A monograph on diseases of the breast : their pathology and treatment, with special reference to cancer.

  • Williams, W. Roger (William Roger)
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A monograph on diseases of the breast : their pathology and treatment, with special reference to cancer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    In Cashmere, Orissa, Madras, Anam and Cochin, cancer is said to be more prevalent than in adjacent communities. In Syria, Persia and Arabia, according to Lombard, the disease is very rare ; and generally speaking it is not common within the tropics. No part of the world is said to enjoy such relative immunity from cancer as Africa ; this applies to nearly all parts of the continent, but especially to its northern part—Egypt, Tunis, Algiers, &c. In order to ascertain the present state of things in Egypt, I lately wrote to Dr. Engel Bey, of Cairo, who very obligingly sent me the following data. Of 19,529 deaths among natives in Cairo during 1891, only nineteen were re- turned as due to cancer (females 10, males 9). or one in 1,028; in England during the same year, the proportion of cancer deaths was I in 29. Of 12,950 patients in the Kasr-el-Aini Hospital during the years 1889-91, JJ were affected with cancer, or 6 per cent.; whereas in Metropolitan General Hospitals I have ascer- tained that the proportion of cancer cases is about 35 per cent. From these data it appears that the reputation of Egypt for comparative immunity from cancer is well founded. With regard to the prevalence of cancerous diseases in Morocco, I am indebted to Mr. Ernest Hart for the following valuable information. In answer to my letter of inquiry, he very kindly wrote to Dr. Terry, of Tangiers, who replied as follows: Cancers, sarcomas, &c., do not seem to be very prevalent; at any rate the number of cases met with, as compared with other diseases, shows that they are of less frequent occurrence than in England. Among the inhabitants, who are of mixed Arab and native blood, I have seen cancers of the female breast, uterus and tongue ; as well as sarcomatous growths in various parts of the body. At the Cape, cancer is common among the whites, but very rare among the natives. Living- stone ^^ speaks of cancer as being absent from the Barotze Valley and among the Bakwains, although the latter are prone -■' Missionary Travels in South Africa, pp. 127 and 504.