244 THE ENZYME TREATMENT OF CANCER
canons
of stereo-chemistry. But it may be taken as an axiom not open to ridicule that
what Nature cannot dispense with, that the scientific investigator may not
ignore.
Now,
in the course of my research career it has never been a maxim of mine to leave
unto others what I could do myself, and the like is true of the present
situation also. Much more than the asexual (trophoblastic) theory of cancer
depends upon this crucial test. It is the ultimate basis of the law and mode of
animal development. By the canons of stereo-chemistry, no less than by those
of embryology, trophoblast and cancer must be made up of dextro-rotatory
albumins—that is, in simple words, these albumins in solution must in the
polarimeter rotate the plane of polarized light to the right, not to the left.
The
foregoing theses are set up to define the position now, and the prophecy is
made that, when submitted to the polarimeter under strictly scientific
conditions, it will be seen that the albumins of cancer and of trophoblast
rotate the plane of polarized light to the right, and not to the left. The
natural—that is, the scientific— means of destroying these dextro-rotatory
albumins in the living condition are sufficiently potent injections of trypsin
and amylopsin.
A
great investigator and thinker, August Weismann, once said that the
investigator should never forget that he stood upon his predecessors’
shoulders. Possibly the scoffers and the anonymous writers stand upon nothing
less substantial than a soap-bubble! They have kept concealed carefully the
foundations upon which their feet might be supposed to rest. Let them not
forget that my feet rest upon the mighty shoulders of Pasteur, and that, in
their turn, his were fixed firmly upon foundation-stones of the visible
universe.