MISCELLANEOUS SERA AND EXTRACTS 67 



Anticarcinomatous Extracts. — Extracts have been 

 prepared from various normal and abnormal animal 

 tissues for use in the treatment of cancer. While cer- 

 tain of these gave great promise at first and ap- 

 parently brought about cures, none of them so far have 

 stood the test of time. Again, certain substances that 

 have given successful results in the cure of the arti- 

 ficially implanted malignant tumors in lower animals, 

 have not had the same effects in corresponding disease 

 in man. Among non-specific products that have been 

 tried for this purpose may be mentioned extracts of 

 thymus and thyroid glands, spleen, and pancreas. 

 Coca and Gilman prepared emulsions from human 

 carcinomata and injected them into patients suffering 

 from growths of similar histology. This method was 

 hailed at first as the long-looked- for specific non-surgi- 

 cal treatment for cancer, but has not lived up to ex- 

 pectations. The injection was supposed to stimulate 

 the formation in the patient's blood of substances capa- 

 ble of dissolving the tumor tissue. Recognizing that 

 malignant tumors are analogous in histological and 

 physiological characteristics to embryonic tissues, 

 Fichera {Lancet, Oct., 1911) announced the results of 

 his experiments with autolysates of fetal tissues in 

 patients suffering from carcinoma. Of 36 patients, in 

 18 the results were inconclusive, in 8 there was no 



