Ionic surgery in the treatment of cancer : with a chapter on ionization in surgical tuberculosis and in hemorrhoids

Front matter

in 2010 witin funding from

Open Knowledge Commons

IONIC SURGERY

Preface

This work embodies the results of sixteen years' surgical employment of the electrically diffused ions of zinc and mercury in the destructive sterilization of cancerous growths, and contains a description of the latest technical and operative details of the method, which was first presented to the medical world by the author in a paper read before the Philadelphia County Medical Society January 9, 1895, and published in the Medical News in the following March. To this technical consideration of the subject is appended a detailed report of all cases treated, whether the results were successful or not, arranged in accordance with the portion of the body affected. Believing that the recent increase in the attention bestowed on cancerous affections warrants it, a brief recapitulation of the known facts concerning these affections is given in the first portion of the book. A final chapter has been added on the ionic treatment of tubercular adenitis and of hemorrhoids.

While the report of a large number of cases of cancer may be dry reading to some who may peruse these pages, it was considered necessary to picture the results in full, for the method, though still a new one, has been employed for a sufficient time to obtain results by which to test the claims made for it. A statement of these claims will be found in Chapter VIIL The case histories, moreover, should be of particular value to those who have begun to use the method or who propose doing so, making it possible for them to avoid the errors and mistakes of the originator of the procedure.

In compiling these notes of cases, with their final terminations or the present conditions of their subjects, the author has thought it best to confine himself to his personal experience alone, on account of the extra labor involved in ascertaining the present condition of the patients reported by others, though he is w^ell informed of the successful use of major ionic operations for cancer by a number of colleagues, of whom the most notable are : Dr. Amedee Granger, of New iv Preface.

Orleans, who has reported his results in a large number of cases in several communications to state and national societies, which were duly published in the medical press ; Dr. Frederick C. Keck, of San Francisco, Calif.; Dr. Frank E. Peckham, of Providence, R. I. ; Dr. Frederick O. Marsh, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Dr. W. D. McFee,of Haverhill, Mass.; Dr. R. Wiss, of Meridian, Miss. ; Dr. C. R. Dickson, of Toronto, Can. ; Dr. A. R. Pingle, of London, Ontario, Can., and others. Descriptions of the method are also contained in Boardman Reed's work on " Diseases of the Stomach and Intestines," and in H. Lewis Jones' work on " Electro-Therapeutics."

A portion of the book has appeared in serial form in the pages of The Journal of Advanced Therapeutics, New York, and of Archives of the Roentgen Ray, London, England.

One of the motives uppermost in the author's mind in the preparation of this work was the hope that it would be the means of calling renewed attention to the early stages of cancerous growths, that earlier diagnoses may be made, and the patients brought under treatment during this favorable period ; for, though the call for early diagnosis and treatment has become a conspicuous note in the recent literature of malignant disease, it is believed that a great awakening is still needed, in order that this increasing menace to humanity may be robbed of some, at least, of its victims while we are waiting for that clearer knowledge of its nature that will lead to effective prevention.

183 1 Chestnut St., Philadelphia.

Contents

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I The Nature of Malignant Growths

Cellular nature and histologic characteristics — Classification — Nature of the cancerous process — The autocytic theory — The parasitic theory — Clinical evidences that cancer is due to the invasion of an extrinsic germ

CHAPTER n

The Search for Possible Cancer Germs

Soil conditions — Alode of infection — Life history — Local dissemination— Regional dissemination — General dissemination , lo

CHAPTER HI

The Differential Diagnosis of Malignant Growths

Clinical evidences of malignancy and of the species of a malignant growth — Clinical examination — Microscopic diagnosis 21

CHAPTER IV

The Destruction of Malignant Growths by the Local Cataphoric Diffusion of jMetallic Ions

Cancer a curable disease in early stages — Difficulties attending removal — Value of author's method — How the method was discovered — Reserve necessary in estimating actuality of cure 30 vi Contents.

