A Solution of some Curious Problems concerning Cancers.

PROBLEM I.

Whether the Cancerous Juice is Corrosive, or not.

WE cannot come to a certain Knowledge of the Principles of the Juice which is lodged in the Cancerous Substance, although it enjoyed the very same Properties, of that which is discharged from an ulcerated Cancer, from the Account which Authors have given of the latter; for they have differed very much in determining the Nature of the Salts, with which they suppose it abounds. Helmont, Van Horne, and most of those Gentlemen that were Chymically inclined, were of Opinion they belonged to the Alkaline Family, but a far greater Number than those, have thought they are Acid. Riolan, the Father, Vide Rio­la­nus, Cap. 13. Sect. 2. in his Chirurgical Works, without giving his Opinion what the constituent Parts of the purulent Matter are, affirmed it to be as strong as Poison, and that no Death could be devised too cruel for such a One as should give it to a Man. This brings to my Remembrance a very unhappy Accident a Gentleman informed me of that befel Mr Smith, one of the Surgeons of St Thomas’s Hospital, who being so curious as to taste the Juice of a cancerated Breast presently after it was extirpated, found himself very strangely affected by it, in a very short Time; he washed his Mouth with various Things, but nothing could free him from that penetrating, malignant, and nauseous Savour, he was continually attended with; in short, he became consumptive, and in a few Months died a Martyr to the Art of Surgery. I confess when I received this Account it did not a little surprize me, because I had several times had the Curiosity to do the very same Thing, at the Hospital where that unfortunate Genman made the Experiment. I never found any remarkable Sharpness in it, though it was always attended with a very unpleasant Savour. I proceeded at first very cautiously in making this Attempt; for I deluted some Drops of the Juice in several Spoons-full of fair Water, till at length, not finding any Inconvenience from it, I came to the Juice it self. We cannot imagine the Death of that Gentleman before-mentioned, was procured by the Action of any corrosive Salts, whether Acid or Alkaline, which would have caused a Corrosion of the Parts, but that it is only accountable from the extraordinary Stench and Malignity of the Matter, which impressing its Virulency on the Animal Juices must undoubtedly disturb their regular Motions, and cause the utmost Confusion of the whole Oeconomy. It must certainly be a very tragical Scene, to observe how Nature, by so inconsiderale Means, confounds and insults, over the Animal System; but still there is nothing we are more certain of, than that her Method of Procedure is always consistent to the Rules she acts by. Since the writing of this, looking over a little Tract which informs us of the Rarities in New-England, I met with a Relation which discovers to us the peculiar and odd Quality of the Juice of a cancerated Breast, or Wolf, as our Author calls it. He tells us that an indulgent Husband, by sucking his Wife’s sore Breast to draw out the Poison, lost all his Teeth, but was attended by no other Inconvenience. Now this does not prove that so strange an Effect should succeed the sucking the Ulcer, because of the Corrosiveness of the Matter; for had it been so, such tender Parts as the Gums, Lips, and Tongue, could not have escaped so well as to have received no Damage by it.

Problem II.

Whether Cancers are contagious, or not.

