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pertains with equal force to-day. There can be little doubt,
however, as to the benefit to be derived from active propaganda
with a view to informing the public of the danger of delay in
applying for advice in the early stages of the disease. The
Central Midwives Board some years ago drafted a leaflet for
distribution by midwives and others with special reference to
cancer of the womb. The most recent leaflet is that prepared
by the Royal Society of Medicine, a copy of which I append
below:—
What ought to be known about Cancer.
1. In England and Wales 45,000 people died in the year
1921 from cancer.
2. There is every reason to believe that many of the patients
could have been cured if the disease had been discovered early
and the right treatment adopted.
3. Treatment by drugs, taken by the mouth, or applied
externally, at present offers no prospect of cure.
4. In its earliest stages cancer is confined to one spot and
rarely gives rise to pain, or a feeling of ill-health; nevertheless,
there is usually evidence that there is something amiss, for
example:—
(a) A lump in an unusual situation.
(b) Bleeding or discharge from unwonted parts of the body.
This early stage is the favourable one for the immediate
treatment of cancer.
5. If a lump is found in the breast of a woman, medical
opinon should at once be sought. Many such lumps are cancer.
6. Cancer of the womb may occur at any age over 25, but
most frequently between the ages of 40 and 60. It causes
bleeding and discharge, and is rarely painful in its early stages.
7. Any bleeding from the womb, however slight, after the
change of life, almost always means cancer.
8. When any irregular bleeding or blood-stained discharge
occurs at the change of life, a doctor should be consulted.
Often it means that cancer is present.
9. For any abnormal enlargement within the abdomen, a
doctor should be consulted, because such enlargement, apart
from pregnancy, may be due to tumours which, though usually
simple, are sometimes cancerous.