Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1900 — The Causes of Cancer. [ARTICLE]

The Causes of Cancer.

There are few diseases that human family that are more to be dreaded than those of a cancerous nature. The cancer proper Is a most appalling foe to life. Whether it can be cured is and always has been a debatable question. Cases are cited where alleged marvelous cures have been effected, but this does not to any appreciable extent alter the facts in the case that the cancer is practically incurable, once It gets any sort of headway in the system. The causes of this disease have been so imperfectly understood that any effort at prevention was worse than useless. A French scientist claims to have discovered cancer gernls in wood, and that artisans who work in wood are much more subject to this disease, all things being considered, than those who handle most other materials. Having once started on this line of research, he found cancer germs In wood and vegetation of various kitfds. Elm and willow trees showed a greater proportion of these germs than other woods. In high altitudes or where trees are not common, very few cancer germs were found; from all of which it appears that we may be at last on the high road to some reliable and conclusive knowledge upon a subject which has baffled the skill of medical scientists for many years.