CHAPTER V

The Physics of the Ionic Sterilization Process, as Employed IN THE Devitalization of Disease Areas

PAGE

Electrolysis — Phoresis — Experimental demonstration of mercury diffusion within flesh. . ' 40

CHAPTER VI

Selection and Installation of Apparatus Required for Ionic Surgery

Source of current — Direct current mains — Alternating current mains — Dry cells — Control of current — Measurement of current— The Ionization Table — Dispersing pad — Active electrodes— Insulation of electrodes — Amalgamation — Arrangement of portable apparatus

CHAPTER VII

Operative Details of Ionic Applications

Major monopolar operation — Maximum currents safely applied by it — Major bipolar operation — After care of patients — The minor application — After observation — Post-operative radiotherapy and phototherapy /S

CHAPTER VIII

Concerning the Choice of Method in the Treatment of Malignant Growths in Various Situations and Stages

Indications governing the choice between ionization and other methods — Comparative advantages of ionization — Comparative disadvantages of ionization — Conclusions as to choice of method — Choice of major or minor ionic methods . . . gi

CHAPTER IX

Applications to the Face .

Contents. vii

CHAPTER X

PAGE

CHAPTER XI Applications to the Lips I74

CHAPTER Xn Applications to the Breast 180

CHAPTER Xni Applications to the Cervix Uteri . 199

CHAPTER XIV Applications to the Rectal and Anal Regions . . . 208

CHAPTER XV

Miscellaneous Cases of Malignant Disease in which Zinc-Mercury Ionization Was Used 226

CHAPTER XVI

Surgical Ionization in Accessible Tubercular^ Deposits AND IN Hemorrhoids 234

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FIG. PAGE

1. Diagram of Monopolar Ionic Operation in Cancer of the

Breast 34

2. Motor-Transformer of Holtzer-Cabot Type Suitable for

Ionic Surger}' 47

3. Diagram of Connections on Dynamo of Motor-Transformer 48

4. Portable Dry-cell Battery with Switchboard .... 49

5. Portable Dry-cell Battery with Switchboard Raised ... 50

6. Pocket Ammeter 51

7. Massey Universal Graphite Controller .... . . . 52

8. Plan of Wiring of Graphite Controller 53

9. Diagram of the Several Paths or Shunts of a Controller . 54

10. Massey Type of Weston Meter 55

11. Ionization Table 57

12. Rear View of Ionization Table 59

13. Kaolin Pads 61

14. Copper Sterilizer for Kaolin Pads 62

15. Author's Zinc-mercury Cancer Electrodes . . . . .67

16. Major Spade-shaped Uterine Electrode, Insulated ... 69

17. Diagram of Arrangement of Portable Apparatus ... 71

18. Diagram of Zones in Bipolar Operation 78

19. Diagram of Plate Zinc employed as Bipolar Negative Elec-

trode 79

20. Negative Bipolar Electrode for External Situations ... 80

21. Case No. 50 Before Treatment 102

23. Case 28 Nine Months after Treatment 104

25. Case 93. Appearance Four and One-half Years After Treat-

ment 105

27. Case 234 After Treatment 109

28. Case 307 Before Treatment no

29. Case 307 After One Bipolar Treatment in

31. Case 347 After One ^Major Application 113

32. Case 347 After Separation of Bone and Final Healing . . 113

34. Case 364 After One Dispensary' Treatment 114

36. Case 354 as Scar Appears Three Years Later .... 117 ix

X List of illustrations.

