The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-05-17
APPENDICITIS CAUSE.
Dreaded Disease Primarily Due to Indiges
ton.
London National Review.

London Nat
The recent Huxley lecture delivered
by Sir William Macewen has once
again the ;oft.resassing question so
painful TO Che public; why is ap
pendicitie SD common at the present
timer" This affliction spares neither
age nor sex, and it is equally dreaded
in palace and cottage. The King has
been found among its victims; nor has
it neglected the pitiable vagrant on
the embankment. An infant of seven
weeks has recently suocunbcd to the
baneful intiammstory process, while q
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, sue
oumbs, as also does the soldier on ac-
tive service. The schoolboy is par
ticularly prone; and the affection docs
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 it that there is some pc
culiarly potent force now at work
which did not formerly exist? Itis
not to be denied that more accurate
diagnosis has led to en- apparent in
crease in the number Of cases Of the
complaint. Peritonitis, or infamma-,
tion of the lining membrane Of the ab-
domen, has always been common and
dreaded malady, but the precise
cause of the inflammation has fre-
quently been entirely overlooked in
the past, and to-day it is the opirion
of most medical practitioners that con:
siderably more than one.half of the
cases Of peritonitis are primarily at
tributable to an Inflammation of the
vermiform appendix. It is such an
every day occurrence that we almost
wonder not why our closest friend has
been struck down, but when our turn
may come.
CHERRY STONE FICTION.
1t may not be, therefore, altogether
without interest to review some of the
known causes Of appendicitis, and see
how they may be avoided. Although
this is strictly a professional subject,
yet to be forewarned is to be fore
armed, and this must be the excuse
for discussing it. Some people would
still seem to cherish the idea that fruit
stones and pips Of all sizes, from the
cherry stone to the small apple pip,
ere liable to enter the cavity Of the
appendix and there cause dire havoc.
AS regards the cherry stone this is
pure fiction, aud the sooner it is dis
posed of the better. When the reader
realizes that the entrance OF, the tube,
which has larger diameter than any
other. part, will hardly admit in the
normal state the top of an uncut cedar
pencil lit will readily be seen that even o.
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
undoubtedly true, but the number Of
instances in which such have actually
been discovered within the diseased
appendix IS comparatively small. A
single duck ahot, small fragment Of
solder from canned meat tin, bris-
tie from q tooth brush, q spieule from
the lining Of an enameled saucepan /
and an ordinary pin have all been
kno~n TO find their way into the inte-
rior of the appendix, and once there:
such bodies may undoubtedly induce
Inflammation in the matter subse-
quently5 described. While, then, .ad-,
mitting that in few Gases extraneous
matters Of the character and sire men.
toned may play some part in the inci.
dence Of appendicitis, We must seek
more common cause for3the frequency
Of tho affection.
MICRO ORGANISMS
The human body is constantly har-
boring micro: o:organis isns, which are
ever ready to}attack the tissues, and
are;Eespecially capable Of doing SO
Whenever he person is 5belos par, or
the PARTICULAR tissue with which they
arssin ontapt5 has suffered some In
jury. These micro-or rganisms, styled
bacteria are con nstantly taken ID with
foea, ltors & particularly 90 in /
towns Being thus perpesually REIN
forced they are continual II multiply
ing, and able 70 attack any nndefend-
ed point There IS, perh ps nothing
which So tsnds I'd assist t3 their mnlti1l