The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-06-14
STICK TO YOUR TONSlLS,
 INSISTS THIS DOCTOR
HE SAYS THE WHOLESALE DE SEDUCTION OF THOSE ORGANS
 HAS WROUGHT MANY WOES.
DOESN'T KNOW THEIR USE
But Just the Same They Are of Great Value and Should Not Be
 Sacrificed.

Sacrificed.
 Removal of tonsils. which has been a familiar practice among surgeons for many years, is condenne by Dr. number of the Maryland Medical Jour nal Dr. Mackenzie is a professor in Johns Hopkins University and is laryngologist to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore He calls the wholesale destruction of tonsils "a massacre of innocent organs' and does not hesitate to give long list of evil sometimes deadly, effects which are consequent upon the removal or de- structfon of tonsils.
 Dr. Mackenzie says that he has not always been the defender of the ton sil. T too in my earlier days,'' he says, 'have fallen by the way. In- deed, it was once facetiously said that the street in front of my office was paved with, the turbinated bones of my victims.'
 He goes on to remark that there is a host of conditions which warrant the more or less complete destruction of the tonsil.
 My contention is simply this," he adds, "that in selecting our cases for operation we should be guided by a sane and safe conservatism and com mon sense and not be carried away by those who by their precedent and example are fast bringing our special ty into disrepute in the eyes of thoughtful and honorable men"
 He says that some doctors appear to val than the fees which accrue from the operations. He speaks of the ex- tent to which this operation has grown by mentioning a practitioner who remarked that he had taken out some thousands of tonsils in his life time. Some one figured that if his statement be true he must have re- moved about a bushel day
 Dr. Mackenzie has this to say about the supposition that the tonsils are re- sponsible for rheumatism and certain kinds of heart disease. He says:
 Much wild and incontinent talk, for which their teachers are sometimes largely to blame. has poisoned the minds of the younger generation of hysteria. Tonsillectomy. for example, is held out to them not only as 8 sure cure for but as an absolute prophy- tactic against rheumatism and heart disease They are told that with the disappearance of the tonsil in man these diseases will cease to exist. Pa rents bring nowadays their perfectly SOQIlQ CAA0GCA tO lAA0 AaA n6 6OAO6ASS AOA tonsil removal in order to head off these affections. Tonsillectomy is rec commended as curative during the agony of acute articular rheumatism.
 But the origin of the latter disease has recently been traced to an infec- tion of the nasal mueosa following op- eration. Tomorrow 1t will come from somewhere else. Those of us who are old enough to remember will re- call the story of chorea. Years ago we found the cause of this affection in the nasal passages. When this view, after the usual struggle, had to be abandoned it was suddenly discov- cred that the eye was the portal oi entrance. To-day it has been caught in the tonsil. If we exercise little patience it will turn up soon in some other organ.
 What the functions of the tonsil are, however, Dr. Mackenzie does not know, and he believes that in the present state of medical knowledge no precise functions of the organs. He insists, however, and here he is In opposition to many doctors who cut out the tonsils as general means of prophylaxis, that the tonsils are not the means of entrance of disease. 'The tonsil is not built anatomically," he says, ''as gateway of infection"
 
 tonsils he has this to say:
 Results? Here is a partial list from the practice, not of the ignorant, but of the most experienced and skill ed: Death from hemorhage and shock, development of latent tubercu- losis in lungs and adjacent glands, la ceration and other serious injuries Of the palate and pharyngeal muscles great contraction Of the parts. remo- val of one barrier of infection. severe infection of the wound. septicemia, cicatr1ces, suppurative ot- tis media and other ear directions. troubles of vision and voice, ruin of the singing voice, emphyseme, septic Qnfarct) pneumonia, increased suscep- tibility to throat disease at the seat of operation, pharyngeal Quinsy and last but not least tonsilitis
 Who, may I ask, is in the better position to advise, the surgeon or practitioner, who without sufficient lightly recommends com- plete enucleation of the tonsils, or those who have devoted their lives to the study of throat conditions and who come in daily contact with its disas- trous and often fatal end results? For merly it was the nasa1sseptum, now 1t is the tonsil that is the surgical objec- tive of every beginner in laryngology and a tonsillectomy is usually his first
 
 done all over the land by operators of all kinds and if the truth were known with great mortality. The amount of reckless surgery done in this field will never be known or chronicled in the pages of medical nt- erature, but it may be found in its abiding place in the book of the re- cording angel.
 Let us hope that the day is not far distant when not only the profession but the public shall demand that this senseless slaughter be stopped. Is not this day of medical moral preaching and uplifting fitting one to lift the public out of the atmosphere in which it has been drugged and for the reck- less tonsillectomist a proper time to apply the remedy of the referendum and recall?
 POINTS OF INTEREST.
 Rogers Clothing Go. Sale.