in the inorganic 

 bases of the blood, it may be that the proteins have an increased 

 basicity. Although numerous other observers describe a decreased 

 alkalinity as in other cachectic conditions, ^^ Menten,^^ making direct 

 H-ion measurements, found an increase in alkalinity in the serum of 

 nearly all cases of carcinoma and sarcoma. The blood in cancer 

 contains less calcium than normal which results in a tendency to 

 osteoporosis" and to deposition of calcium in the kidney epithelium;^'* 

 there is an increase in the potassium of both the blood and tissues. ^^ 

 Blood analyses in 189 cases of cancer, by Theis and Stone, ^^ gave usu- 

 ally low figures for non-protein and urea nitrogen, but with amino-N 



" See Goodridge and Kahn, Biochem. Bull., 1915 (4), 118; Damask, Wien. klin. 

 Woch., 1915 (28), 499; Sassa, Biochem. Zeit., 1914 (64), 195. 



28 Biochem. Zeit., 1913 (55), 224. 



=»Bull. Hoc. Med. Hop., Paris, 1915 (31), 499. 



»" Berl. klin. Woch., 1904 (41), 828. 



51 Williams and Humphreys, Arch. Int. Med., 1919 (23), 537. 



'- Rohdenburg, Bernard and Krehbiel, Jour. Amcr. Med. Assoc, 1919 (72), 

 1528. 



'' Loebner, Deut. Arch. klin. Med., 1918 (127), 397. 



5' Biochem. Jour., 1906 (1), 297: Watson, Jour. Path, and Bact., 1909 (13), 

 429; Sturrock, Brit. Med. Jour., 1913 (2), 780. 



»^ See Traube, Int. Zeit. Physik.-Chem. Biol., 1914 (1), 389. 



3" Jour. Cancer Res., 1917 (2), 179. 



" Goldzieher, Verb. Deut. Path. Ges., 1912 (15), 283. 



"8 M. B. Schmidt., Verb. Deut. Path. Ges., 1913 (16), 329. 



" Mottram, .\rch. Middlesex Hosp., 1910 (19), 40. 



*" Jour. Cancer Res., 1919 (4), 349. 



