Is Cancer Infective?

NOTWITHSTANDING that no analogy has been shown to exist between cancer and any known form of infective disease, the contrary is often asserted without proof, as a kind of creed, by well-meaning and enthusiastic students of the disease. A recent lecture illustrates the importance of the influence the latter view may come to have upon the public in general. Whether it is wise to put forward such views before a non-critical lay audience is open to doubt, even if they are told “there is no risk of direct infection, although it is better to avoid direct contact by kissing, by using in common table porcelain, clothing, or beds.”