ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
187 
origin has not yet been brought forward by any of its advocates. All the 
appearances, all the cancer bodies, which have been pointed to as in- 
indicative of parasites are, according to the author, merely the result of 
modifications of the cells and their nuclei ; the nucleus and para- 
nucleus become, as it were, dislocated and fragmented, and in consequence 
of the growth of so many independent portions or of their altered position 
so are produced many of the extraordinary appearances observed in 
cancer. Besides this anomalous condition of the nucleus and para- 
nucleus, distinguishable by their blue and red staining reaction, the cell- 
plasma itself undergoes various degenerations, softening, vacuolation, 
keratinization, Ac. 
Transference of Cancer to Animals.* — MM. Duplay and Cazin, who 
have made about 120 attempts to inoculate or to implant malignant neo- 
plasms in animals (rats and dogs), conclude that cancer is not transferable 
from one animal to another, notwithstanding that some of their experi- 
ments were attended with successful results. In one series pieces of a 
tumour from the vagina of an old bitch were inoculated (implanted) on the 
prepuce of a dog. Numerous new tumours of the same structure as the 
original growth developed. Ten months after, tumours of a distinctly 
epithelial character were found on post mortem examination in the 
testicles ; but as no secondary developments were found in the original 
dog, it would be risky to assume a connection between the primary and 
secondary infection growths. In another series a fibroma developed in 
the mamma of a rat after inoculation of the teat from a spontaneous 
tumour in another rat, the character of both growths being alike. 
Coccidian Origin of Cancer. j — Dr. Fabre-Domergue has reviewed 
at some length the statements of numerous writers on the parasites of 
cancer, and after criticizing them fairly and fully, sums up the position 
as follows : — The parasitic theory of cancer, originating from the works 
of Pfeiffer, Darier, Wickham, and Albarran, is based on observations 
which have no connection or analogy among themselves. The forms 
described as Sporozoa have nothing in common with these animals save 
a morphological resemblance, and do not possess their true characters. 
All the pseudo-coccidia hithnrto depicted are united by insensible 
gradations to the neoplastic cell from which they are derived by a 
process of degeneration. 
The epithelial cancers of Mammalia, really homologous with those 
of Man, do not show any parasitic forms. In attempting to demonstrate 
the necessity of a parasitic astiology by comparing epithelial cancers 
with galls on plants, and the infectious neoplasms of animals, the 
advocates of the parasitic theory have failed to recognize the essential 
nature of cancer, and they use terms which have nothing in common. 
The author’s paper is profusely illustrated with wood engravings and 
coloured plates, the latter being quite original and showing every 
possible phase of the “ cancer body.” 
* Mitteil. XI. Internat. Med. Kongresse in Rom. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xvi. (1894) pp. 574-5. 
f Ann. de Micrographie, vi. (1894) pp. 59-77, 97-110, 145-64, 211-36, 579-87, 
603-14 (5 coloured pis.). 
