THE CAUSATION OF CANCER.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—With regard to the cancer problem the first step is to insist upon the leading women of the country returning to their duty as housekeepers. It is they, and they alone, who have the opportunity of keeping the healthy child healthy through life. Don't look at cancer alone, Sir ; look at the disease spread throughout the alimentary canal from the teeth downwards. In order to illustrate what I mean let me take the case of a young man of ample means and keen intellect determined to be a farmer, and to make a success. He learns to plough, reap, handle horses and machinery, milk-by hand and by machinery, tend stock, &c. He is now a practical farm labourer. He then attends to the scientific side, he studies the chemistry of soils and manures, the diseases of animals and fruit trees, how to prevent, diagnose, and treat them, the different kinds of wheat, markets, finance, &c. Only after this intensive study is he fit to be the master of the men.
The girl of means and education must learn to cook, bake, shop, sew, &c. She is now a practical cook-general, ready to be the wife of a poor man. Every girl in the country should be forced to pass an examination on these subjects and receive a degree. To marry without this knowledge is a criminal act to her unborn child. The girl of means now proceeds to the scientific side, she studies the physiology of digestion, the cause and prevention of dental decay, the constituents of the different food-stuffs, where they come from and how long they have been coming to the country, the dangerous food-stuffs and how and to what -extent they can be safely used, the dangers of foods like milk, such as tubercle bacilli, typhoid bacilli, cholera, &c., dangers of water, especially abroad, the different diets, e.g., of Eskimo, Eastern peasants, Continental peasants, &c. Only after this is she fit to be the mistress of servants. There is no domestic servant question either in U.S.A. or here ; there is not a single up-to-date " mistress of the house " in either country. There should be a second examination, and a second degree for the scientific study. Without these
two degrees no girl should be eligible for presentation to Their Majesties, and no girl should be allowed to enter a University or profession. The women at the top are cheating, a:n1 they have been cheating for many years ; they must be forced to do their duty to their country, their children, and their poorer sisters. Otherwise there is no excuse for their position. Every intelligent domestic servant should be encouraged to study for the scientific degree, and from the successful students should be chosen inspectors to watch the dishonest food purveyors, lecturers at girls' schools, house- keepers and chefs for hotels, &c. Let the lady make domestic service what it should be, the greatest of all careers for a girl, and the girls will flock to it. There should be a woman's society in every village throughout the country studying diet and disease, watching the children of the vegetarian, the large meat eaters, the sweet eaters, comparing notes, getting the valuable practical knowledge from the farmers' wives and old women generally ; the rich girls should take trips abroad studying the peasants, their food, and their diseases, &c. Apart from the suffering there is 3s. to come off the Income Tax here.
During the whole of my time in charge of the hospital for poor natives at Luxor I never saw one case of ulcer of the stomach or appendicitis ; I never saw a case of cancer of the breast or abscess of the breast though the women were caked with dirt and covered with fleas and lice.—I am, Sir, &c., [We are in full agreement with our correspondent. It was exactly on these lines that " Caia" pleaded in our columns for raising Domestic Economy to University rank in our curricula, and for making women of all classes feel that in themanagement of the house, either as workers or directresses, they were under- taking duties worthy of the best intellects in the country, and doing national service of the highest kind.—En. Spectator.]
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