The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-11-09
APPENDICITIS.

citis appeared some few years ago It
was regarded as a medical discovery,
as a disease hitherto u~nrecognized by
the doctors. But hat was a great mis-
take. It is an old disease and has been
long written about. In the New York
Medical Record DR.. George NJ. Eide
bohis presented "A Review of the His
tory and Literature of Appendicitis"
He brought out 1.-THE salient facts bu-
ried in $500 different books anL essays
upon that disease. all but a very small
part Of which he has consulted in the
original" The troublesome sacs"
contain but little of grape seeds, but
he doctor mentions "a grain Of oat, a
fin Of a fish, a fruit stone. a chocolate
nut, melon seeds. cherry stones, prune
stones. raspberry seeds. a date seed,
orange seeds. tomato seeds. a beam"
In addition it is mentioned that hair
is recorded as having been found there.
H~uckleberry and blackberry seeds. a
piece of the shell of a hazel nut, pea
nuts, a piece of chestnut. a bristle, a
glaciers point of zinc, a globule of SOL
der, a piece of a screw and a knot of
heavy silk ligature that had been used
in some abdominal surgery are also in
the list" DR.. Edebohls Ices not ex-
haust the list. He states. and We are
quoting from a paper in the Baltimore
Sun, that the "causative factors in the
production of the disease. he say ara
universally admitted by all writers to
be very generally local in character.
Attention has been called to an analo-
gy between quinsy and appendicitis.
Heredity as a cause and family appen-
dicitis' have been spoken of. Bacteria
play an important part in causing the
disease. equity appendicitis has been
described. rheumatism has been put
down as a cause" Bacteria thrive in
the sac freely. We quote: "Bacteriologi-
cal investigation has shown, in practi-
cally every case, appendicitis to be
due, DR.. Edebohls says, to bacterial in
vasion of the appendix walls. The
germs may get into the tissue Of the
appendix by mean Of the blood" 1t is
not by any means a new disease. Re-
cords of the disease go back to 1912.
The doctor va that the early records
for more than a hundred years only
appendicitis. The first recognition of
appendicitis as a distinct disease was in
1853, but even down to 1888 knowledge
of the existence of the disease was by
no means general. In 1S47 the diagnosis
of appendicitis began to be made. The
studied until 1891" The first operation
of record was in 1853. That was for
the purpose of draining an abscess, not
for the removal of the appendix. The
inauguration of the modern surgical
treatment of appendicular assesses
the first recorded operation on the ap-
pendix itself was planned by DR.. Ma
homed and executed on August "a,
1883, by Symonds. Mahomed diagnosti-
Gated a stone in the appendix. Symonds
removed the stone. ,three-fourths by
one-half inch in size, and closed the
opening in the appendix. The patient
IetONtIeu anu was cured Oh all MS
symptoms" Here are some instruc-
tive statistics: Although there has
been a belief that men were more sub
ject than women to the disease, in a
succession Of $4,000 autopsies appended
tbs was found in 81 per cent. of the fe-
males and SO per cent. of the the males,
and in 12S autopsies reported by an
other man evidences of past appended
tbs were found in sc per cent of the
women and Sc per cent of the men. In
800 ~autopsies 100 norman appendices
were found, all the others showing evil
dences of disease. Edebohls finds, elm
ically, that 4 per cent of all women
have appendicitis. The appendix aver
ages a half inch longer in women than
in men. Several hundred ~autopsies
have shown as high a proportion Of
cases as above 81 per cent where the
appendix was obliterated."