FIG. PAGE

38. Case 420 Four Months Later 119

40. Case 529 Four Months Later 123

42. Case 89 One Year and Four ^Months Later .... 126

44. Patient shown in Fig. 43 Five Days Later 129

45. Patient Shown in Fig. 43' as Part Appears 2 Years Later . 129

46. Endothelioma of E3'elids Before Treatment .... 130

47. Endothelioma of Eyelids One Year After Treatment . 131

48. Epithelioma of Face Before Ionic Treatment, Case 763 . . 132

49. Case 763 One and a Half Years After Treatment . . - I33

50. Carcinoma of Face Before Ionic Treatment, Case 765 . . 134

51. Case 765 as Part Appears One and a Half Years After

Treatment - I35

52. Epithelioma of Face Before Treatment, Case 855 . . . 136

33. Case 855 One Year After Treatment 136

53a. Author's Ionization Table, as Made by Victor Electric Co. . 139

54. Case 183 Showing Outline of Lower Jaw Four Years After

55. Photograph of Tongue Scar as It Appears Three and a Half

Years After Treatment 152

56. Deformity After Ionic Destruction of Lower Jaw . . . 156

57. Case 460 as ]Mouth Appears Three Years After Destruc-

tion of Epithelioma 158

58. Case 830 After Separation of Slough, Sixteen Days After

59. Case 830 Showing Appearance of Scar One Year After

60. Case 697. Horny Growth on Lip, with Epithelioma of Mouth 168

61. Case 697. Scar One and a Half Years After Operation . . 169

62. Epithelioma of Lower Lip, Case 609 1/6

63. Case 609 Two Years and Four ]\Ionths After Ionic Operation 177

64. Epithelioma of Lip, Case 647 178

65. Appearance of Lip in Case 647 Two Years After Ionic

66. Photograph of Scars in Breast and Axilla Four Years After

67. Photograph of Wound After Separation of Slough, Case 676 196

68. Photograph of Case 676 After Complete Healing . . .197

69. Diagram of Median Section of Pelvis Showing Sarcoma of

Sacrum 216

70. Sarcoma Tissue and Coccj'x After Separation .... 218

71. Photograph of Scar of Sarcoma of Sacrum Six Years After Operation 219

L^-mphoma of Xeck 226

7S. Photograph of Patient Shown in Fig. 72 Four Years Later . 227 74. Sarcoma of Neck, Case 320 228

List of Illustrations. xi

FIG. PAGE

75. Appearance of Scar in Case 320 Three and a Half Years

Later 228

76. Sarcoma of Arm, Case 474 229

77. Scar of Sarcoma of Arm, Case 474, Three Years After

Treatment 229

78. Carcinoma of Vulva, Case 772 230

79. Scar of Case 772 One and a Half Years After Ionic

80. Hard-rubber Rectal Speculum, with Spiral Fenestrations . 238

PLATES.

I. Pope-Massey Special Wall Plate, Frank S. Betz Co. . . 63 n. Author's Ionic Switchboard, as made by Williams, Brown

& Earle 65

INTRODUCTORY.

That the terrible scourge of humanity embraced in the various malignant affections commonly called cancer demands our earnest attention, as a profession and as a people, needs no emphasis when the figures showing its increase in civilized lands are considered. The double showing of recently established facts, which indicate that cancerous diseases are on the increase and that they are primarily local, places an immense responsibility on the members of the medical profession, who can no longer fold their hands with honest sorrow on the discovery that a valued life is threatened by a malignant growth. Their sorrow cannot be entirely free from a sense of unfulfilled duty if it has been in their power to remove the disease soon after its inception ; and if this may not have been in their power by reason of the ignorance or inattention of the patient, who for these reasons failed to seek aid in time, the responsibihty of the medical profession, as a whole, still remains, for it is the duty of educated physicians to correct the popular impression that cancer is a hopeless disease from its inception in the great majority of cases. Indeed, in view of recent legislation in the interest of public t^ealth, it would seem appropriate that the attention of the various state legislatures be called to this subject in order that proper measures be adopted to arrest an apparently endemic affection so greatly on the increase as to be rivaled by but three other maladies as a destroyer of mankind — an affection, indeed, that is even more fatal than tuberculosis in its inroads on the adult population. But, whether the aid of the authorities in stamping out this disease can be properly secured at present or not, the most powerful instrumentality in attaining this end will remain in the medical profession, which should educate its patients and the public to the point that would lead to the early destruction of all suspicious growths. That physicians who tell their patients "Don't touch a cancer until you have to" are more than derelict in this duty is evident. Nothing better can be expected until a higher sense of responsibility leads to a closer acquaintance with the modern facts involved in the formulation of an opinion. Until then we xiv Introductory.

shall continue to see a host of incurable patients who were not urged to seek early relief, and the knife, as well as newer, and it is to be hoped, better methods, will be sought only when it is too late.

This hopeless attitude towards cancer is largely due to incorrect views of its nature, and to incorrect views of the importance of heredity in its prevalence. The old idea that its local manifestations were the "pointings" of a constitutional disease was never really held by those who were in the best position to know anything of the matter, and it is high time that the impression that this is so be definitely displaced by the teaching of scientific facts in favor of the view that the disease is a primarily local foreign invasion. To complete this important change in the popular conception of the disease it is necessary that statisticians also recognize these facts and no longer class cancer among the constitutional diseases, as now generally done.

