In the recent cancer propaganda, urging the very early and complete removal of everything which could possibly be called pre-cancerous, it is interesting to observe that most of the pictures shown and arguments presented relate to cutaneous epithelioma, which the United States Mortality Statistics show to be the cause of only 2.7 per cent of all deaths included under cancer! Moreover, those of us who see epithelioma daily know that, if properly treated early by other means than the knife, it is commonly a relatively innocent affection. It is acknowledged, however, that by meddling and wrong treatment, as with nitrate of silver, it can be goaded on so as to become a serious affair. In our present consideration of cancer as a disease it is to be understood, therefore, that cutaneous epithelioma is excluded, and that reference is made to the serious malignant disease known as cancer, affecting various other organs of the body. However, many cases of what might be called epithelioma of the lip and oral cavity are of such malignity that they are properly ranked as carcinoma. Looking at cancer, therefore, as a general disease of which the local lesion, which is ordinarily excised surgically, is simply the result or product of a previous, perhaps long-standing, blood or nutritive disorder, we can readily understand why the simple excision of the tumor and surrounding tissues cannot be expected to eradicate the malady permanently. We can also see why the disease recurs so readily in the scar tissue after operation; for all recognize and admit that cancerous degeneration is apt to develop on any scar tissue. It is also well known that occasionally a tumor which after removal has been proved microscopically to be only a simple adenoma, has eventually been followed by true carcinoma in the cicatrix or elsewhere, under the stimulation of surgical procedure. Metastatic development, after or without operation, can also be readily understood on the ground of the disease being a constitutional disorder. For, as far as I have observed, there is seldom or never any continuous attempt made after an operation to alter the dyscrasic condition producing the tumor, but the patient is dismissed with the vain hope that there will be no more trouble. It is quite natural, therefore, that the transference of cancerous cells by the lymphatics or blood vessels, will form foci which are readily made to grow further by the vitiated blood stream. Regarding, then, cancer as a systemic disease, of which the tumor is but a local expression, often or perhaps always the result of local injury or irritation, possibly of one or more “embryonic rests,” let us briefly review the evidence in support of this view, and the measures found successful in combating the basic cause of the disease.