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advice and treatment could be obtained by everyone in the
Borough, and that in my opinion a Cancer Diagnostic Clinic was
perhaps not so much required in Camberwell as in less fortunately
situated districts.
The Council agreed with this view, and also shared my
opinion that it was doubtful whether the public would make use
of a Cancer Diagnostic Clinic to an extent which would justify its
establishment, but that far better results would possibly be
obtained in the fight against cancer by an extension of the present
activities for disseminating knowledge of the disease.
For some years past a pamphlet containing information
relating to (1) the sites of the body attacked; (2) suspicious signs
and symptoms to be looked for; (3) the importance of early
diagnosis and treatment of this disease; aricl (4) the danger of
delay in obtaining medical advice, has been distributed by the
the Health Visitors when visiting the homes of the people of
Camberwell.
During recent years the London County Council have performed
a most useful service by teaching in their schools the
elementary facts of physiology and hygiene, and in my opinion it
would seem desirable to carry this instruction a step further to
include elementary teaching of the origin and spread of various
diseases. In this regard the imparting of knowledge concerning
the nature and formation of cancers could not fail to have an
impressionable effect on the minds of the older children.
The medical practitioner in daily intercourse with his patients
is also in a most favourable position to give simple and concise
information on the subject. Further, the lay press has in the
past, and will also no doubt in the future, continue to give
publicity to the ravages of cancer. It has been argued that the
benefit which would accrue from giving information to the public
of the signs and symptoms of cancer would be counterbalanced
by the terror that is likely to arise in the minds of the timorous,
and that even harm might result by frightening the community.
But the simple truth about this disease and the information as to
the preventive methods such as that any source of chronic irritation
and inflammation is liable to form a focus for the development
of cancer is not, I venture to suggest, likely to cause uneasiness
in the healthv-minded section of the community.
The greatest hope of cure of this disease lies in the early
diagnosis and treatment, and consequently there can be no doubt
as to the value of personal instruction and the distributive
means of propaganda to assist in securing a reduction in the
incidence and mortality of this disease.
With this end in view the Council have authorised me to
arrange for the distribution of leaflets at factories in the Borough
where women are employed, and also to display posters at the