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THJi SAW LAlvE TRIBUNE SUNDAY MORNING; SBPTBAIBER 29, 3912. A I! 'i j P Six Micro-Photographs Taken by Dr. Odin, Showing the Presence of a Cancer Microbe in the Human Blood; 1 The Red Blood Corpuscles Are Like a Horse MMWvSw mrnVl Chestnut in Shape Instead of Being Round; 2 An Infected Corpuscle Begins to Split Up; 3 The Fragments of the Corpuscle Spread Out in All Directions; 40rfif0fS ' 'jmwi I 4 The Fragments, Having Taken Many Different Forms, Ef. gin to Attach Themselves to New Corpuscles; 5 The Newly Infected Corpuscles Begin to As- .j7W'$ mwM sume the Chestnut-like Form; 6 The Infected C uptimes Again Begin to Split Up. The White Arrows Point in Each Picture to th Germ, $'$S$$4 '0iSMfT WAt I Dr. Gaston Odin, of Paris, Tells How He Found in the V Blood of Cancerous Persons a Concealed Germ That, . hmmW ; - Spreading From Corpuscle to Corpuscle, Gradually ir'i0'"MiMmW n. ' T J? X J.1 JXri 1 r 1 .-jmUt'- &&&WttimmV That Dr. Odi, r,JJJK Infects the Whole Body. .&W,3W ?v$M I Paris, September 14. A MOST vital discovery concerning cancer Is announced by Dr. Gas- ton Odin, a prominent French physician, whose pathological laboratory is famouB in this country. I Dr. Odin announces that he has positive proof that cancer Is a germ disease; that ho has Isolated the germ and made photo graphs of it With thiB article are forwarded the first complete series of photographs Bhowing the cancer parasite In all the stages of Its existence as observed by Dr. Odin. In the first place it must be understood that if cancer Is proved to be a germ dis ease this Is a great step In the way of find ing a cure for the dreadful scourge. In deed, Dr. Odin states that he has prepared a serum which appears to have curative powers, although he Is not yet prepared to make a definite announcement concern ing its value The majority of Investigators hitherto have Inclined to the view that cancer is not a germ disease. No one had been able to offer proof that there was a germ before Dr. Odin, although many scientists believed that they had found conditions indicating the working of a germ. Most scientists, however, Inclined to the theory that cancer was caused by a mis placed ordinary body cell, which away from its natural environment grew and multi plied abnormally. The body lost the power of controlling the growth of a cell or cells I away from its natural surroundings. This i In the main is the theory of Cohnheim, a I very noted investigator. It was only a theory. Following this theory other Investigators have argued that the misplaced cells ex ' Isted in the body from birth and lay there J until some injury stirred them into activity and growth. Now Dr. Odin states positively that a germ causeB the disease. It is not a bac terium, such as causes typhoid fever and the majority of germ diseases, but a minute form of animal life called a protozoon. It belongs to the same order as the paraBlte which causes malaria. In beginning his researches Dr. Odin argued that cancer was a germ disease because it spreads rapidly to various parts of the body- He argued that only a germ propagating in the blood could produce the results which are commonly seen in can cer. To test this theory he watched the blood of cancerous persons. Ho saw mis shapen red blood corpuscles. He saw strange bodies leave the much misshapen corpuscles and take various forms like many-leaved clovers, sword hilts, racquets, letter H's and crosses. He saw these many shaped bodies pass into fresh red corpus cles and these In turn became after a con siderable time misshapen. Again new bodies passed out of the red corpuscles, took various forms and passed into other corpuscles. In many cases, however, the movements could not be seen. The misshapen corpus cles were present, but there was no dis cernible activity. He then devised a rea gent which stirred the germs to movement and made them betray their deadly pres ence. It was in the blood of a guinea pig Infected with cancer that he first observed the power of the reagent to stir the germs to motion, but ho later observed the same phenomenon in the blood of cancerous per sons. He now felt convinced that he had discovered the cause of cancer and its method