COMMUNICABLE DISEASES. 213 



Bedding, mattress and pillows should be burned. The anti-diphtheric serum 

 should be used early and in large doses. The best authorities look upon 

 this remedy as a specific, always effecting a cure, provided it is given in time 

 and given in adequate doses. All those who have been exposed should 

 receive a prophylactic dose of the remedy (about 500 units). The other 

 remedial agents as gargles, sprays, etc., should not be neglected. The 

 diphtheria toxin acts on the heart and all patients should be warned against 

 any sudden or severe exertion until complete recovery is assured by the 

 attending physician as death has resulted from a single undue action, as 

 jumping or suddenly rising from bed. 



G. Cancer. — The primary cause, the secondary cause and the treat- 

 ment of cancer are all in the dark as yet. We know that this disease rarely 

 develops earlier than middle life. It usually runs a comparatively short 

 course (several months to two years), producing some rather marked symp- 

 toms (the cancerous cachexia), with constant pain, and a very characteristic 

 waxy pallor of the s kin It is to be hoped that the primary cause and the cure 

 will be discovered in a short time. There are some indications that a 

 tendency to cancer is inherited and that the primary cause is an organism 

 resembling the protozoa group. There is a popular belief that eating raw 

 tomatoes causes cancer, and it may be that the Plasmodium of Cancer 

 resides in some vegetable. Cancer may attack any tissue or organ, although 

 the internal viscera, as liver and stomach, are more commonly affected. 

 Cancer should be treated as a contagious disease though the proof of its 

 contagious nature is not conclusive. 



AU advertised cancer cures are fakes. There is no known cure for can- 

 cer, unless the GUman cancer vaccine proves to be one. Surgical removal of 

 cancerous growths has been the means of prolonging life, but the trouble is 

 very apt to recur. Many cases are inoperable. 



H. Plague.^-This disease, which is also known as black plague, the pest 

 bubonic plague, black death, etc., is essentially a filth disease. The pri- 

 mary cause is the non-sporogenous Bacillus pestis. The plague has occurred 

 epidemically from time to time throughout all ages. It is most virulent and 

 most prevalent (endemic) in the crowded cities of the warmer countries 

 (Oriental cities), where the sanitary conditions are often very bad. The 

 disease is highly contagious and infectious and is communicable not only to 

 man but also to rats, mice, dogs, squirrels and cattle. Rats, and the fleas 

 upon them, are lie principal carriers of the disease, although other animals 

 as ants and flies may also act as carriers. 



There are several forms of the plague of which the pneumonic is the most 

 dangerous and most infectious because the bacilli are spread by coughing 



and sneezing. 



In this disease thorough disinfection is of the greatest importance. The 



