PATHOGENIC BLASTOMYCETES AND THE ETIOLOGY OF CANCER.

The report by Hektoen, in this issue of the Journal, of another instance of so-called blastomycetic dermatitis brings up the question in regard to the cause of the malignant tumors—a problem which is pressing hard for some kind of solution. In the first place it is proper to ask: What evidence have we that the form of dermatitis described is in reality a blastomycetic process? The answer is that in a considerable number of cases—in all there are now at least six instances described in American medical journals—of proliferative and granulomatous processes in the skin, characteristic, double-contoured vacuolated and budding organisms have been found in the lesions. In three of these cases yeast-like organisms have been found, isolated in pure culture, and subjected to careful study, including experimental inoculations into various animals in many of which more or less extensive and fatal lesions were produced. But in no case does