The searchlight., 1910-06-03
AGED ARE IMMUNE

"oao oNSI W ychh HuTuIy ever nave
appendicitis. In ga cases Or. Haw-
kins. OF st. Thomas hospital. found.
for example. that less than one per
cent. OF them were over 80 years Of
age. The reason that practically only
people below middle life have appen-
dicitis Is that tho appendix itself
gradually degenerates with each year
OF a mans or woman's life.
when the age OF so Is reached the
appendix has In most cases ceased to
be a sack. II Is nothing but string
OF whitish fibers. Since It Is no longer
sac. small particles can no longer
get into II to inAame II and to cause
appendicitis But this useless sitting
OF white fibers can cause trouble Of
another kind. II remains in the abdo.
men. surrounded by connective tissue,
irritating and disturbing the nerve
filaments about II. This irritation
travels back through the nerve fibers
to the great nerve center behind tho
stomach. which governs all the feel.
ings and all the activities OF the alb
dominal organs.
From the nerve center OF the solar
plexus the irritation is passed on
along other nerve filaments to tho
stomach and other organs. Thus we
surgeons find that a large percentage
OF cases OF dyspepsia and indiges.
tion-especially In middle.aged and
elderly people-are caused by nothing
except the influence OF the flbrous re-
mains OF the appendix. Because the
real trouble has Its seat In one part
OF the abdomen. while the actual pain
Ia felt In quite another part OF the alb
domen. We call II q reflex disturb.
ance.
AS all that the patient feels Ia Just
a pain In some far.away point In the
system. We have considerable diflicul-
ty In diagnosing these reflex disturb
ances. Often we operate for ulcer OF
the stomach. as the cable describes.
and find that the stomach Is perfectly
normal. Then we have to make ono
Of those quick operating room right
about faces that We try to keep the
public and even the patient and the
patients friends from knowing about.
We follow along the whole dIgestional
tract and try to trace the trouble to
It's seat. while the patient is still un-
der the anesthetic. We find the sup
posed ulcer to be nothing but the
white fiber string. which was once the
appendix. many more times than you
would think. About the only way to
tell what the trouble Ii Is by a process
OF exclusion. We fnd that the stom-
ach and gall and liver are all right,
and we reason that the trouble must
be somewhere else. An infinite deal
OF trouble IL caused. on the other
hand. by the public's trying first one
doctor and then another In the hope
that each may be able to hit their
case with something simple.
On the other hand. operations are
much less often performed In cases OF
trouble caused by fbrous degenera-
tion Of the appendix than In cases Of
regular appendicitis. We find that In
many cases OF trouble caused by
nbrous degeneration of the appendix
the nervous reflex In the other ORGANS
tends to disappear with time. a. the
appendicidal nber itself gradually be-
comes obliterated. II also disappears
under medical and hygienic treatment
aimed at the nervous indigestion.
When We do operate II Ii not because
Of future danger. but 70 relieve pres
ent discomfort Indeed. many pa
tients become much better - soon q
they fsnd that their pain II not due to
anything moro than nervous relax.
like the fancied pain n . leg q arm
after the leg or arm has bsen taken
n0a