n it "often produces the most miserable objects of human
wretchedness;" and when it frequently becomes impossible to say, "Thus
far shalt thou go, and no further."

CANCER,

ITS NATURE AND SYMPTOMS.

Cancer is, unfortunately, one of those desperate diseases to which the
human frame is liable, and more to be dreaded than any other, inasmuch
as it is insidious in its approach, and destructive to the greatest
degree when it is perfectly developed. It is so intractable and
malignant in its nature that it is generally considered an incurable
disease; and not without reason, as notwithstanding the great increase
of knowledge amongst that valuable portion of the community, the
medical profession, yet it baffles all their efforts to subdue it, and
sets at defiance all the triumphs of science. This disease rarely
occurs in young subjects. An eminent surgeon states, that in the
course of nearly forty years' extensive practice, he has seen but two
instances of its occurring under 30 years of age; most usually it
commences at the age of between forty and fifty years. Like many other
diseases it is frequently hereditary, many members of the same family
having become the subjects of cancer. It most usually attacks the
female breast, the lips, particularly the lower one, the tongue, the
skin, and the glandular parts about the neck and arm-pits; the
stomach, the liver, the lungs, and the brain, may also become affected
with this terrible malady. Sometimes it commences without any
ostensible cause, and the attention of the patient is frequently
directed to the case by mere accident; at other times, blows, bruises,
or continued pressure upon a part, may often be traced as the exciting
cause. In either case, however, it is generally found in the state of
a hard lump or knot, varying in its size, it is loose and moveable,
without pain or discolouration of the skin. It may continue in this
state for many months, or even years; it then enlarges, the surface of
the tumour becomes more or less knotty or uneven; it becomes hot and
painful, and the pain is of a peculiar darting, piercing nature, or
what the faculty technically call _lancinating_; and the patient's
health, which had hitherto continued tolerably well, now begins to
suffer from the irritation of the disease. In process of time the part
ulcerates, a discharge of fetid ichorous matter issues from it;
sometimes it bleeds freely, and there is a burning pain in the part.
The