It is impossible in a brief lecture to give even a faint idea of the immense and valuable amount of research represented, and consequently the most useful information furnished in this monumental work; the material is taken from original documents with new information, freshly obtained from original sources. All is given with an impartiality and clearness which are refreshing when compared with some recent writings on the subject. With the immense accumulated data on record, some of which will be referred to, all showing a steady rise of mortality up to the present time, and that during a period of especial study of cancer such as the world has never known before, it is quite unreasonable and impossible to believe that this advance is only apparent, and that it is influenced by the three suppositions mentioned. While accuracy of diagnosis may be important in early cancer, it is certain that in late stages and at death, from which the various mortality tables are taken, there is rarely any question as to the diagnosis. There is evidence, however, to show that cancer is increasing even more rapidly than appears from mortality statistics.
In 1900 the recorded mortality from cancer in the registration area of the United States was 63 per 100,000 living, and in 1914 it had risen to 79.4, or an increase of 16.4 per 100,000 living, or over 26 per cent. While in 1915 there were 54,584 deaths from cancer against 52,420 in 1914 in the registration area of the United States, or 2,164 more deaths. The total number of deaths in the entire United States is estimated at about 80,000 last year. The death rate in 1915 was 81.1 per 100,000, or a rise of over 28.7 per cent since 1910. The increase during this past year has been 1.7 per 100,000 living, while the gross increase for the preceding five years was but 5.6 per 100,000, or less than an average of 1.2 per 100,000 each year. So that the great activity in cancer education and in operative surgery during that year has succeeded in raising the death rate from cancer by .5 per 100,000 over the average of the preceding five years!
It is to be noted that this increasing mortality from cancer has been steady and constant, though with slight diminution occasionally, some years ago, before the great activity in cancer research, cancer control, and cancer surgery. All this would certainly indicate some deep-seated cause of the malady which had not been recognized; indeed the mortality during the last five years was as follows: 1911, 74.3; 1912, 77; 1913, 78.9; 1914, 79.4; and in 1915, 81.1 per 100,000.