The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-12

The Arabs are very S0Def- 4HSA Seit little. and are, above all, vegetarians. When they do eat meat they eat it very much cooked. Accordingly. among the native tribes living their ordinary life appendicitis is almost unknown. Ii one observes it more frequently among our auxiliaries, sharpshooters and spahis, it is because the regime of the latter is no more the regime of the Arab. but nearer to that of the French trooper.
 This explanation, perhaps, is not ab- solutely satisfactory, inasmuch as 1t does not tell us how and why this rel ative immunity extends to European transplanted to the soil in Africa, where their alimentary regime hardly differs from the regime of the metropolis, but one may suspect that 1t has much truth in it. Other observers have sig nalizedt this rarity of appendicitis among people less carnivorous than ours. Dr. Snyder, who the years past has been attached to the court of the Shah of Persia, has had to treat but five cases of this malady at Teheran, three of which were Europeans and only two Persians. Dr. Snyder aso attributes the rarity of appendicular accidents to the mode of alimentation of the Per- sians. At Teheran abstinence from pork is obligatory, and the meat of cattle is almost unknown. They hard ly eat any meats but mutton and chicken, and those always very much cooked. One of the two Persians at | To o1x xaJ hx-o nj ct11d recently returned from Paris and he had continued to feed himself in the European style.
 On the other hand, Dr. Matignon, who for five years was physician at the French embassy at Peking has not met a single case of appendicitis. either in the missions or in the hospital of Nan tang. during the whole of his sojourn in the North of China. Now, the Chi
 nese, according to Matignan, eat but very little meat. The European alone eats beef. Meat is a luxury which only people in easy circumstances can in- dulge and it's consumption is very linl- ited.
 The great majority of the Peking population are nourished mainly by mill let simply boiled in water, rice, cab bage, sweet potatoes pickled turnips. The Chinese eat also much Indian meal and wheat, of which they make cakes with dough not leavened and cooked by steam. Thanks to this regime, the Chinese enjoy an admirable liberte du ventre and that undoubtedly is the cause of their appendicular immunity The carnai regime then, the abuse of meat. appears to be the true cause of this evil. No meat, no appendicitis. And the vegetarians triumph. If ap- pendicitis is less frequent in our rural districts than in cities, it is because our peasants are nourished more upon farinaceous food. Dr. Championniere knew physician practicing in Britain ny, where little meat is consumed, who for number of years had seen but three cases of appendicitis. In the re- ligious communities where the use of meat is forbidden, appendicitis is un- known.
 Compare with this the frequency of the disease among the Anglo -Saxons, the great eaters of beefsteaks and bleeding roasts. In England they do not hesitate to organize insurance com
 panies against appendicitis. In the United States the disease is so common
 that 2 Philadelphia surgeon, pr. Deav-
 CTS, has recently published, under this
 suggestive title, "A Year of Work in
 Appendicitis" personal statistic of 300 cases operated upon by him one year, from September l. 1902, to Septem- ber1, 1903, or two appendicitis cases
 per day, supposing the indefatigable
 surgeon rests on Sunday.-From the l Paris Matin..