Natural history of cancer and its incidence in Anglesey, with special reference to the south-eastern division of the county

Cancer is more prevalent in Anglesey than in England and Wales generally; this is also the case in the other agricultural counties of Wales, owing doubtless to the higher average age of rural communities. There has been a great increase in the mortality from cancer during the last 50 years in Anglesey, and a concomitant decrease in the death-rate from Phthisis. This increase has been associated with a great change in the habits and diet of the people which suffered a greater alteration during the latter half of the 19th century than had been the case during several previous centuries. Owing to the introduction of the railway and the greater facilities afforded to the transport of merchandise, the people of Anglesey who had formerly lived almost entirely on the produce of the island, were enabled to obtain, at low prices, articles of diet which had formerly been quite beyond their reach. Although the increase in the cancer mortality is disseminated throughout the island, the disease attacks most frequently those persons who live on clay and such retentive soils, and those who dwell in the vicinity of stagnant water; while the people who live in limestone and sandy districts are far more free from malignant disease. The part played by heredity in the occurrence of cancer is not insignificant; near relatives have frequently succumbed to the malady even when living at great distances from one another, and under totally different circumstances.

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Edinburgh

Year dc:date.issued

1914

Author dc:creator

• Williams, William Hugh

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/34449

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:era.ed.ac.uk:1842/34449