362 THE PROLIFERATION OF CANCER 



and that after the age of 40, quite physiologically, so 

 that nothing occurs to make a man aware of it 

 physically, these conditions begin to be reversed and 

 more of the products of katabolism that is, the 

 remains of the dead cells tend to exist in the body- 

 fluids than was the case before middle age. 



Here we have a fact incidental to the cancer period 

 which suggests the possibility that these products of 

 katabolism may in some way predispose to the onset of 

 malignancy. It cannot possibly be suggested that they 

 are the cause of the disease, for if such were the case 

 everybody over the age of 40 would die of cancer; but 

 assuming that some product of katabolism may possibly 

 favor the onset of the disease, we may enlarge upon the 

 speculation and say that it is a certain morphological (or 

 chemical) element in a dead cell which may be the agent. 

 For the sake of argument it may be derived from either 

 the cytoplasm, the cell-wall, the nuclear wall, or the 

 linin, or it may be the chromatin itself. 



It is now known, of course, that the products of 

 katabolism actually contain causes of cell-reproduction ; 

 and it follows that if it is correct that these products are 

 in excess after the age of 40, there must be, ceteris 

 paribus, a greater inclination to cell-proliferation in a 

 tissue after that age than before it. To produce cell- 

 division it is necessary for a cell to absorb a certain 

 quantity of an auxetic, and to produce augmented 

 asymmetrical divisions by an alkaloid it requires a 

 certain combination (as already specified) between the 

 alkaloid and the auxetic. If cancer is due to this 

 combination, it is possible that before the age of 40 

 there is not usually sufficient free auxetic to produce 



