100* 



of cancer, which may be said to give proclivity to it ? If so,, 

 the term cancerous diathesis may be justly applied to such 

 a condition. As Mr. Hutchinson points out, " Cancer in 

 the main is obviously dependent upon age ; it is in nine 

 cases out of ten part of senility a sort of second childhood 

 of the tissues. . . . We shall probably be not far from 

 the truth if we admit senility of tissues, local or general, to 

 be the one predisposing cause of cancer with which we are 

 acquainted : whilst injuries and all forms of local irritation 

 are its exciting causes. A little step further may next be 

 taken in the belief that everything which tends to hasten 

 senility, either local or general, will increase the .predisposing 

 influence, and in this category may be placed anxiety, 

 distress, overwork, and excesses of all kinds." 



That the development of all malignant tumours or growths 

 is materially influenced by constitutional conditions admits 

 of no doubt ; also that neoplastic processes when occurring 

 locally may be, and are generally, modified by the general 

 state of the constitution : moreover, in the case of malig- 

 nant new growths, this constitutional or diathetic condition 

 is undoubtedly capable of determining the development of 

 the neoplasm. The influence of hereditary predisposition 

 as an etiological source of new growths, is, indeed, all- 

 important : as Dr. Green says : " The inherited peculiarity 

 is probably, in most cases, a local rather than a general 

 one, consisting in some peculiarity of the constitution affec- 

 ting the tissues from which the new growths originate, some 

 peculiarity which renders them more prone than other 

 tissues to undergo abnormal development : . 

 the tendency would appear to consist in a predisposition of 

 the tissues themselves to become the seats of new forma- 

 tions." Whether we may agree with Dr. Green or not as to 



