BANISHING THE PLAGUES 



was under way, had a large number of cancerous 

 mice under observation, and other investigators were 

 working along similar lines. In 1912 Professor A. 

 von Wassermann of Berlin announced that he had 

 synthesized a compound of eosin and selenium, which 

 had the specific property of disintegrating cancerous 

 tumors in mice. Not long afterward Professor Ehr- 

 lich announced similar results. But in both cases 

 it was specifically stated that the remedy had not 

 been tested on the human subject. There is reason 

 to hope, however, that the synthesis of a drug which 

 has this specific action against the cancerous tissue 

 of a mouse at least points the way to the ultimate 

 application of the remedy or of some modified de- 

 velopment of the remedy, to this most deadly and 

 intractable of human maladies. 



It was announced early in 1913 that Dr. Leo Loeb 

 of St. Louis, who has long been working at the cancer 

 problem, had developed a compound of colloidal cop- 

 per which had been tested with at least partially 

 encouraging results on the human subject. Up to 

 this time the cause of the cancer has remained quite 

 unknown. It is not even certain whether the causal 

 agent is a living germ. So the experimenters who 

 are attempting to devise remedies for the malignant 

 growth are working in the dark. Nevertheless many 

 medical men are hopeful that the searchers are on 

 the track of the chemical cure for cancer, and it is 

 easily within the possibilities that this may be dis- 

 covered before the actual cause of the condition is 

 known. It will be recalled that the causal agent of 

 smallpox is unknown even to this day although the 



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