184 THE ENZYME TREATMENT OF CANCER
He
writes: “In reading Dr. W. Seaman Bainbridge’s report one is struck by two
repeated phrases, which seem to dominate his whole theme—(1) the patient ‘died’
within a few months of treatment by ferments having been undertaken; (2) the
treatment was ‘negative in all respects.’ Though Dr. Bainbridge’s report is
lacking in many details, which would have greatly helped in establishing its
value as a scientific report, it is evident from (1) that the great majority of
the cases which came under treatment were in an advanced stage of the disease.
What does failure in such cases mean? Does Dr. Bainbridge as a surgeon condemn
the operation for strangulated hernia simply because in a strangulated hernia
case of five days’ duration the patient’s chances of recovery are one in ten or
less? With regard to (2), the treatment was “negative”; it is also stated that
‘ the control cases did as well with injections of glycerine and sterile water,
or sterile water alone plus the régime, as did the others with the full enzyme
treatment.’ These statements may be capable of some other interpretation than
that which Dr. Bainbridge gives. Dr. Bainbridge has only shown that in his
hands the treatment of cancer by ferments has been a failure, and it has yet to
be shown wherein lay the cause of the want of success, remembering that failure
is always easier of attainment than success in anything, and that on the
frontiers of science still more so is this the case. Nor is that failure
surprising to me, when I read how little Dr. Bainbridge has understood of the
enzyme treatment, for in his summary he says, ‘that aiding digestion, increasing
elimination, and decreasing local absorption are the most important features of
the treatment.’ Dr. Bainbridge’s report may be ‘negative in all respects,’ for
paragraph 7 of his summary is proof that Dr. Bainbridge has never seen the
effects of trypsin upon a malignant growth. He says ‘that, while it may
accelerate the breaking down in the centre of the tumour mass, the periphery is
found to be actively growing.’