Concerning heredity, we are now in a position to deny that cancer is actually transmitted by inheritance, even in cases occurring in infants and clearly congenital, for, like the instances to be found in this work, these children are born of parents showing no sign of the disease. The greater prevalence of cancer in certain families apparently means merely that these families inherit a type of cell structure that presents less resistance to the implantation of the germ. It follows from this that a person who springs from a family in which a number of cases has occurred is not necessarily doomed to the same experience, but merely possesses a constitution which demands that greater care be observed in the maintenance of robust health, and a constitution that exacts greater vigilance in the early recognition and prompt destruction of suspicious growths. With proper attention to these two factors of prevention, there is no reason why an individual with this family history should not secure greater exemption from malignant disease than the general public, even in the present state of our knowledge of the ' causation of the affection. It is quite possible, even, that some of these instances of successive infections in the same family may not be due to a less-than-average immunity but to an exposure to the same source of infection, whatever that may be.

In spite, therefore, of our still incomplete knowledge of certain important scientific relations of the cancer cell, it is utter

Introductory. xv

folly to allude to the subject of cancer as still a terra incognita. As a profession and as a people we know far more about cancer than we act upon. We know, with absolute certainty, that cancer begins as a purely local growth, with at this time only such relation to the rest of the body as is involved in the probable susceptibility to the implantation or development of this local growth. Destroy or remove this local growth in this stage, and the remainder of the body will be as free from the disease as if it had never been present.

The prevalent attitude of many well-meaning physicians who practically fold their hands and wait for the discovery of some wonderful antitoxin to help the vital forces to throw off this disease is as sensible as would be the conduct of a gardener who allowed weeds to grow in his garden while experimenting with substances to render the soil inimical to them. The gardens worked on this plan would make a sad showing alongside those in the hands of practical men, who destroyed the invaders at their first appearance.

It is probable that the human body will be kept free from the virulent weeds or animal organisms of the cancerous affections by a similar system of early eradication for years to come; and that, as our specific knowledge of its nature increases, the only hope of a broader relief from the disease lies in the line of prevention.

IONIC SURGERY IN THE TREATMENT OF CANCER.

CHAPTER I.

THE NATURE OF MALIGNANT GROWTHS.

A malignant growth, like all true tumors, reveals on microscopic investigation a structure in which the protoplasmic bits of life known as cells are the chief feature. All tumor tissues share with the general body structures in the essential characteristic of being composed of a collection of individual cell entities, each cell being possessed of a quasi-independent existence under the general correlating government of the nervous system. Some of these cell entities of the normal body possess the power of independent locomotion even, as, for instance, the leucocytes, and in many respects resemble the single-celled animals, the amebae, which, composed only of a formless mass of nucleated protoplasm, lead an active and apparently independent existence in their normal habitat.

Special cancer cells have been described, but the most recent consensus of pathologists is to the effect that the cells of most, at least, of cancerous growths do not differ in shape from the cells of normal tissues. The principal difference is in their position with reference to the other structures or stroma when in their normal habitat, or to their being outside their normal habitat, or heterotopic. In other words, the ordinary microscopic evidence of malignancy that is most conclusive is that which shows an erosion of surrounding structures by invading cell masses in more or less excess.

The histologic characteristics of malignancy are therefore closely analogous to the clinical characteristics, and indicate that malignancy is evidenced by the excessive reproduction of cells which erode surrounding structures or organs, destroying them and replacing them with their own progeny in a mob-like aggregation. The later clinical evidences of malignancy are a natural extension of the histologic changes into macroscopic proportions, showing to the ordinary senses a progressive, usu-

2 The Nature of Malignant Grozvths.

ally painless, growth of the aggregation, which tends to destroy, more or less rapidly, the life of the host by the development of toxins, but also more especially by the development of intravascular thrombi which are mechanically washed to more vital organs in which they form secondary erosive growths that terminate life.

The conditions involved in these characteristics of erosion, so-called metastasis, and rapid growth, are therefore the distinguishing points between malignant and benign tumors, and constitute an illimitable chasm between them. In accordance with these facts it will invariably be found , that a benign tumor possesses a capsule made up of condensed surrounding tissues or other limiting membrane, distinctly separating it from contiguous structures, and that it can only displace the latter by pressing them aside; it cannot give rise to similar tumors in the same person by autoinfection ; and it is of relatively slow growth.

Classification. — A convenient classification for tumors, including malignant growths, has been arranged by referring all tumors into the same group which are derived from the same germinal layer of the embryo. Those cancers arising in tissues derived from the epiblast and hypoblast, the epithelial and dandular structures, are therefore classed as carcinomas,

o

while those derived from the mesoblast, the connective tissue type, are classed as sarcomas.

