ogical, and the tendency in recent research is to ignore it. The
increased knowledge gained in numerous other branches of biological
science has also been brought to bear on the problem of cancer and has
led to a number of theories; and at the same time the apparently
increasing prevalence of the disease recorded by the vital statistics of
many countries has drawn more and more public attention to it. Two
results have followed. One is the establishment of special endowed
institutions devoted to cancer research; the other is the publication
and discussion of innumerable theories and proposed methods of
treatment. Popular interest has been constantly fanned by the
announcement of some pretended discovery or cure, in which the public is
invited to place its trust. Such announcements have no scientific value
whatever. In the rare cases in which they are not pure quackery, they
are always premature and based on inadequate data.

Organized cancer research stands on a different footing. It may be
regarded as the revival at the end of the 19th century of what was
unsuccessfully attempted at the beginning. As early as 1792, at the
suggestion of Mr. John Howard, surgeon, a ward was opened at the
Middlesex hospital in London for the special benefit of persons
suffering from cancer. It was fitted up and endowed anonymously by Mr.
Samuel Whitbread, M.P. for Bedford, and according to the terms of the
benefaction at least six patients were to be continually maintained in
it until relieved by art or released by death. The purpose was both
philanthropic and scientific, as Mr. Howard explained in bringing
forward the suggestion. Two principal objects, he said, presented
themselves to his mind, "namely, the relief of persons suffering under
this disease and the investigation of a complaint which, although
extremely common, is both with regard to its natural history and cure
but imperfectly known." This benefaction was the origin of one of the
most complete institutions for the scientific study of cancer that
exists to-day.

In 1804 a Society for Investigating the Nature of Cancer was formed by a
number of medical men in London, Edinburgh and other towns at the
instigation of John Hunter. The aim was collective investigation, and an
attempt was made to carry it out by issuing forms of inquiry; but the
imperfect means of communication then existing caused the scheme to be
abandoned in a short time. Subsequent attempts at collective
invest