THE AUXETICS OF IRRITATION 349 



a "corn," and to the "induration" of a tissue which is 

 under pressure or being chronically irritated. In reality 

 "irritation" must be followed by chronic cell-prolifera- 

 tion due to the auxetics produced. 



Now, the chief characteristic of cancer is that it 

 consists of a growth of cells which are proliferating 

 excessively. Every cancer is a growth which infiltrates 

 the surrounding tissues; and this growth occurs pro- 

 bably in every instance in a site in which there is 

 chronic irritation or rather where there is chronic 

 cell-proliferation of healing due to auxetics. 



One may suggest, therefore, that since the prolifera- 

 tion of chronic irritation is due to the auxetics produced 

 by cell-death, the proliferation of cancer is also associated 

 with them. The proliferation of chronic irritation, 

 however, is a normal one, whereas that of cancer is 

 a malignant one. If the cause of the normal prolifera- 

 tion is removed, then ultimately proliferation ceases; 

 but if the irritation which predisposed to cancer is 

 removed, the malignant cells appear to continue to 

 multiply until the patient dies. Yet cancer-cells are 

 cells of the body. They are not foreign parasites, and 

 hence it may be that in a cancerous growth there is 

 some other factor in addition to the normal ones. 

 Therefore it may also be suggested that the onset of 

 cancer in a normal healing site may be brought about 

 by the presence of another agent in addition to the 

 normal auxetics produced by cell-death. 



Now let us return to the "augmenting" of the 

 action of auxetics in promoting cell-division by putre- 

 faction and by the alkaloid atropine. It is well known 



