Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-26
DREAD APPENDICITIS
HINTS ON HOW TO AVOID THE
DISEASE.
From the National Review,

1 Sir William Macewen has once again raised
| the Oft recurring question so painful to the
| public: Why Is appendicitis common at
| the present time? This affection spares
neither age nor sex. and It is equally dread
! ed In palace and cottage. The king has
| been among it's victims. has 1t neglected
the ptiable vagrant on the Embankment.
| An infant of seven weeks has recently sue
| cumbed to the baneful infiammatory pro-
| cess, while medical baronet long past the
| allotted span of three score years and ten
| has happily fought successful fight against
appendicitis. The idle girl without definite
employment. Succumbs, also does the
| soldier on active service. The schoolboy is
particularly prone, and the affection does
| not ignore the high dignitary of the church.
| Can it be that the small blind tube placed
/ within the abdomen has suddenly become
vulnerable to assault or is 1t that there Is
| some peculiarly potent force now at work
which did not formerly exist? 1t is not to
be denied that more accurate diagnosis
has led to an apparent increase in the
number of cases Of the complaint. Peri
tonits. or Inflammation of the lining mem
brane OF the abdomen. has always been a
common and a dreaded malady. but the pre-
| else cause OF the inflammation has fire.
quently been entirely overlooked in the
past and today 1t is the opinion of most
medical practitioners that considerably more
than one-half of the cases OF peritonitis are
primarily attributable to an Inflammation
of the vermiform appendix. 1t IS such
every day occurrence that we almost won
der not why our closest friend has been
struck down, but when our turn may come.
Some of the Known Causes.
1T may not be, therefore, altogether with
out interest TO review some OF the known
causes of appendicitis. and see how they
may be avoided Although this Is strictly
| professional subject. yet TO be forewarned
Is to he forearmed. and this must be the
excuse for discussing it. Some people would
stil seem to cherish the idea that fruit
stones and pips OF all sizes. from the cherry
stone 10 Re small apple pip. are liable to
enter the cavity of the appendix and there
cause dire havoc. As regards the cherry
stone this is pure fiction, and the sooner
1t IS disposed Of the better. When the reader
realizes that the entrance of the tube, which
has "a larger diameter than any other part,
Will hardly admit in the normal state the
To-: or an uncut cedar pencil, 1t will readily
be seen shat even q moderate-sized cherry
stone would have some difficulty in passing
In. That smaller foreign bodies may gain
access to the interior of the tube Is I'M
doubleday true, but the number of instances
in which SUCH have actually been discover
ed within the diseased appendix is COMPARE
lively small. single duck shot small
fragment of solder from canned meat tin
n brlstle from toothbrush, spicule from
the lining of an enamelled saucepan and an
ordinary pin have all been known to find
their way into the interior of the appendix
and once there such bodies may undoubted-
~ INDUCE tl0n In the manner SUBJ
sequently described. While, then, admitting
that In few cases eXtraneous matters of
the character and size mentioned may play
some part in the incidence of appendicitis.
We must seek more common cause for the
frequency of the affection.
Harbor Micro-organisms.
THE human body is constantly harboring
micro organisms which are ever ready to
attack the tissues, and are especially capa-
BILE of doing so whenever the person Is be-
low par or the particular tissue with which
they are in contact has suffered some in
jury These micro-organisms, styled bac-
terra. are constantly taken in with food,
and more particularly so in towns. Being
thus perpetually reinforced. they are con-
tinually multiplying, and able to attack
any undefended point. There Is, perhaps
nothing which 30 tends to assist their null
tiplcation and to increase their virulence
as hurried and irregular meals involving
Their 1t Is that these microscopical organ
isms viii crowd into what may be called
the backwater Of the appendix, here to
Stagnate and to develop a powerful poison
which. acting upon the walls OF the tube
soon produces Inflammation, which is evt-
denced by pain and all the train of symp-
toms incident 10 appendicitis. Take day
IN the life or the ordinary city man, who,
having risen somewhat later than usual.
finds 1t necessary to hurry his breakfast,
perhaps even to run part of the way to the
Sldlicn III oTueT 10 eaten the train which
will enable him to keep an important ap-
pofntment- He is busy throughout tho
morning, and finds that to get through his
work and enable him to leave his office at
q respectable hour in the afternoon lunch
con must be scramble, though he is I'M
willing to forego his usual full complement
of diverse food. On reaching home he is too
tired to enjoy any healthy exercise, and a
third meal |. e., dinner, follows upon the
two previous badly dgested meals he has
already taken, with the result that the in
evitable evil consequences follow. He may
keep up this unwholesome rush for while,
but before long he will feel the necessity
for a holiday. of he goes and perhaps
opens the ball with tough round of golf,
or possibly series of hard sets at lawn
tennis. or maybe eveh a days sculling Then
he is suddenly attacked with appendicitis
and placed in considerable danger.
The Moral.
The moral is to eat ones meals deliber-
ately. leaving time for the commencement
OF the process OF digestion before imposing
undue strain on the muscles ~ rushing to
the station. or the mental faculties by any
intellectual effort such a smart financial
transaction. Look again at the young
debutante who appeared at her first
drawing room. Her subsequent season has
been full one. containing much to weary
the flesh. while the mind has not been in
active. She has eaten rich food often at
late hours. with the inevitable result of In
digestion. and in due time appendicitis
Lastly turn TO the child of the poor, fed
on atrociously unsuitable food, the mere in
FAINT having exactly the same as it's parent,
and how can we wonder that ii should
fall a prey to the ever-ready bacterial
forces? 1t will thus be realized that the
medical profession looks upon the modern
| life of rush. strain and worry, with I'M
wholesome diet and irregular habits one
of the principal causes of the increase of
appendicitis, and it believes that those who
wish TO avoid this ailment must live more
plainly. take matters more easily and pay
| greater attention to what nature pro-
| claims as rational existence. Remember
| that one attack of appendicitis Is liable to
| he followed by another at an unknown in
| terval. and the survivor OF the first may
! succumb TO the second. As has been sug
| gested. much can be done to avoid the on
| set of the attack, and possibly. even IL 1t
| has come to a head, care In diet, regularity
| of exercise and an intelligent. well-ordered
| life may serve to postpone or even prevent
| a second prostration.
THE operative treatment of appendicitis
| has two main objects, viz, to relieve the
| urgent symptoms during the acute attack
| and to prevent any possibility of a recur-
| rerce of the mischief. The gravity of the
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