198 THE ENZYME TREATMENT OF CANCER
the
facts concerning the conversion of amylopsin into trypsin in solutions of the
pancreas gland, which have stood for some time.
4. Nothing less strong than the injections and
doses to be mentioned presently can be relied upon, judging by past
experiences, as adequate. The remark about “toxins and antitoxins” in the
“General Directions,” drawn up by me in 1907, may be recalled. “While the
tumour is alive, and for some little time after, it may be taken that the cancer
ferment, malignin, and the pancreatic ferments, especially trypsin, act
towards each other, somewhat like toxin. and antitoxin.” There is in my mind no
doubt that the strengths hitherto used have, except in a few cases, been quite
inadequate to overcome the antitryptic properties of the blood in cancer
patients, and unless this be done it is useless to expect the usual results of
ferment action—i.e., that a ferment present itself in a very small amount
produces a great output of work.
5. The actual position of affairs in the past
few years can best be described by quoting the impartial opinion of a competent
author. On p. 340 of “E. Merck’s Annual Report of Recent Advances in
Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Therapeutics” (Darmstadt, vol. xxii., August, 1909)
one may read regarding trypsin: “The mode of action and the value of pancreas
preparations in cancer has not yet received a wholly reliable explanation.
Great difficulties are encountered because the preparations used by the various
investigators differ greatly in respect to their chemical properties, their
purity, and in the amount of active substances they contain, and often these
factors are not fully known to the student of the literature, or to the
physician who has used them and describes their action. Further difficulties
arise