The treatment of malignant tumors by repeated inoculations of erysipelas : with a report of ten original cases / by William B. Coley.

  • William Coley
Date:
1893
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of malignant tumors by repeated inoculations of erysipelas : with a report of ten original cases / by William B. Coley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    2 Amlogom diseasesin animals and plants known to beofparasitic origin ‘ VaS y,ege‘ablelikl“gd0“ we find a large variety of “ tutors ” known a”' ortin' Tf wTt y r:,thr have a]1 been pr0Ven t0 be of parasitic g • If we turn to the lower animals, we find in “ coccidial infection ” an ana ogy so striking, that many observers have considered it identical wi cancer. Without entering into any discussion of this question this much may be regarded as proven : That certain low organisms or ’pro¬ tozoa known as coccidia, have been found in animals, chiefly rabbits • that they possess the very rare property of being able to set up a proliferation of ( euckhart s) if not in two cases in man, they have produced multiple tumors associated with the same clinical svmptoms and pathological changes that are found in true cancer. patnological We must further admit that several independent observers, notably Sawtschenko on the Continent, and RufTer and Walker in England, by he use of improved methods of staining have been able to demonstrate a cinomT Th Tth **1Pr°t°Z°a ” & ^,arSe number «f specimens of .. <?T fTbat these are true parasites and not “ invaginated cells ” or degenerated metamorphoses,” as many have been inclined to regard koffmiaSh fiT • reCenuy C°Dfirmed bythe t-timony of Metslnb koff, the highest living authority in micro-zoology. These protozoa are so similar to the coccidia already referred to that they can scarcely be differentiated. Whether or not they are identical seems to me a matter of indifference; that they are very closely allied forms seems more than probable. That they have not yet been cuHb va ed outside the body is no evidence against their being the cause of mTreepreWsenceWe C°nS‘der ^ mUCh ^ k haS taken t0 d“r ^ir If, with a distinguished authority, we admit that “ for the develop¬ ment of cancer it is necessary that there should be a continuous irrita¬ tion and one capable of multiplication,” and knowing as we do that the irritants capable of fulfilling these conditions are limfted almost entirl to the animal and vegetable parasites, we can scarcely fail to accept nd“shl«uckar y/ ,The grea‘ meHt °f this th^ - Ballance d Shattuck have pointed out, is that “ it not only offers a working hypothesis for further investigation with which none other can compare but it holds out the hope that it may one day admit of scientific treat¬ ment based on the same lines as other micro-parasitic diseases.” Hav¬ ing endeavored to make clear the grounds for believing in the parasitic origin of cancer, the explanation of the action of erysipefas is not d“ If a small quantity of blood-serum of an animal rendered immune to tetanus ,s capable of destroying or rendering inert the virulent bacilli in a resh case, it is quite as easy to understand that the toxic products of the erysipelas streptococci might bring about such changes in^he blood-