THE CAUSATION OF CANCER.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Siit,The Spectator deserves the gratitude of the community for the support it has given to Mr. Ellis Barker's recent book in which he so ably expounds what may be called the " Toxic " theory of cancer causation. When so much is obscure as to the nature and behaviour of cancer, this aspect of contribu- tory causation by toxic agents affords real encouragement to those on whose shoulders rests the responsibility for dealing with this, the gravest menace to the health of the civilized world. If this theory is accepted—and no one can deny that there is now a very great weight of evidence in its favour- s really practicable method of prevention is made possible and cancer falls into line with many other diseases which preventive medicine has already dealt with successfully.
In effect, it is merely the application to cancer of a widely- accepted and successful principle of medical science—that the body tissues to which infective or irritating agents are capable of doing harm are those which by heredity, over- use or previous damage have rendered themselves liable to disease processes. Preventive medicine deals not only with the infecting or damaging agent but endeavours to preserve the tissues in health—i.e., capable of resistance to the attack of foreign organisms or chemical poisons. While we remain in ignorance of the immediate cause of the cancerous process, and of the abnormal cell-growth which characterizes it, we can still ensure that the body-cells retain their unimpaired vitality and normal behaviour by eliminating all sources of damage and deterioration. Of these, the most harmful and of most common occurrence are the poisonous substances which result from the waste products of food taken in excess and imperfectly eliminated. There is nothing new in all this—it was taught by Celsus and Hippocrates, and now Mr. Ellis Barker has collected and set out in a truly brilliant work such a mass of evidence from men of science and vision in proof of this aspect of cancer that no one can honestly fail to accept it as proven.
In a book published originally nearly 20 years ago Mr. Rollo Russell succeeded almost as well in establishing the same facts as to cancer causation, and for 25 years Sir Arbuthnot Lane has taught that chronic self-poisoning from constipation lay at the root of most of the common diseases which afflict civilised humanity, and that cancer only occurred in tissues previously damaged by the long-continued action of poisons manufactured in the " static " bowel.
This conception of disease, which is also that of Metchnikoff and many other brilliant thinkers, is widely-opposed to the more general conception which would segregate the various organs and their diseases into watertight compartments and seek in vain for a multiplicity of causes for each and every collection of symptoms which is termed a disease. It recognizes a " greatest common factor " in all diseased states, and this common factor is a more or less severe con- dition of poisoning due to the unphysiological condition of the contents of the bowel. It is for the laity to prove the truth or error of this teaching by practising the advice set out in Mr. Barker's book.—I am, Sir, &c.,
S. HENNING BELFRAGE.
77 Gloucester Place, Portman Square, W.
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