The prevention of preventable disease : an address to the Glasgow Obstetrical & Gynaecological Society, delivered 24th May, 1893 / by Sir Spencer Wells.

  • Wells, Spencer, 1818-1897.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The prevention of preventable disease : an address to the Glasgow Obstetrical & Gynaecological Society, delivered 24th May, 1893 / by Sir Spencer Wells. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    15/20 (page 13)
    showed that cancerous growths were free from bacterial life. Was it, then, due to some higher organisms, such as protozoa ? The subject has been and is even now the subject of contro- versial writing, but at any rate much light has been thrown on the subject by the observations of Sudakewitch in Russia, and Ruffer and Walker in England, observations which have been confinned by so eminent a zoologist as Metchnikoff. These observers find in all cancers parasitic bodies, which, in their opinion, belong to the protozoa, and which inhabit the epithelial cells forming the tumour. More lately Ruffer and Plimmer have described the modes of reproduction of the parasites, which multiply by fission into two, four, eight or more young parasites. The latter observers, however, have committed themselves to no opinion as to the causation of cancer by these protozoa; for, although their investigations open a new field for research, the final answer to this question can only be gained through experimentation on animals. Indeed, the question is a particularly difficult one. The contagion of cancer has been suggested; it has never been proved, and the balance of evidence is against it. On the other hand, there are many facts showing that the inhabitants of certain districts, of certain houses even, are greatly afflicted with the disease. If that be so, then one ought to consider cancer as a kind of endemic disease resembling malaria; with this difference, however, that even after he has left the infected district the cancerous patient never gets well. But by study- ing the life history of this parasite, both inside and outside the body, together with inoculation on animals and carefully prepared statistical records, may we not hope that means will soon be found to arrest the spread of this horrible disease ? May we not hope, further, that if it be shown to be a prevent- able disease, means may be found for its prevention ? And is there not some ground for the suggestion that one of the early steps in the enquiry will be that notification of cases of cancer should be made compulsory, as if this disease were one con- nected with the functions of medical officers of health under the Notification of Infectious Diseases Act. Time does not permit me to say much as to the operation of this Act, and occasional opposition of the public, but it is certain that when well worked in any district the gain to the inhabitants is beyond doubt, and I fully agree with the opinion of Dr. Seaton, published in the Times last week, that there are so many important questions arising out of the working of the Notifi- cation Act, and so many special qualifications now required of the medical officers of health, that it will become necessary, “in order that in the future the supply shall equal the