THERE has been a very great Disagreement in the Sentiments of our Predecessors as to this Point; but Zacutas Lusitanus proposes to prove it by Reason and Experience. His Reasons are, First, because in an ulcerated Cancer there is a Cadaverous Vid. Zacut. de Prax. Med. ad­mi­rand. Lib. 1. Obs. 15. Stench and Rottenness, which infects the Neighbouring Parts with it’s Virulency. Secondly, Because a Cancer is the same Disease as an Elephantiasis, and Leprosy of a particular Part. To this, Sennertus in his Posthumous Works answers, that all corrupted and fætid Substances are not contagious; for in a Gangrene and Sphacellus, there is the greatest Corruption and offensive Smell, yet we do not find that a Person is killed by it: He adds, though a Cancer has some Similitude to an Elephantiasis, they are different Diseases. Lusitanus deduces his Experience from an Observation of a poor Woman, that having an ulcerated Cancer in her Breast, and lying with three Children, they were affected after the same Manner by the Contagion. He says that Two of them died, but the Third, which was of a stronger Vid Sennert. Paralipom. ad Part. 1 Cap. 19. Constitution, had the Cancer cut off by a Surgeon and was cured. Sennertus is of Opinion that these Children did not contract the Disease by Contagion, but that it was by Hereditary Succession. We likewise find that Cardan, Lib. de Venen. Cap. 12. is of Opinion that Cancers are not contagious. However, we will not make any particular Enquiry into these Authors Reasons, when they so strenuously maintain this Point; but only relate a remarkable History, which will prove the contrary, if the Cancerous Matter comes to an immediate Contract with a soft and glandulous Part. The Relation I had (some time ago) from a Gentleman not long since deceased, who, out of a pious Disposition, had devoted himself for several Years last past, to be serviceable to the greatest Objects of Charity. He informed me that a Tradesman’s Wife in Nottingham, being so unhappy as to labour under a Cancer in one of her Breasts, her Husband was of Opinion he could relieve her by sucking it; accordingly he put this Method in Practice, in hopes without doubt he could effect a Cure, by drawing the Cancerous Matter out of the Nipple; he continued his Attempts for some Time, but found it did not answer his Design; for though a small Quantity of Matter was discharged Vide Galen. in Aph. Hip. Com. Lib. 6 Aph. 38. this way, the Disease still became worse, and she terminated her Life soon after. Two Months were scarce expired before the Husband of the Deceased came up to London, upon Account of a swelling he had arose on the Inside of the upper Jaw; he applied himself to some ingenious Surgeons for Advice, who assured him he must undergo the drawing of Several Teeth on that Side of the Jaw which was affected, and have the Swelling, and Part of the Jaw-Bone (if necessary) cut away; he went away very much disatisfyed with so harsh a Proposal, and became a Patient to a Person, who undertook to cure him with Gargels, and such inconsiderable Remedies; however, by the Use of these Things he was of Opinion he became much better, and thought he should be cured. Upon this he retired into the Country to his Business, but in less than a Month’s Time he was obliged to come up again, and have the former Method put in Practice. But the Event was according to that Expression of Galen, Quibus item sunt Cancri in cavitate Corporis, aut Palato, sede utero, si secentur, aut urantur, ulcera cicatrice induci non possunt. For the Sore could never be brought to cicatrize, but the Cancer continu’d to spread, till it had extended in self over most of the internal Parts of the Mouth, and to the inner Part of the Nose: In this unhappy Condition, he lived some time, but at last became so frightful an Object, and the Stench that continually proceeded from the Parts was so offensive, that he retired himself from the World, and finished his miserable Life in a Garret. Since the finishing the Solution to the foregoing Problem, I met with a Surgeon (a Foreigner) who giving me an Account of the present State of the Practice of Surgery in the Country where he lived, and relating some considerable Cases which had happened within his own Knowledge, in answer to my Desire, among other things, told me, without any particular Intimation from me, he knew a very odd Accident, which happened upon a Woman’s having an ulcerated Cancer in her right Breast, which was, that she being poor, for want of other Conveniences, suffered two Children she had to lie with her in that Condition; at length one of them, a Girl about five Years old, began to be afflicted with a small painful Tumour in one of her Breasts, which encreasing to near the Bigness of an Egg, became Livid, and entirely Cancerous; the Mother died some time after, and the Child did not long survive her; but the other Child continued well. Several Surgeons gave their Sentiments of this Case; some thought it to be an Hereditary Indisposition; but considering the Mother had no Appearance of a Cancer before or at the Birth of the Child, I cannot but readily embrace the Opinion of those Gentlemen, that were inclined to believe that it was contracted by Contagion, seeing the Position of the Child’s Body was such in Bed, that that Part of it which was affected was almost always disposed to rub against the Dressings soaked in Matter, (for I understand the Mother took but very little Care to change them often.) Now it is not at all probable, that the malignant Effluvia, which continually pass off from the Cancerous Mass, and the putrefied Matter, can dispose a Person at any little Distance to be affected with the like Disease, for then the other Child would have became a Sufferer; but it may happen in some extraordinary Cases, where the corrupted Fluid has attained an exalted Pitch of Malignity, to communicate some of its more active Particles to the Blood and Spirit; and so causing a very great Disorder in their Motions produce a violent Fever, and Confusion of the whole Oeconomy, so as to occasion a Person’s Death. But see a remarkable Case in Tulpius, Lib. 4. Obs. 8. That there are several cutaneous Diseases that may be propagated by Contagion, if a Person lies with another, is by all allowed of; and that the lying with a Person that has a Cancer may be attended by such a Disease, from the Proofs we have brought, I suppose will be agreed to be equally as certain. But this cannot happen unless the matter be very malignant, and be suffered, by the Negligence of the Patient, to come to an immediate Contact, with a Part of the Body of the other Person; for then, without doubt, it may contuminate the Fluids, and incline them to assume a Viscidity, to which the Effluvia will immediately adhere, because they are best qualifyed for a Union with those Substances that are viscous. To this we may add, that in those Persons that are nearly related, the Malignity may be more easily communicable because of their Analogy to each other; for consonant hereto, Diemerbroeck Vide Diemer­broeck de Pest. Page 58. says in his Treatise of the Plague, that Kindred more easily receive the Infection from one another. But see more in that Author’s excellent Book where you have likewise some curious Thoughts relating to Contagion.

PROBLEM III.

Whether if the extirpating a Cancerous Breast happens to be successful, it ought to be look’d upon as a Consequence of Performing the Operation better than our Predecessors.