THE
INTERLUDE OF CANCER
131
its way through uterus and other organs, finally blocking
the lungs and brain of the mother. This is chorio-epithelioma, recognized to
be a form of cancer by Professor F. Marchand in 1895. This is without doubt
the most deadly form of cancer. Here the sexual generation being unable to
suppress the asexual one or trophoblast, the latter exhibits the
characteristics of asexual generations, the powers of indefinite growth and
increase. Pathologists at present distinguish wrongly between two forms of
chorio-epithelioma, a malignant one and a benign one. The latter has no real
existence, for in it the trophoblast cells are all dead and undergoing the
characteristic degeneration due to the action of pancreatic ferments. A
“benign “ chorio-epithelioma, as Professor Schmorl found, may happen in any
gestation, for the trophoblast cells of the pre-critical periods, which have
invaded the maternal organs—even the lungs—are normally also brought to
commencing degeneration at the critical period.
In
1902 the conclusion was reached that cancer was asexual generation or
irresponsible trophoblast, and in these words for the first time in human
history the nature of cancer was laid bare.
Its
origin was not at first so clear, but by the year 1904 it was recognized that
the problems of like or identical twins, upon which the writer was then and
since engaged, threw light upon its origin. Owing to their extra-embryonic
origin aberrant germ-cells are quite common, and they may be met with anywhere
in the embryonic body. The ordinary aberrant germ~cel1s, which usually
degenerate, were much too abundant a source to furnish the origin of a cancer. Entia
non sunt multiplicanda. The etiology of double monsters and of malignant
tumours was traceable to the phenomena of