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72
Last year had, with the exception of 1911, the highest
recorded cancer death-rate, the increase being much greater
in males than in females. There was some slight increase
under most of the organs tabulated, but chiefly from carcinoma
of the mouth, throat, and digestive organs.
On the whole, since 1903, the most notable increase has been
in cancer of the digestive organs. Whether this increase is
real or due to improved diagnosis it is impossible to say.
On the other hand, there has been a decrease of cancer in
the female genital organs. This decrease may possibly be the
result of more early detection of, and operation on, the disease
owing to the advancement of surgery. Cancer of this part
is more easily diagnosed than that of the stomach and intestines,
and the fact that the former appears to have decreased,
and the latter increased, strengthens the opinion that the
apparent increase of cancer is largely due to improved
diagnosis.
It is seen from these two tables that cancer affects the
mouth, tongue, pharynx, oesophagus and larynx of men,
much more than similar organs of females, and to a small
extent men have more cancer of the stomach than women.
Causes of Cancer. Owing to the apparent increase of this
painful disease, much interest has been aroused in the
attempts to discover its cause. So far no great addition to
our knowledge on the subject has been made. It has been
long known that the disease is frequently a result of local
irritation, as in the case of irritated sores producing cancer of
the skin, chimney-sweeps' cancer, and smokers' cancer of the
lip and tongue. Apart from the irritation of a pipe, smoke