Cancer has hitherto been regarded almost wholly from its histological and surgical aspects. The investigators and practitioners along these lines have been innumerable, the work done prodigious, and the literature relating thereto enormous. But relatively little attention has been paid to the medical aspects of this most threatening malady, although voices have been raised from time to time, with more or less force, all joining in the same plea that the basic cause of the disease lies in some derangement in the vital forces of the organism, as influenced largely by diet and mode of life.

It has, therefore, seemed to the writer that it was time to stop and look at cancer from a broader aspect, and by synthesis and deduction to seek to understand some of the underlying causes of malignant disease; also to see if some general principles could not be ascertained upon which could be based an explanation of the views he had long held, and of the practice which he had long followed in regard to the prevention and cure of this dire malady. And as his studies progressed he was more and more satisfied that the true solution of the cancer problem lay along the lines indicated, although there was still very much to be learned regarding the details and application of the principles involved.

The lectures were prepared for and delivered to practicing physicians at the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, in connection with the regular Wednesday lectures on Diseases of the Skin, as I felt that I should give them the benefit of what I felt to be of value in my own practice, private and public.

Although holding the views here expressed for many years I have hesitated writing strongly on the subject before, lest I should be misunderstood or misjudged: for favorable results based solely on a clinical diagnosis of cancer are always doubted. I have also feared lest by advocating a dietetic and medical consideration and treatment of cancer, which possibly might not be carried out exactly, I might really do harm; since some might be led to neglect operative measures in proper cases, at the proper time; and so in certain instances great injury and injustice might be done to the patient, and the time pass in which a surgical operation might possibly be of service.

But with my views and experience, strengthened greatly by what studies I have been able to make in the midst of a busy professional life, I now feel that I should do wrong in not presenting the results and conclusions of my study and observation. And I wish also to enter my strong protest against the course which is usually followed in regard to cancer, both before and after operation. With a rather extended experience during the last forty years, I have rarely if ever found a patient with cancer who has received adequate and continuous medical care before operation, with a view of discovering and rectifying the cause of the morbid growth. Too often when a cancer is suspected or discovered it is taken as a foregone conclusion that the malady is hopeless, except as the results of the disease, that is the new growth, may be removed by the knife, X-ray, radium, caustics, etc. And after a surgical operation, as far as my observation goes, the patients are invariably left entirely to their own resources, with the hope, alas, too often futile, that the tumor will not regrow, but with no attempt to so guide the life that there shall not be the same tendency to a recurrent malignant new-formation. Against this latter course I also raise my earnest protest.

In presenting matter from literature bearing on the subject under discussion I am well aware that I have hardly more than touched the surface of the deep ocean of recorded observations on cancer, but it was the best that I could do in my busy life. I only hope that others will take up in earnest the subjects here presented, and that this pioneer work may lead to the building of a strong and permanent structure regarding the true basic cause of cancer. Truth never fears proof.

In studying the subject I have been greatly assisted by the masterful work of Roger Williams, so often referred to and quoted from; and I feel that a candid and careful perusal of that book will be a revelation to many. I know that some have endeavored to throw discredit upon some of the deductions which he makes from various statistics, but in the main they all teach a valuable lesson and are worth serious consideration, as they are taken from reliable sources.

Realizing fully that the problem of the cause and proper treatment of cancer is a most profound one, which master minds have long wrestled with and which cannot be fully settled without much further study, these lectures are presented to the profession at large in the hope that they may be the means of helping some one threatened with or suffering from malignant disease; and also that they may possibly stimulate others to investigate even more diligently along the lines of the medical aspects of cancer.