396 PREVENTION OF PROLIFERATION 



cases which have been operated on do not come to 

 our notice; we therefore take the liberty of suggesting 

 that the prevention of recurrence might be under- 

 taken by those who can watch a series of these cases 

 which have been operated on. We cannot say, of 

 course, whether recurrence will be prevented by rectal 

 injections of defibrinated blood, but the treatment 

 is harmless and it appears to be worthy of a trial. 



If cancer is due to the causes which we think it to 

 be, the reason for recurrence after removal of the 

 original growth, which occurs in some cases in the 

 operation scar, is open to two explanations: (1) that it 

 may be due to portions of the original growth which 

 have not been removed, and (2) that the healing site, 

 although healing occurs by first intention, is a fruitful 

 source of auxetics, and that the operation wound may 

 easily become infected by the putrefactive organisms 

 during the removal of the original growths. As already 

 pointed out, certain putrefactive bacteria do not neces- 

 sarily also cause suppuration; and therefore recurrence 

 in the scar may be due to a fresh attack of cancer there. 

 The proliferation of healing (even in a site healing by 

 first intention) probably continues for weeks if not for 

 months after the injury, because the initial proliferation 

 increases the number of deaths, and possibly it is a long 

 time before normal elimination is sufficiently restored to 

 put a stop to the abnormal proliferation. 



One frequently hears of cases in which "recurrence" 

 takes place perhaps ten years after removal of the 

 original growth. This must be due to a fresh attack of 

 cancer. One of the commonest sites for it is in the 



