156 SYMBIOSIS 



reactions in the tissues. Very special injurious stimulations, 

 of course, occasionally supervene and produce special accelerating 

 pathological effects. In the majority of cases, however, we may 

 take it that a distinct diathesis, due to pronounced metabolic 

 deterioration, obtains and is a fundamental cause of serious 

 failures of development. In my view, the exuberance of 

 tumour tissues and the concomitant cessation of vital development 

 in other directions is on a par with the well-known redundancy 

 and its direful degenerative concomitants so characteristic of 

 Parasitism . In either case, I believe, we have a diathesis primarily 

 caused by 'faulty food stimulation. I would indeed comprise 

 the " miser e physiologique " in both cases under the general 

 category of " parasitic diathesis." 



Dr. Mansell Moullin thinks that there are many isolated 

 facts suggesting that failure of a particular bio-chemical reaction 

 is the direct cause of the cessation of development and the 

 formation of tumours. One of these facts, he believes, relates 

 to the occasional disappearance of tumours. 



It is well known (he says), that tumours, especially those of the embry- 

 onic type sometimes stop growing, diminish in size and even disappear 

 under the influence of remedies which can only act through the medium 

 of the general nutrition. (Italics mine.) 



We are thus getting well on the trail of the " purloined 

 letter." The next step would be to scrutinise the adequacy of 

 the general nutrition an investigation to a certain extent "taboo" 

 with the powers that be in medicine. 



We are also told that the tumours that so often follow the 

 continued application to the skin of soot, tar, paraffin, and the 

 like, arise in a similar manner. Some substances were absorbed 

 which, in course of time, affect the nutrition and functional activity 

 of the skin, so that it becomes harsh and dry to the touch. This, 

 then, is further confirmation of the fact that food is seriously 

 implicated, and the observation is well worth pondering for 

 another reason : it is important from a diagnostic point of view. 

 The " ash " and dry appearance of the skin, in my opinion, is a 

 tell-tale symptom revealing an advanced "parasitic diathesis." 

 The skin is an important organ of elimination, which suffers in 

 efficiency of function and likewise in appearance from the 

 cumulative effects of mal-nutrition. Its morbidly pale appear- 

 ance in cancer and also in the case of many parasites indicates 

 that there is an encumbrance out of all proportion to the powers 



