EXPERIMENT REQUIRED 371 



MacGregor, that he had never seen a case of cancer 

 among the Esquimo. 



The "error of random sampling," however, must 

 be considered with the question of the "local inci- 

 dence" of cancer. Very large figures would have to 

 be studied before one could say conclusively whether 

 the incidence of the disease is actually greater in some 

 localities than in others, and experimentation with 

 animals in the confines of the laboratory cannot, we 

 think, determine whether putrefaction is more likely 

 to occur in one place than in another. Still, the 

 remark of Sir William MacGregor is striking, because 

 it is clear that putrefactive bacteria cannot be present 

 to so great an extent in the Arctic regions as in 

 temperate and tropical climates. 



The above consideration led us to believe that our 

 researches did harmonise with the facts known about 

 carcinoma. The fact that cell-proliferation is caused 

 by auxetics contained in the soluble remains of dead 

 tissues offers for the first time an explanation of 

 the remarkable age-incidence of the disease; and the 

 augmented asymmetrical division induced by these 

 auxetics combined with alkaloids of putrefaction 

 seemed to be a reasonable explanation of the cause 

 of cancer. Proof w r as wanting, however. Cancer-cells 

 have been seen frequently to divide by asymmetrical 

 divisions, but because one can induce these mitoses in 

 cells is not proof that one is necessarily inducing 

 malignant proliferation. 1 



1 As a matter of fact, the five-fold augmentation by alkaloids is a more 

 important consideration than the asymmetrical mitoses induced by them. 



