Document BGXqRYyQJKN8q1grze96rMXw

154 OCCUPATIONAL TUMORS AND ALLIED DISEASES case of paraffin cancer had occurred in this country during the preceding 38 years. Kennaway attributed this fact to radical changes, which had been intro duced in production methods, and to the institution' of effective, preventive measures in German plants. Unfortunately, at the time when these claims were made by this English observer, there existed reports of new cases of paraffin cancer in Germany. Kuntzel recorded, in 1920, a case from the in dustrial district of Saxony. Roesch followed in 1923 with a new case, while the most recent instance of paraffin epithelioma was published by Muller in 1932. The total number of paraffin cancers placed on record from Germany is, at present, 18 cases. It is noteworthy that not a single case of occupational oil cancer has been reported from Germany. Although numerous dermatoses, from the use of various substitutes of lubricating oils, greases, and vaselines prepared from tar, were observed during the World War and during the years following it, it is unknown, whether any malignant sequelae were noted (Koelsch; Bettmannj Hoffmann j Riehl; and Blaschko). Buschke and Curth stated that investigations conducted by German workers' organizations had demon strated that cutaneous malignancies did not occur among workers employed in textile mills, in contrast to the high incidence of such reactions among English mule spinners. These investigators suggested that the reason for this striking discrepancy was as follows: as German yarns were thicker than English ones, the spindles in German mills revolved at a slower rate than the spindles in English mills, and, therefore, were throwing the lubricating oil into the air to a lesser degree. Berg stated, however, that the real reason for the absence of mulespinners' cancer in Germany was the use of a lubri cating oil different from that employed in English mills, where blends of shale oils were the offending agents. The occurrence of paraffin cancer among workers employed in Galician oil refineries in the vicinity of Drohobicz was first reported by Ullmann (1912), who saw one case of carcinoma and one case of papilloma while making a survey of these establishments. This investigator was informed at that occasion that 12 additional cases of paraffin carcinoma had been observed there during the preceding 8 years. Muller noted in a report of 1932 that the incidence of paraffin cancer among workers in the Austrian-Galician oil fields during the period 1902 to 1912 was as follows: 10 cases in workers of 20 plants in Boryslawj one case in Pressburg; 2 cases in Mahrisch-Ostrauj and 2 cases in Jaroslaw. These industrial cancers have become less frequent during recent years, according to this investigator, a conclusion of significance, as Ullmann had stated in 1912 that these neoplasms Were rarely met with in Austria and Galicia, whereas precancerous manifestations, such as diffuse and localized hyperkeratoses and warts, were frequent among workers of the AustrianGalician oil industry. Ehrlich added in 1918 five new cases which he discovered