The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-11-20
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Dlrecoor.
Washingt0n, ID. O
ToNsILs AND THEIR ILLS.

/ sore throat season Is approaching Wnef
tonsils will again be a popular topic
of conversation. Scarcely an adult bu
wakes intense over a general discus
sion of tonsils. Everybody has then
or has had an exciting time gettins
rid of them, and if by chance 6
/ groWn-up hasn't personally a per
forming set of tonsils. there are al
ways the tonsilar adventures of tbs
children, not to speak of their ade'
noids.
Yet, with all the interest in this
subject, comparatively few people car
tell what tonsils are for and why man
kind is So pestered by them.
A throat specialist of this city, Dr.
w. A Wells, explained some of the
modern ideas on this subject the other
day. 1t may be shock to some peo-
pie to learn that we really should
practically dispense with, tonsils by the
age of is years. At the age of about
IL in girls and about is in boys the
tonsils should be shrunken almost
to atrophy. says Doctor Wells.
If you have had no tonsilar trou-
bles since childhood, the probabilities
are that yours naturally faded out OF
your life at the proper time. If this
is the case you should have practically
no trouble for the rest of your days
This was natures plan, as modern
specialists understand it. The tonsils
serve their purpose in infancy and
childhood, and then they unobtrusive-
ly shrink.
ing the function of the tonsils. The
belief that they in any way effect di-
gestion or the singing voice is no
longer generally held. DIR. Wells says
that the most plausible theory is that
they make white blood cells in young
children At about the age of 10 or
IL the bone marrow, which makes the
same sort of cells, begins to be active
and the tonsils are no longer needed
1t is a sad fact, however, that most
people do not retire their tonsils at
the critical stage. If the tonsils are
not altogether healthy at the time
when shrinkage would normally occur,
the diseased organs flourish and on
a very little encouragement from
germs at any time become sore and
swollen.
How the Trouble Starts.
Trouble starts somewhat like this:
the tonsi is a capsule containing a
mass of soft and spongy tissue known
as lymphoid- In this tissue are a
number of-crypts and depressions-
Germ colonies lodge in these receSses,
and diseased matter and pus form.
These produce poisons and the poisons
spread thru the system. In recent
years diseased teeth have. been a pop
ular explanation of all manner of all
ments- Now the throat specialist Of
Ter CO6 theory L1ldL . cases Out "a v
of rheumatism and neuritis can be
traced to diseased tonsils. Heart trou-
BILE, kidney inflammations, high blood
pressure, and even hardened arteries,
have been connected with tonsils.
If the natural atrophy fails to take
place i'll adolescence it is generally de-
ferretI until old age. Then the soft
lympboid tissue is gradually replaced
by hard, fibrous tissue.
One of the most recent uses or ra-
dunn to be developed to a practical
stage is in connection with tonsils.
Radium is now being used successful
ly to cause the atrophy that nature
fails to accomplish. Doctor Wells,
this subject, says that radium does in
few hours what nature takes years
to do. Two radium needle are insert
ed in a diseased tonsil for a certain
length of time, and after two or three
of these treatments the organ is
shrunk to its normal insignificance.
The needles used are about one inch
long and about the thickness of a
phonogragh needle. At the blunt end
is an eye in which silk is threaded so
that the needle can be readily with
drawn. Small as these tools are they
represent four or five thousand dol
substance is in the center of the needle
and the exterior, composed of plati-
mum and iridium, forms a screen thru
which the rays are filtered. No, mat
ter how often or how little the nee
dies are used one-half of their power
will not be gone for Il 500 years.
Radium's Mysterious Ways.
One strange fact about radium is
that it has a selective effect, letting
some cells alone and changing the
character of others. 1t has been found
that the tissue of the tonsils is ex-
tremely sensitive to radium. Colonies
of disease germs disappear and the
soft tissue is absorbed and shriveled,
leaving only firm, healthy tissue be-
hind.
Doctor Wells does not advocate his
method of radium treatment as a sub
stitute for removal of tonsilS by sur
gica1 operation. Radium is for those
who cannot stand an operation 1t
and of not being weakening. 1t in
wolves no hospital illness. Neverthe-
less it is not for the average person.
1t is expensive.
Even tho new sources of radiunn
are diScovered from time TO time there
is little prospect of its becoming an
inexpensive material. The cost of min
ing and extracting 1t is large, and
doctors using II are mainly specialists
who have evolved methods of treat
ment by long study and large invest
Thent- Still, the cost of radium is
dropping. Where once it sold for $110
a milligram it is now quoted at
around $40.
treatment for diseased tonsils. with
varying success. The disadvantage is
that the rays must penetrate to the
tonsils from the outside of the neck,
whereas radium can be applied di-
rectly to the diseased organ.
Closely allied to tonsilar troubles Is
the popular disease known as ade-
noids. When people speak of ade-
noids they refer to a disease of the
little tonsil organ located between the
nose and throat where they join. This
organ is sometimes called the third
tonsil. and like the other two it is
supposed to shrink early in life. When
it fails to atrophy and gets larger in
stead by disease, breathing is OBJ
structed and considerable discomfort
may result. This third tonsn may
swell to q bigger size than the fousiIS