of propagation. The reason why investigators had hitherto failed to isolate a specific germ of the disease was that the gem was usually concealed in the red corpuscles. Further confusion was caused bv the circumstance that away from the corpuscles the germ took several different forms- r A Cancer Germ Has Been Found Among Plants by the United States Depart ment of Agri- culture, and These Photo graphs Show Sugar Beet In oculated With Hop Cancer. I Dr. Gaston Odin Working at His Cancer Researches in j His Laboratory, No. 63 Rue Vaneau, Paris. Dr. Odin made the an nouncement of his dio covery of the germ be fore the Society of Biol ogy, and ali the medical bodies in France are now discussing his report. He will make - fuller report on the subject before the Congress r " Comparative Pathology in Paris. He has yet to make known the composition of the re agent which he uses to stir the germ to activity in blood specimens and of the serum which he hopes will cure the disease. Your correspondent vis ited Dr. Odi . a-, his labor atory. Nd. 63 Rue Vaneau. Paris, and found him -. rounded by microscope , fj. WMWMm tesv tubes, blood 8pPed. ' WMF ' ' mens, guinea pJga and V V Jggg-f other animals which he ff HPf ' uses in hib experiments. -A i&tY&tfZ? He is a tremendously earnest, vigorous. Uu ' VT' " 'MZ ' - ' enthusiastic, keen-eyed man, who die- . SSfcT cusses his work without reserve, but with- $1 ' out a trace of boasting. fl "How will your discovery further theSV V great object of curing cancer?" was one .' ( " of the many questions asked ''' ' V1 v ff:? X tests show that all traces of the parasite have disappeared. "I propose to go eveu further than this curative serum, I am now at work on a vaccine, which when Injected into a per son will, I believe. Insure him against the possibility of tho disease. Cancer Ib in creasing with such terrible rapidity that it seems likely that it will be desirable to protect everybody against it. just as wo are all vaccinated as a defense against smallpox.." Dr. Odin furnished your correspondent with a copy of his brief report to tho Society of Biology, which Is the only of ficial report bo has made- It reads as fol lows: "In a communication to the Society of Biology on June 22 last I stated the re sults of my earlier researches on the blood of cancerous persons. I then Baid that cancer was a disease that gradually spreads through the blooa, and I stated that if it caused by a microbe it would be found in the blood. Experi ments at that time seemed to show that f ' was right. I had then examined one ' hundred and fifty specimens of blood from different persons, among them seventy nine cases of epithelioma (cancer of the skin) These showed the invariable pres ence of growths having the form of amoeba and showing the characteristic amoebc.'d movements. "The further study of this question now enables me to present to you further in formation on the teste tepfeiS . mmmmmmZ "It was necessary to discover the spe cific cause of cancer before a remedy for It could be prepared," he answered. "I have prepared a serum which I hope will cure the disease. I may say that I have proved to my own satisfaction that it eradicates tho disease, but it Is as yet too soon to make a positive announcement concerning It. I cannot -yet make public Its composition, for it would bo unwise to do so until I could offer positive proof of its value- "I have good reason myself to believe In its efficacy. While carrying on my work onr day 1 accidentally broke a test tube containing the blood of a cancerous person. Tht Broken glass cut my finger and tho infected material In the test tube was mixed with my blood, Two days afterward 1 tested my blood with the reagent and found that r was inoculated with cancer. For a week I gave myself InbculatlonB with tho serum, and now tho form of the organ ism which I first ob served. "I took the blood of a cancerous per son, and placed a specimen of It on a microscopic slide. I observed the pres ence cf a great num ber of little forms having the shape of horso chestnuts with their shells on. These forms ap peared sometimes fixed on the red cor puse'es of the blood, and sometimes in a free state In the blood serum. What struck me most when I first exam