The following arrangement of malignant tumors has been adapted from the classifications of the most recent writers on the subject:

CLASSIFICATION OF MALIGNANT TUMORS.

Histogenetic Situation Group Chief Varieties

f Rodent cancer (epithelioma^

Epiblastic and hypoblastic ) _ ] of the short-hair follicles)

tissues, producing Epi- ,- Carcinoma i Squamous-celled carcinoma.

thelial type. ; I Cylindrical-celled carcinoma.

I Glandular carcinoma

I' Round-celled sarcoma ,,,,.. , I Spindle-celled sarcoma

Mesoblastic tissues, pro- Lvmpho-sarcoma

ducmg Connective-tis- - Sarcoma. <, ^jVeloid sarcoma sue type. ) I Myxoma

I Melano-sarcoma

To get a clear comprehension of this classification of malignant tumors it should be remembered that carcinoma is prop-

Classification of Malignant Groivths. 3

erly the name of a group, of which epithelioma, etc., are varieties ; and that this group includes the only varieties to which the name "cancer" is strictly apphed, the several varieties of sarcoma not being included. This restriction of the designation to carcinomas alone in exact phraseology has given rise to the general impression among some physicians that sarcomas do not possess the same degree of virulence as carcinomas — an impression that is often greatly at variance with the facts. The truth is that this classification should convey no such impression, for it serves only for purposes of identification. The classification is, in fact, somewhat artificial, like the Linnean classification of plants by botanists, which places the potato and the deadly nightshade in the same family. The carcinoma group includes genera and species of every degree of virulence, as does also the sarcoma group. The words "cancer" and "cancerous" might well apply to the more virulent members of each group, and are so employed when speaking comprehensively of malignant affections in this work.

Carcinomas are cancers that arise primarily in situations where epithelial cells are normally found. Sarcomas are cancerous processes arising primarily in the connective tissues. The degrees of virulence of the several varieties of each group are extremely variable, and this peculiarity of a given variety has no real relation to the embronal layer in which it has its origin. What is probably the true reason for the degree of virulence possessed by each genus will be referred to later.

One of the most important characteristics of malignant growths is the formation of daughter tumors by a process of colonization, either in contiguous or remote parts of the body, this process being accomplished by the entrance of the cells of the mother tumor into eroded lymphatics or blood vessels and their conveyance therein to the secondary sites of growth. These daughter tumors are said to be invariably composed of cells resembling those of the mother tumor. For instance, if the primary tumor arises in the glandular cells of the breast the daughter tumor will show exactly similar cells, somewhat similarly arranged, even if situated in the liver or kidney ; the cells of a tumor of the rectum will be faithfully reproduced in its daughter tumors in the spleen, etc.

Moreover, a primarily malignant tumor always grows by the reproduction of cells of its own kind, destroying neighboring

4 The Nature of Malignant GroivtJis.

tissues and organs at its periphery by an erosive process, and replacing the cells normal to the part by its own special variety. A carcinoma may therefore extend far beyond the tissues derived from the epiblastic or hypoblastic layers in which it had its origin, replacing the connective tissue cells by its own conquering progeny ; and th^ same is true of a sarcoma, which, though necessarily arising in connective tissues, may invade tissues derived from any germinal layer when highly malignant.

Xature of the Cancerous Process. — AMiat, then, is the true nature of the cancerous process? The answer to this question, it is believed by the author, can be determined by the clinical evidence as necessarily parasitic; and this deduction is in a fair way to be proven by culture experiments, if not already proven. Before reciting the circumstances leading to this conclusion, it is best to briefly review the older theory of the nature of cancer, which is yet maintained by some writers on the subject.

The Aijtocytic Theory. — This theory, which ascribes the cancer process to a reversion of certain cells to their primitive amebiform condition after having thrown oft the control of the nervous system, is thus explained by Dr. Herbert Snow, who still adheres to it as the best working hypothesis.*

" The human body is wholly composed of cells, pure and simple ; of modified cells ; and of products formed within cells. Its complex machinery has been built up from a single cell as the starting point.

