ALLEGED MICKOBIC OKIGIN OF TUMORS. 251 



observed the carcinoma bacillus and its spores as described by 

 Scheuerleu. His observations on the bacillus of sarcoma were 

 based on the examination of three cases. 



The bacillus found in them was thinner and longer than the can- 

 cer-bacillus. The cancer-bacillus, on the average, is 2 micromilli- 

 metres long, and 0.4 micromillimetre broad, while the sarcoma 

 bacillus measures 3 to 4 by 0.4 micromillimetres. The spores of 

 the sarcoma bacillus also resemble the spores of the cancer-bacillus, 

 except that they are a little larger and have a sharply-contoured 

 pole. The two microbes were cultivated upon the same nutrient 

 soil, producing a brown pigment. Inoculations of the pure culture 

 of the sarcoma bacillus have produced no results as yet, but Francke 

 thinks that four weeks is too short a time for sarcoma to develop, 

 and he will make another report later. Pfeiifer (" Der Scheuer- 

 len'scheKrebs-bacillusein Saprophyt," Deutsche med. Wochenschrift, 

 1888, No. 11) holds that Scheuerlen's carcinoma bacillus is a sapro- 

 phyte and identical with the proteus mirabilis of Hauser. 



Baumgarten (" Ueber Scheuerlen's Carcinom-bacillus," Oentral- 

 blatt f. Baderiologie u. Parasitenkunde, B. iii., No. 13) found a 

 potato bacillus which in size and shape resembled Scheuerlen's 

 bacillus of cancer, only that it exerted a somewhat liquefying effect 

 on gelatine. He found a similar bacillus in a sarcoma of the skull 

 and breast and in a neuroma of the hand. That Scheuerlen's 

 bacillus has no direct etiological bearing to cancer, he claims is 

 proved both by its occurrence in other tumors, and that it is not 

 always present in carcinoma. He believes that it is a potato bacil- 

 lus which has a wide distribution and consequently likely to con- 

 taminate culture media. 



Senger (" Studien zur Aetiologie des Carciuoms," Berl. Jclin. 

 Wochenschrift, 1888), in comparing malignant tumors with infec- 

 tive processes, affirms that their resemblance is marked. Thus 

 carcinoma, like a phlegmonous inflammation, follows the lymphatic 

 system, and, as in pyaemia, gives rise to metastasis. Again, in rare 

 cases, carcinoma appears as a miliary affection, which in a very 

 short time becomes diffuse and leads to serious disturbances of the 

 digestive and circulatory organs. Such cases can only be explained 

 by assuming that minute infective particles are introduced into the 

 circulation which give rise to innumerable embolic obstructions in 

 the capillary vessels where independent centres of growth are estab- 

 lished. As a last resemblance may be mentioned those numerous 

 cases of tar, paraffin, and chimney-sweeper's cancer, which often 

 attack young persons in whom no predisposition to cancer exists. 

 Senger does not believe that the cause of cancer is a microbe. 

 Under strict antiseptic precautions he made implantation experi- 

 ments of carcinoma tissue in mice, rabbits, and dogs, and on exam- 



