p. 8 | INCREASE OF CANCER

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 21, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 41.

INCREASE OF CANCER.

MUCH has been said about the fearful increase of the "great white plague," as tuberculosis, or pulmonary consumption, is often called; but it seems from medical statistics that tuberculosis is not alone in this advance upon the race. It has a mighty auxiliary in carcinoma, or cancer. The leading medical journal of this country, the Medical Record, of New York, in its issue of July 3, in an exhaustive article by Roswell Park, A.M., M.D., Professor of Surgery in the University of Buffalo, gives us the following facts:—

"In 1840, in England, the proportion of deaths from cancer to the total mortality rate was 1 in 129; in 1880 this had risen to 1 in 28, which shows that in England the death rate from cancer is now about four times greater than fifty years ago. Williams estimates that at least 40,000 persons are now suffering from cancer in England and Wales, whereas in 1840 the number was only about 5,500. Should the disease increase in the future at the same relative rate, it will become one of the commonest of all. This augmented mortality corresponds with increase of population in wealth and improvement in general sanitary conditions. . . . In 1861, in England, there were 376 deaths from cancer to the million of population; twenty-five years later there were 610. During this quarter of a century the number of deaths from phthisis [consumption] per million has diminished to three-fifths of the number at its commencement.

"In the twenty years from 1870 to 1890 the increase in mortality from cancer in England is as follows: In 1870, 384 to the million; in 1880, 468; in 1890, 590. Accepting these published figures from the registrar-general's report, it would appear that the mortality has increased by 53 per cent. Nevertheless, it is not quite so bad as this, because the diagnosis of obscure cases is now more accurate than it was twenty-five years ago.

"From a tabulation of the deaths within our own State of New York during ten years, from 1885 to 1895, I find that during this time there have been reported 30,692 deaths from cancer. Doubtless in a few of these cases there may have been a mistake in diagnosis, which will, however, be abundantly atoned for, and more, by the deaths which were really due to cancer and ascribed to some other cause. In 1885 there were 1,882 deaths from this cause; in 1890, 2,878, and in 1895, 3,454. In other words, in the last year of this decade the total number of deaths from cancer was twice that of its first year,

which may be interpreted as meaning that the death rate has increased much more rapidly than has the population. During this same decade, also, the number of deaths from all causes has increased only from 80,000 to 121,000. During the last five years of this decade epidemic influenza alone caused 35,000 of the 121,000 deaths. It will therefore be seen how rapidly the cancer death rate is creeping up."

It is not decisively known whether the disease is hereditary, but the predisposition to cancer seems to be. It has been noted as especially manifest in surviving members of tuberculous families.

The most potent factors in causing cancers seem to be "high feeding" and "easy living." Among the hard-working classes, where the struggle for existence is the most severe, cancer is rare. Dr. Park has little faith in the theory that cancer is caused by injury, except in rare instances.

From the above and other indications of the increase of malignant diseases, our readers will see the importance of living according to nature's laws, that the life of the God of nature may sustain and invigorate them. Simple, unstimulating, yet nourishing diet of grains and fruits, abundance of fresh air, and plenty of exercise and a clear conscience, are the best of nature's remedies; and God will work through these, his remedies.