The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-08-12
PART OF THE HUMAN STRUCTURE
THAT OFTEN GOES WRONG.

| appendix becomes stock topic of CONVEX
sation. and lays low many victim amonI
the budding male youth of the land
Nobody can be quite certain that he ha
vermiform appendix unless he gets some
thing the matter with it. For the doctor
have dissected people in whom there wa
no trace of vermiform appendix. This
| however, is rare, and most Of the human
! beings who read this article may have tn
proud assurance that it tells of somethin:
in which they have a part.
Those who hold to the evolution theor,
have no difficulty in accounting for th
vermiform appendix. They say that i
belongs to a class of rudimentary struc
lures left in the bodies of all organized
things by the process Of evolution. Their,
are certain muscles in the human body
which have no use at ALL but simply stanC
as remnants of muscles which are devel
oped and are useful in the bodies of some
animals of the lower orders. The human
animal has developed into an environment
in which these muscles are no longer use
full In the course of ages they will dis
appear. Now they are still represented il
d shriveled and innocuous state.
USELESS AND HARMFUL.
90 10 Is "lUQ Tue V6rnllOFIn dPp6OulX, &C
cording to the evolution scientists. There
was a time when it was developed and had
an i'm portant place in the economy of life. II
still exists in some of the lower animals in
its complete form. In the human animal
it is shriveled and is no longer useful.
On this last point all are agreed. 1t does
no good. 1t does much harm. In fact, it
never does anything unless it does harm.
That is why some pathologist a few years
ago gave it the name of death trap" And
death trap" it is now called when the
doctors descend from the mist enshrined
heights of Latin and Greek medical terms
to the ordinary language of laymeu.
The death trap" is a small, worm
shaped tube, the opening of which is Of
about the diameter of a goose quill. 1t is
Of variable length in different human be-
ings. Sometimes it is six inches long, and
sometimes it is but three inches long. 1t
extends from the c8cum, which is the
technical name for the upper end of the
large intestine. 1t leaves the cacum at a
point near the valve through which the
contents of the small intestine are dis
charged into the large intestine. Over its
mouth there is sometimes valve and
sometimes not. Generally the valve is i'm
perfect and only adds to the danger of the
death trap"
1t is found in most men and animals, ex-
cept the orang outaug and the wombat.
Sometimes ii curves directly back from the
c9cum. Again it winds around the ilium,
and again it extends along the colon.
To grasp fully the danger of this useless
tube, which is blunt at its other end, some
explanation about the cacum is necessary
The c8cum is a sort of expansion of the
upper end of the small intestine 1t Is
about two inches in diameter, and receives
the discharge of the same intestine. There
fore all the indigestible matter that enters
the stomach lodges in the cecum on its
way out of the system. As the opening to
the cul de sac, known as the death trap"
is just there, some of this undigested mat
ter may enter the death trap" and may
remain there
If you can imagine the stomach as being
no longer useful and shriveling up from
that part of it which lies above
the valves which open from the esophagus
would form such a cul de sac. This is
what has happened to the cecum. Part of
1t has shriveled and the vermiform appeu-
dix is the result.
WHERE THE DANGER LIES.
When the indigestible remnant of the
food has entered the c@cum from the
small intestines it stops there for little
while and then passes on. But the cecum
IS a sort of Stagnant reservoir. Now the
digestive apparatus of healthy person
may be strong enough to push from the
stomach and from the small intestines not
only all indigestible matter, but also all
germs of disease, all dangerous microbes
which may have entered at the mouth
With the food. But here in the cecum
hey stop for a moment.
The mouth of the death trap is open, |
md through unusual pressure or through !
IN accidentally favorable position of the |
7ermiiorm appendix these germs or a part |
If this indigestible matter may enter the |
appendix.
The vermiform appendix is lined with /
mucous membrane, but it differs from the /
est of the intestinal canal in having only |
! few very feeble muscles 1t is therefore !
Unable to eject anything that may enter it.
Say that an orange or cherry seed is pass
Nc through the system when this canal is
onstipated. 1t may be pushed into this
III de sac, to remain there never 10 leave .
Until the surgeons knife reaches it.
And, staying there it may do 10 harm
\ sac may be formed about it, and it may
ven do good in preventing anything else
rom passing up into the death trap. But
gain it may cause death. For an infam
nation may set up about it and communi-
ate to the csecum and to all the other ad-
AGENT parts. Or it may set to work &c
ush itself out with the aid of this ulcera.
ion. and may penetrate the wall Of the ap-
endiX and produce peritonitis and death !
To this form of danger boys between ten
nd twenty years seem TO be most liable,
n younger boys or IN men aud in all fe-
laies the danger is not so great because OF
le different formations OF the appendix.
But seeds are not the only dangers, or
ven bits of foreign substances, such as
ins, needles, buttons and 50 on. The
erns which have been mentioned form the
lost serious danger. Several high medi
II authorities. writing on the appendix,
ave said that its part 10 the causing OF
lsease and death has been much neglected,
I'D one German writer calls attention &C
le fact that in his own experience Of SO
odies examined every third body showed
aces Of present or past Inflammation OF
le appendix, while ) per cent. showed
resent Inflammation Other observers
ave found the percentage even greater
ew York Sun
Too Deliberate.
"Jimpson is very deliberate in his move
ents"