Title:
Anarchy in the Human Body
Date:
April 12,1930
Creator:
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Exhibit Label:
This advertisement for the pharmaceutical company Parke, Davis and Company discusses the connections that were being made between cancer and radioactive technologies even as early as 1930. Additionally, it should be noted that this is the eariliest source in this collection that acknowledged that radium could be dangerous if improperly handled and calls out the quackery that was rampant within the industry.
Image Text:
The Literary Digest for April 12, 1930
BUILDING THE FORTRESSES OF HEALTH
One of a series of messages by Parke, Davis & Company, telling how the worker in medical science, your physician, and the maker of medicines are surrounding you with stronger health defenses year by year.
[Picture Caption:]
While studying invisible rays at the University of Wurzburg 1895, Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen discovered what he christened the X-ray.
Anarchy in the human body
You should know these facts about cancer
When Roentgen stumbled upon the power of the mysterious X-ray to penetrate the tissues of the human body, he little dreamed that he had given to medical science a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer -- one of the greatest sourges of humanity.
You know, of course, that the body tissues are made up of cells. For some unknown reason, a few cells occasionally "run wild." Stomach cells, for example, my grow beyond their natural limits and invade the surrounding tissues. There they grow with abnormal speed. Cancer, which has been called "anarchy in the human body," is the result of such unnatural cell growth and may affect any organ.
Cancer often curable if taken in time
Cancer always begins as a small growth or ulceration which seldom causes pain or discomfort. If the growth or ulcer is promptly and completely removed, the cancer is cured. But the symptoms vary greatly -- they range all the way from an innocent looking lump in the breast to indigestion coupled with loss of weight. Only a qualified physician is competent to diagnose cancer, and only early diagnosis and treatment can make cure possible.
Even at a more advanced stage, cancer is not always the hopeless disease so many consider it to be -- but a cancer that could be cured by a surgical operation today may be beyond help in a month.
In the treatment of cancer, modern science uses the X-ray, radium and surgery, either singly or in combination.
It is the very mystery that surrounds the X-ray and radium, that has made it easy for charlatans to exploit the hopes of cancer sufferers. But these powerful remedies are extremely dangerous unless used by a highly-trained physician.
Beware of medical preparations advertised as "cancer cures." No effective treatment for cancer has yet been developed except surgery, radium and the X-ray.
If a sign appears which makes you fear the possibility of cancer your safest course is to go to your doctor promptly. If your fear is justified, you have gained valuable time. But the probability is that cancer is not present, and your doctor's reassurance will relieve you of needless worry.
PARKE, DAVIS & CO.
The world's largest makers of pharmaceutical and biological products
BUILDING THE FORTRESSES OF HEALTH
One of a series of messages by Parke, Davis & Company, telling how the worker in medical science, your physician, and the maker of medicines are surrounding you with stronger health defenses year by year.
[Picture Caption:]
While studying invisible rays at the University of Wurzburg 1895, Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen discovered what he christened the X-ray.
Anarchy in the human body
You should know these facts about cancer
When Roentgen stumbled upon the power of the mysterious X-ray to penetrate the tissues of the human body, he little dreamed that he had given to medical science a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer -- one of the greatest sourges of humanity.
You know, of course, that the body tissues are made up of cells. For some unknown reason, a few cells occasionally "run wild." Stomach cells, for example, my grow beyond their natural limits and invade the surrounding tissues. There they grow with abnormal speed. Cancer, which has been called "anarchy in the human body," is the result of such unnatural cell growth and may affect any organ.
Cancer often curable if taken in time
Cancer always begins as a small growth or ulceration which seldom causes pain or discomfort. If the growth or ulcer is promptly and completely removed, the cancer is cured. But the symptoms vary greatly -- they range all the way from an innocent looking lump in the breast to indigestion coupled with loss of weight. Only a qualified physician is competent to diagnose cancer, and only early diagnosis and treatment can make cure possible.
Even at a more advanced stage, cancer is not always the hopeless disease so many consider it to be -- but a cancer that could be cured by a surgical operation today may be beyond help in a month.
In the treatment of cancer, modern science uses the X-ray, radium and surgery, either singly or in combination.
It is the very mystery that surrounds the X-ray and radium, that has made it easy for charlatans to exploit the hopes of cancer sufferers. But these powerful remedies are extremely dangerous unless used by a highly-trained physician.
Beware of medical preparations advertised as "cancer cures." No effective treatment for cancer has yet been developed except surgery, radium and the X-ray.
If a sign appears which makes you fear the possibility of cancer your safest course is to go to your doctor promptly. If your fear is justified, you have gained valuable time. But the probability is that cancer is not present, and your doctor's reassurance will relieve you of needless worry.
PARKE, DAVIS & CO.
The world's largest makers of pharmaceutical and biological products
Collection:
Purchased by Staff
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Ad in The Literary Digest
Ad in The Literary Digest