“ THE
TRYPSIN TREATMENT OF CANCER” 231
amylopsin, active or inert. The other nine cases were
treated with the Fairchild injections, and every ampoule of trypsin and of
amylopsin was tested qualitatively, not quantitatively, before use. It was
found that each and every ampoule had some strength—how much, apparently, being
regarded as a detail of minor importance. Quinine is said to cure malaria, but
to-day no physician or surgeon would anticipate any” improvement” from the use
of preparations containing a small amount of active quinine, irrespective of
the amount per cubic centimetre and of the dosage. I pass over the previous
histories of the cases, for the good reason that the report is practically silent upon these points. One remark on p.
33 may be noted, viz., that—
“The length of time during which the patients were under
observation previous to the commencement of treatment is of importance. For in
large measure a prolonged period before commencement of treatment signifies an
acclimatization of the patient to hospital surroundings, and a greater
equanimity towards the possible value (if any particular treatment in view of
the many failures with which the patient’s lengthened stay in hospital has made
him acquainted.”
The enzyme treatment is a stereo-chemical—not a hypnotic
one! This argument, if of any scientific value at all, would apply to the
surgical dictum of “early operation in cancer also. Moreover, it ignores the
fact that the cancer also “ acclimatizes “ itself, not to add that it grows.
The
injections used had per ampoule, without any loss for qualitative tests, the
following values: Trypsin “regular,” 125 units; trypsin “special,” 250 units;
and amylopsin, 100 units. The maximum dose given in most cases was 15 minims,
or 3/4 ampoule ; never 40 minims, as mentioned as the general dose then in use
in the “Direc-