t, or a district registry, a written
memorandum either giving his solicitor's name or stating that he defends
in person. He must also give notice to the plaintiff of his appearance,
which ought, according to the time limited by the writ, to be within
eight days after service; a defendant may, however, appear any time
before judgment. The _Rules of the Supreme Court_, orders xii. and
xiii., regulate the procedure with respect to the entering of an
appearance, the giving of notice, the limit of time, the setting aside
and the general effect of default of appearance. In county courts there
is no appearance other than the coming into court of the parties to the
suit. In criminal cases the accused appears in person. In civil cases
infants appear by their guardians _ad litem_; lunatics by their
committee; companies by a solicitor; friendly societies by the trustee
or other officer appointed to sue or be sued on behalf thereof.

APPENDICITIS, the modern medical term for inflammation of that part of
the intestine which is known as the "appendix." Though not a new
disease, there can be no doubt that it is far commoner than it used to
be, though the explanation of this increased frequency is not yet
forthcoming. Amongst the virulent micro-organisms associated with the
disease no one specific germ has hitherto been found. It may be remarked
that the theories that influenza, or the use of preserved foods, may be
connected with the disease as cause and effect, have supporters.
Sometimes the disease is due to the impaction of a pin, shot-corn,
tooth-brush bristle, or fish-bone in the appendix, which has set up
inflammation and ulceration. In many cases a patch of mortification with
perforation of the appendix is caused by the presence of a hard faecal
concretion, or "stercolith," which from its size, shape and appearance
has been mistaken by a casual observer for a date-stone or cherry-stone.

Apart from the fact of the more frequent occurrence of appendicitis, the
disease is now better understood and more promptly recognized. It was
formerly included under the term "perityphlitis"--that is, inflammation
connected with the caecum or _blind_ portion of the large intestine. But
in the vast majority of cases the inflammation begins in the appendix,
not in the intestine proper. It is apt to extend and set up a localized
peritonitis, which in the worst cases may become general.

Appendicitis is more often met with in the young than