Cancer : its origin, nature, and general principles of treatment / by George Thos. Beatson.

  • Beatson, George Thomas, Sir.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Cancer : its origin, nature, and general principles of treatment / by George Thos. Beatson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    case of the testes, produces cellular activities which lend to extrusion of the spermatozoa'? What is it that excites those polar bodies and the preparation for fecundation? It must he a secretion of some sort, and, that being so, where is it elaborated ? Is it elaborated by the testes and ovaries themselves ? Or is it elaborated by all the tissues of the body under the stimulus of these organs in accordance with the old Hippocratic idea? Are the testes and ovaries merely the instruments for carrying out the work done by the rest of the body ? In other words, is the fructifying power which gives the spermatozoa or the female ova their procreative power a product of the whole body, or merely a local manufacture ? I am inclined to the view that it is furnished by the whole of the body, and such an explanation is not altogether unsupported by facts. Let us take what has been observed in connection with the thyroid gland, one of the so-called ductless glands. It was for a long time considered that it did nothing in the way of secretion or excretion ; but we know now, by clinical observation and by other experiments, that the thyroid has a very important duty to perform, and that its function is connected not with elaborating any special secretion itself, but by dealing with the secretion which is poured out by the whole of the tissues. So much is this the case that, if atrophy of that gland takes place, we have a general affection of the tissues, as in myxcedema ; while, if the gland is completely extirpated, we have effects disastrous to the whole fabric of the body. The subtle influences that the testes and ovaries exert on the general nutrition of the body, and the profound impression made upon it by their removal, are well known, and proof of it is seen in eunuchs, and also after oophorectomy for many ovarian diseases.- What, then, is the actual relationship between the rest of the body and testes and ovaries, supposing these conditions to be such as I suggest? When these organs dwindle with age, or become functionless, what happens to this body secretion? Does it diminish also under the lessening influence of these organs, and does it cease entirely with their complete atrophy? Or does this body secretion continue after they are functionless, or are rendered functionless by disease, and is again taken up by the tissues themselves? Lastly, when do these organs lose entirely their influence over the functional activity of the bodv ! You can understand it is impossible to answer these questions in our present state of knowledge, and, consequently, reliable conclusions are difficult. Facts, however, seem to me to point to the tissues ceasing to give up (secrete) this fluid on the removal of testes and ovaries. We can now judge, I think, of the bearing these views have on the causation of the cancerous process. T need hardly point out that the existence of such a stimulating or fructifying fluid in the body tissues furnishes an explanation of many observed effects, and opens up also other possibilities. Of the greatest importance is it in cell proliferation and tumour formation. It furnishes the factor