The Cancer Problem: a Statistical Study

Abstract

THIS book belongs to the all too numerous class of harmful publications on the subject of cancer. The author frankly states he is not a qualified medical man, but this fact will have little weight with the lay public. The sub-title, “A Statistical Study,” conveys an entirely erroneous impression as to the scope of the book. It is in reality a plea for the infective, nature of cancer, and of the active intervention of coal-smoke as an augmenter of the frequency of the disease. The alleged parasite is likened to the well-known Plasmodiophora brassicae, which causes finger and toe disease or club-root in turnips and cabbages. This vegetable parasite is not “almost unknown to pathologists,” but has had its alleged claims to resemble a supposed cancer parasite discussed ad nauseam by pathologists and botanists of the highest repute. The author argues that coal-smoke manures the soil for this “cancer parasite.” The Cancer Problem: a Statistical Study. By C. E. Green. Third edition. Pp. 98 + plates. (Edinburgh and London: William Green and Sons, 1914.) Price 5s. net.