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It is not known why cancer acts as it does. Normal cells and cancer cells both possess the properties of unlimited growth if allowed to live and grow in culture mediums outside the body if these cells are transplanted back into the body from which they came, normal cells immediately become obedient to the laws of the body; but cancer cells continue to be outlaws. It is not yet known precisely what produces cancer. It is believed by many, however, that cancer is a diseased condition produced by a virus. But it is also altogether probable that cancer results from no single cause and the conditions that are responsible for it in one organ or tissue may have no relation to the factors that are responsible for it in another. The factors which start a cancer may be removed but the cells keep on with their rapid disarranged growth even though the causal factor has been eliminated. These are thought by many to be only inciting agents which if introduced into precisely the right circumstances o...

By Shan Silva No other organ of the body is as wonderful as the heart. It begins beating before birth and continues without interruption for "three score years and ten" and even longer in many cases. It cannot rest for longer than a fraction of a second at anyone time, for if it were to rest for an unbroken period of even three minutes the individual concerned would lose his mental powers; a little longer and the person would die. Because the heart is the "vital organ" and also because of many vague and erroneous ideas held about it, a study of its anatomy and functions and a brief survey of diseases that affect it will be profitable and interesting. There are four chambers in the heart, two above and two below. The upper right chamber receives the impure blood returning from the body through the inferior and superior vena cava. The contraction of the auricle forces the blood to the lower chamber (right ventricle) which in turn sends the blood into the lungs. Return...