ined them under the nicroscope were the movements they made. Each of the knobF on the chest-nut-llko form SBemed to correspond to a E&Bl , kernel. There were , ' b a arge number of like shapes were larger than those of the kernels In each microbe. The chestnut red corpuscles. These curious forms were constantly turning over and moving from one spot to another. "When I placed on the microscope slide a chemical reagent which I had prepared I observed after a certain time that a number of red corpuscles seemed to have increased, while tho chestnut-like form remained the same. The explanation was that the germs had detached themselves from tho red corpuscles. At the end of a few' minutes I saw the germs beginning to move more rapidly, then Increase in size and finally send out protoplasmic feelers in the manner of an amoeba. "As the microbes were growing they took certain forms with a remarkable regularity. These forms were like leaves with 4, 5 or 6 leaflets, or like tennis rac uetB, or like crosses, or like the letter "H," with unequal legs. "In addition to these forms i-B covered spherical forms resoijjH the bodies which Dr. LaveranliHB scribed as causing malaria. Hll spherical bodies which I otai BH presented a number of aim flagella. T observed 4, e, 9 , j arms in different cases. At cef i moments these arms ouia 1 6 themselves from the spherical j 1 and move through the prep 1 with a snake-like motion. Someoi igf ndeed, one end of the arm S M swell up like the head of a , ISA Each of the arms possessed poj r. movement by itself IndependsaC ; the spherical body. I "1 am satisfied now that In canwi , have to deal with an organism thii 'aches itself to the red corpuscles,- u . may also be found In a free staba ft plasma of tho blood. We are In Vrm of a protozoon of the family of haM 7 j ozoa. This parasite I propose to caD- wl mamoeba neoformans (blood amoi which forms new tissue). '; ' "It follows from what I isre Just 1 fbat analysts of the human blood eca ing the bodies described above woulj' M able the physician to diagnose oils' I with certainty in any person whosa r shows these bodies." "Hpr the medical world passed W$is' judgment on your discovery?" was ajcdop "I have not yet laid all my restfulM lore my colleagues," he answered, jku so far the reception has been mortffr couraging. I arranged with ProfJl; Matruchot, of the Sorbonne, for a t3"P my reagent, which decides the pn3e&l! of cancer in the blood. "Elght test tubes five containing .JL , from cancerous persons and tores ml of normal persons were prepared at 8 School of Medicine In Paris by Dr. K00 ing Hart, the well-known specialist "jjftfbt "The tubeB were numbered and m panled by a sealed envelope desaZj. their contents, and were placed In mfi fessor Matruchofs hands. I than ;J bet ceeded to an examination before myi'idiv,; leagues and was able to recognhe (MDodr' case by the reagent, whether the lE ' was from a cancerous person or not,mrf! "I made a second demonstration tt pi School o: Medicine, and obtained siimba results. Professor Matruchot was fL. enthusiastic about the work, aJut "One of the great thlngH which I ttiRknj to accomplish Is to relieve s smWi from the terrible uncertainty which Wtsje c weighs on him. If a man has a ' the roagent 'will show posltlvelr jB It Is a cancer or not. 'W J w "If he has tho disease then will the curative treament The tnmorWW first be removed and a few days fA, the operation the serum will ba tajejfc Even after the germs have dlsappijijr Injections will be given at long InfirmNJia as a precaution. jjcli "I do not expect to cure persons 'W. blood is saturated with the germs, buttJ. it is not too badly Infected I feel W15 : dent of the efficacy of the seram." MD)' In the photographs which Dr. OdlBW; taken the microbes are magnified writW times. These photographs are perhRpiflfe ., strongest evidence that ha can c Bupport of his claim that cancer Is ajj, disease. Here are specimens of the vm?) iv of unquestionably cancerous persons.M from the photographs it can be seea'M a remarkable and entirely abnormal ( cess is taking place in the blood. Dr. Odin has prepared moving filmd of the germs so that It will ba ble to show them in actual moremeatmOtif development on the screen. J.