“Oh, Grandma Sharpless, Grandma Sharpless! Have you known me all this time not to trust me further than that?” whispered the Health Master. “Wait and see.” A little woman near the rear of the room spoke up with a fine bravado: “I’m not afraid. It can’t give me cancer.” Then a pause, and a sigh of relief, which brought out a ripple of nervous laughter from the rest, as she said, “There’s nothing in mine.” “Nor in mine,” added a young and pretty woman, in the second row, who had furtively and swiftly employed a hatpin to satisfy her curiosity. “Nor mine!”—“Nor mine!” added a dozen voices, in varying tones of alleviated suspense. “Not in any of them,” said Dr. Strong, smiling. “My little design was to arouse you collectively to a sense of the danger, not to frighten you individually into hysterics.” (At this point Mrs. Sharpless sat down abruptly and fanned a resentful face.) “The ugly fact remains, however: one out of every eight here is marked for death by the most dreadful of diseases, unless you do something about it.” “What can we do?” inquired the minister’s wife, in the pause that followed this statement. “Educate yourselves. If, in the process, you educate others, so much the better. Now I propose to tell you all about cancer in half an hour. Does that sound like a large contract? When I say ‘all,’ I mean all that it is necessary for you to know in order to protect yourselves. And, for good measure, I’ll answer any questions—if I can—within the limit of time.” “What _is_ cancer?” asked a voice. “Ah! There is one that I can’t answer. No one knows. If I told you that it was a malignant tumor, that would be true, but it wouldn’t be an answer, because we don’t know the real nature and underlying cause of the tumor. Whether it is caused by a germ, science has not yet determined. But though we know nothing of the fundamental cause of the disease, we do understand, definitely, what is the immediate causative influence. It practically always arises from some local sore or irritation. Therefore—and here is my first important point—it is preventable.” “That would be only theoretically, wouldn’t it, Dr. Strong?” asked the little woman who had first braved the venture of the sealed envelope. “One can’t get through life without bumps and scratches.” “True. But ordinary bumps or scratches properly looked after don’t cause cancer. The sore must be an unhealing one, or the irritation a continued condition, in order to be dangerous. Remember this: any sort of a sore, inflammation, or scarification, external or internal, which continues more than a few weeks, is an invitation to cancer. Therefore, get rid of it.” “But suppose the injury is in the stomach, where it can’t be got at?” asked a member. “Why can’t it be got at?” demanded Dr. Strong. “How can it be got at?” retorted the questioner. “By opening up the stomach and examining it.”