APPENDICITIS, a disease caused by inflammation, suppuration, and conse quent gangrene in the tissue of the ver miform appendix, usually due to insuffi cient circulation of blood in the part itself. The interior of the appendix is big enough to admit only a medium sized darning needle. The interior caliber of the ap pendix is, however, often found dilated and containing foreign material. The common belief that appendicitis is caused by the introduction of a grape or orange seed or some other seed into the appendix is practically erroneous, since such causes are extremely rare. It is true, nevertheless, that occasionally seeds, bits of bone, small shot, gallstones, beans, pins and other objects have caused fatal perforation of the appendix.
The appendix is an organ which ap pears to have no actual use in the pres ent machinery of man, but in the earlier stages of man's development it is be lieved to have been a large pouch which played an important part in the digestive operations of the human system. By ages of disuse it has gradually shrunk to its present dimensions, and is known to }_fence as a vestigial organ. It is one of the most delicate and vital parts of the body, in the peritoneal cavity, usually to the right of the center of the abdomen, but in rare instances it has been found on the left side, and, still more rarely, otherwise placed.
Until a comparatively recent period the frequent and fatal part played by the vermiform appendix in peritoneal disorders, and especially in septic peri tonitis, has not been understood by the medical profession. When it was once proved that the poison which produced septic peritonitis came from the breaking down and consequent perforation or from abscess of the appendix the very root of one of man's worst ailments was laid bare. Further practice established be yond a doubt that in a large majority of cases the appendix could be removed by a single surgical operation and the pa tient restored to vigorous health if the disease was discovered in time and cor rectly diagnosed. The surgeons now re gard the operation itself as one of the most simple, but to obtain the best re sults it should take place within a few hours after the patient begins to suffer from the disease.
Appendicitis usually occurs between the ages of 10 and 50 years. It is rare above or below those ages. It is more frequent among males than females, the exact proportion being unknown.