A probationary essay on cancer : submitted ...to the examinationof the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh ... / by George Johnston ... March 1824.

  • Johnston, George, 1797-1855.
Date:
1824
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A probationary essay on cancer : submitted ...to the examinationof the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh ... / by George Johnston ... March 1824. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    real nature nothing satisfactory seems to be known. m ■ As little do we seem to be acquainted with the softer intercellular substance. It has much the appearance of common fat, according to Dr Adams, while Scarpa mentions it as being co* agulable and gelatinous. The cells in which it is contained are, according to the first of these gentlemen, “ small and firm capsules, each con¬ taining its distinct portion of fat, without connec¬ tion with each other but by lateral adhesion * but this point needs to be confirmed. The occasional causes of the disease, the symp- toms and structure of which wre have just de¬ tailed, as assigned by different authors, are nume¬ rous, but most of them seem to rest on a very uncertain foundation. I believe the majority of cases can be traced to no probable external causey for bruises, cold, long continued pressure, repeat¬ ed inflammations, repelled eruptions, the suppres¬ sion of habitual discharges, and a long list of si¬ milar accidents, are set down in our elementary works regularly under almost every disease, and perhaps without much inquiry into their efficien¬ cy. In fact, they seem very inadequate to the effect, and if Cancer has ever followed their ope-