292 



NATURE 



[July 30, 1908 



CANCER AND ITS TREATMENT. 

 (i) The Conquest of Cancer: a Plan of Campaign. 



Bv C. W. Saleebj'. Pp. xxiv + 3g7. (London : 



Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1907.) Price ys. 6d. net. 

 (2) Cancer: Relief of Pain and Possible Cure. By 



Skene Keith and Georfje E. Keith. Pp. ix+155. 



(London : .Vdam and Charles Black, 1908.) Price 



2s. 6d. net. 

 (i) T N the " Conquest of Cancer " Dr. Saleeby gives 

 ^ a full account of the trophoblastic theory of 

 cancer, and of the evidence which led Dr. Beard 

 to suggest the pancreatic enzymes as a rational treat- 

 ment for the disease. 



Briefly stated, Dr. Beard believes that as in the 

 development of lower animals there is an alternation 

 of an asexual and of a sexual generation, so in the 

 higher animals there is an asexual larval stage upon 

 which the embryo proper develops. The larval tissue 

 or trophoblast is transitory, and its germ cells should 

 entirely disappear ; but the germ cells may wander 

 widely, and tlie natural degeneration they should 

 undergo may not ensue. If the latter event happen, 

 the ultimate fate of the aberrant germ cells varies ; 

 they may lie quiescent throughout life, or for some 

 reason they may start into active proliferation. 

 Should the latter event occur a cancerous growth is 

 the result. 



Now the normal degeneration and disappearance of 

 the trophoblastic tissue coincide, according to Dr. 

 Beard, with the development of the activity of the 

 pancreas, and are due, according to him, to the diges- 

 tive action of the pancreatic enzymes. If the pan- 

 creatic enzymes thus cause the disappearance of the 

 trophoblastic tissue of the embryo, it may be expected 

 that the same injected into a person suffering from a 

 cancerous growth will similarly cause the growth to 

 degenerate. The pancreatic enzymes attack and 

 digest trophoblastic tissue, whether of the embryo or of 

 the cancer, but have no effect on the normal tissues. 

 This in brief is the theory on which the pancreatic 

 enzyme treatment is based. 



In the second half of the volume practical details 

 ar-2 considered — cancer and surgery, preparation of 

 ferments and details of treatment, claims of the treat- 

 ment, and results obtained. Dr. Saleeby, of course, 

 is enthusiastic; other accounts by no means support 

 his enthusiasm. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that 

 the method will have a thorough trial with approved 

 preparations of the ferments. 



In the final portion of the book the medical journals 

 which have criticised the enzyme treatment come in 

 for some hard sayings on the part of Dr. Saleeby. 

 Nature^ too, does not escape. Dr. Saleeby says : — 



" Nature is not a medical journal, but the leading 

 scientific journal in this country. It published 

 (December 20, 1906) an adverse comment on my Pall 

 Mall Gazette articles, and in its reply to the letter 

 which its remarks drew from Dr. Beard stated that 

 ' the pancreatic enzymes must be injected into the 

 neighbourhood of the growth or used locally ; how 

 then could the secondary growths in internal organs be 

 attacked ! L'ntil this can be done, no cure for cancer 

 will have been obtained.' Dr. Beard's second letter, 

 correcting this most important and inexcusable error, 



NO. 2022, VOL. 731 



was not inserted, and the statement was allowed to 

 stand." 



The qualifying words " we believe " (which appear 

 before " the pancreatic enzymes," &c., in the original) 

 are omitted from this quotation, and " this inexcusable 

 error " was not allowed to stand, but was corrected 

 in Nature of February 28, 1907, p. 424. If this be a 

 sample of Dr. Saleeby 's accuracy, a doubt must arise 

 as to the exactness of some of his other quotations. 



(2) In the introduction to the second book, 

 "Cancer," the authors remark, "We gave trypsin a 

 very extensive trial, but were completely disappointed 

 in its use." The treatment advocated is the injectiorv 

 of a mixture of iodipin (an organic . iodine combina- 

 tion), cacodylate of iron (an arsenic preparation), and, 

 cinnimate of sodium. The authors claim that this 

 treatment markedly relieves the pain and other symp- 

 toms of cancer, and occasionally seems to cure. 



R. T. H. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Mosses and Li^'er-d'orts : an Introduction to their 

 Study, 'cvith Hints as to their Collection and 

 Preservation. By H. T. Russell. Pp. xiii-l-200. 

 (London : Sampson Low, Marston and Co., Ltd., 

 190S.) Price 4s. 6d. net. 

 Notwithstanding the frequent use of the term " life- 

 history," the book under consideration only deals with 

 the morphological side of the subject, and will be of 

 greater service to systematists than to biologists. In 

 the majority of systematic works, only just those 

 structural features are countenanced that enable a 

 student to determine the naine of a given plant, the 

 result being that a person may become fairlv safe on 

 the matter of names, whilst remaining quite inno- 

 cent as to the general morphological and physiological 

 features of the group he is studying. The second type 

 of book, dealing with morphology proper, cytology, 

 physiology, &c., that is, the biological aspect of the 

 plant, is usually carefully avoided by the systematist. 

 The present book follows a mean of the two extremes, 

 and contains much useful information that would 

 enable the systematist better to appreciate the part 

 played by mosses and liverworts in the scheme of 

 nature, and the ways and means by which such part 

 is played. 



Commencing with habitats, a very interesting ac- 

 count is given of the broad effects produced in nature 

 by these minute plants, and also of tlieir likes and 

 dislikes in connection with climate, geological forma- 

 tions, and the surrounding vegetation. Commencing 

 with the germination of the spore, the general mor- 

 phological features of the succeeding structures of 

 the asexual and sexual stages of a moss are treated 

 somewhat in detail. The various vegetative modes 

 of reproduction are also explained with accuracy. In 

 dealing with the biological aspect of the subject, the 

 author is not so much at home. Touching on the 

 subject of fertilisation, it is stated : — "As a matter of 

 fact we know no more of this process of fertilisation, 

 what it is and how it is effected, than we know what 

 life itself is and how it originated." Notwithstanding 

 the occurrence of a few such blemishes, the book, as 

 already stated, should prove of value to those students 

 of mosses and liverworts whose sole knowledge of the 

 structure of. these plants is obtained from systematic 

 works. 



Eleven plates of very good figures illustrate the 

 majority of the structural features dealt with in the 

 text. 