" The ameba is a tiny animal which maintains an independent existence, and yet consists of but a solitary cell. It is composed of a jelly-like substance, entitled protoplasm, anent whose properties we practically know nothing. If we did, we should go far towards solving the mystery of life. A small portion of this protoplasm, the nucleus, is differentiated from the rest, it has higher vital and different chemical properties, and acts as a governing center to the whole. Some individuals, but not all, have a further differentiation of ecto-sarc and endo-sarc — that is, of cell-wall compact, and of cell-contents more fluid.

" The ameba exhibits on a microscopic scale all the phenomena shown by the largest member of the animal kingdom. It takes food into its substance, digests it, excretes the useless por-

* " Cancerous and Other Tumors." B\^ Herbert Snow, }iI.D. (Lond.) Bailliere, Tindall & Cox. London, 1898.

Nature of tlie Cancerous Process. 5

tions. It moves about by contracting and extending its body, these motions responding to excitation from without and to impulse from within. It reproduces by fissiparous division, commencing, as a rule, in the nucleus. Lastly, it may be said to breathe, the metabolic processes which nourish it being largely processes of oxidation.

" All cells are fundamentally constructed upon the same ground plan as the ameba ; and all through some part of their existence are practically distinct organisms, moving in the same way, and leading a quasi-independent life. The leucocytes of the blood are from beginning to end no more than amebse.

" The whole body is evolved from clusters of ameboid cells. Many of these primordial organisms are, of course, eventually developed into the various tissues : nerve, muscle, cartilage, bone, etc. ; but many never pass beyond the primary universal stage of cell-life. It is among these or their descendants that cancer arises.

" Organization of the cell-clusters into formed tissue takes place under the control of the nerve centers, and by means of some regulating mechanism inherent in the latter.

" Emancipation from the presiding authority of the central nervous system during the period of development involves structural aberration, such as the various deformities or 'freaks.'

" Weakness or derangement of the central power, after the organism has reached maturity, results first in disordered function, i. e., in ill-health ; secondly, and generally after some continuance of the former stage, in organic morbid changes, i. e., in disease. It is hardly too much to say that all maladies not directly induced by extraneous agency are primarily nerve derangements."

After thus revicAving the principal facts of cellular physiology. Dr. Herbert Snow continues :

The autocytic theory ascribes cancer to a reversion of the natural cells or cell elements to that primitive amebiform condition from which all have emerged, and in which a few still persist. Each cell then casts off its allegiance to the nerve centers, which cease to exert over it the least control. It becomes a quasi-independent parasite, or rather autocyte.

" The malignant or ' cancer ' cell now preys, exactly as a parasite would, upon the healthy parts around, devouring these.

6 The Nature of Malignant Growths.

and appropriating the nutriment destined for them. Its hfe is not as their Hfe, and involves sooner or later their death. Ultimately it brings about the somatic death of the whole organism.

" A runaway horse furnishes an apt, if homely, exemplar of cancerous disease, as conceived by the autocytic theory.

"The numerous species- of cancer depend on the particular kind of cell subjected to this morbid reversion, the cancer process."

Such is a succinct statement of a "working hypothesis" of apparent importance in the elucidation of the problem of the true nature of cancer. It must be admitted that it offers a comprehensible explanation of the fact that cancer cells resemble the cells of the organ in which they primarily appear. Yet it is hard to understand how a simple release of a given group of cells from nervous control could produce the enormous change of character involved in the conversion of these useful bits of protoplasm into the microscopic ravening beasts of malignancy. Such miraculous character transformations are scientifically inconceivable, even admitting a full reversion to the amebiform independence alluded to, for the physical basis of a man's fixedness of character has been well established by biologists as an almost changeless product of hereditary traits, and what is true of the somatic individual must be an even less complicated fact of the minute protoplasmic entities of which he is composed.

If the essential elements of cancer are the cells, which resemble the normal cells at the initial point of development and are so faithfully reproduced as to character and grouping in distant colonies, there must be some profound change in their character to constitute the malignancy. Can this profound change (which may be summarized as an added power of growth and new powers to erode and colonize) be produced by a mere withdrawal from nervous influence ?

The Parasitic Theory. — The search for a demonstrable parasite that will produce a cancer when inoculated into the bodies of the lower animals or of man is now actively under prosecution by a number of laboratory workers in America and elsewhere, and definite announcements of success have recently been made by Sanfelice, in Italy, Plimmer, in England, and Gaylord, of Buffalo, N. Y. Sanfelice announced that a blastomycetic fungus, like that of the yeast plant, is the responsible agent of the growth, while Plimmer and Gaylord believe they