Treatment  of  Human  Cancer.  191 
kind  of  substances  they  used ;  and  although  v.  Wassermann  em- 
phasizes the  labile  nature  of  the  combination  he  employed,  he  does 
not  describe  his  preparation.4  In  our  first  experiments  we  tested  the 
effect  of  various  copper  preparations  on  mouse  carcinoma.5  The 
mouse  carcinoma,  which  we  use  in  our  laboratory,  is  a  very  rapidly 
growing  tumor,  and  it  occurred  to  us  that  human  cancer,  which  in 
most  cases  grows  much  more  slowly  than  our  mouse  cancer,  might 
be  a  much  more  favorable  object  for  testing  the  efficiency  of  various 
substances.  We  established  the  lethal  dose  of  our  preparation  in 
various  species  of  animals,  and  then  undertook  to  employ  the  sub- 
stance in  cases  of  human  cancer. 
The  first  preliminary  experiments  on  human  cancer  were  carried 
out  during  May,  1912,  with  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Carroll  Smith. 
During  last  October  and  November  this  work  was  taken  up  on  a 
larger  scale,  and  we  now  wish  to  report  on  our  result  in  these  later 
investigations.6  , 
We  used  a  colloidal  solution  of  copper  prepared  according  to 
Bredig's  method.6    Each  patient  received  daily  an  intravenous  in- 
4  Caspari  and  Neuberg  (Deutsch.  med.  Wochenschr.,  Vol.  38,  p.  375,  1912). 
Neuberg,  Caspari  and  Loehe  (Berl.  klin.  Wochenschr.,  July  22nd,  1912). 
In  their  first  article  Caspari  and  Neuberg  refer  to  a  notice  in  the  daily 
press,  according  to  which  Gaube  du  Gers,  in  Paris,  treated  some  cases  of 
cancer  successfully  with  heavy  metals.  After  we  had  begun  our  work  on 
human  cancer  we  saw  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
P-  1773,  June  8th,  1912,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry,  a  statement  that  Gaube  du  Gers, 
in  Paris,  had  used  colloidal  copper  in  the  treatment  of  cancer,  but  that  the 
references  to  the  treatment  appeared  only  in  the  daily  press,  and  that  no 
scientific  account  was  available.  We  have  been  unable  to  find  out  what 
method  was  used  by  du  Gers,  and  what  his  results  were.  Recently  our 
attention  was  called,  by  Dr.  W.  E.  Leighton,  to  a  note  by  Drs.  M.  Laurent 
and  J.  Bohee  in  the  Medical  Press  and  Circular,  October  30th,  1912,  in  which 
they  state  that  they  gave  several  intravenous  and  intramuscular  injections  of 
colloid  selenium  in  a  case  of  cancer  of  the  stomach.  They  state  that  the 
pain  the  patient  suffered  was  diminished,  and  that  his  general  condition 
improved. 
5  These  investigations  are  being  conducted  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  M.  S. 
Fleisher  and  Dr.  W.  E.  Leighton  and  will  be  described  at  a  later  date. 
6  During  my  absence  from  St.  Louis  last  summer  Dr.  M.  S.  Fleisher  con- 
tinued, at  my  request,  these  preliminary  tests. 
Professor  E.  H.  Keiser,  of  St.  Louis,  assisted  us  very  kindly  in  the 
preparation  of  various  substances  which  were  used.  To  my  colleagues  at  the 
Barnard  (Free)  Skin  and  Cancer  Hospital,  especially  to  Dr.  N.  B.  Carson 
and  to  Dr.  M.  F.  Engman,  I  am  much  indebted  for  the  interest  they  are 
taking  in  the  progress  of  the  work.    [Leo  Loeb.] 
Am. Jour.  Pbarm.  ) 
April,  1913.  J 
