uciating pain, which appears in both sexes in the region
above described.

From some cause, possibly justifiable, it has been decided to open the
human body and explore the region just below the right kidney in search
of the cause of this trouble. Such explorations have been made upon the
dead first. Small seeds and other substances have been found in the
vermiform appendix, which is a hollow tube over an inch in length. These
discoveries, as found in the dead subject, have led to explorations in
the same location in the living. In some of the cases, though very few,
seeds and other substances have been found in the vermiform appendix,
supposed to be the cause of local or general inflammation of the
appendix. Some have been successfully removed, and permanent relief
followed the operation. These explorations and successes in finding
substances in the vermiform appendix, their removal, and successful
recovery in some cases, have led to what may properly be termed a hasty
system of diagnosis, and it has become very prevalent, and resorted to
by the physicians of many schools, under the impression that the
vermiform appendix is of no known use, and that the human being is just
as well off without it.

OPERATING FOR APPENDICITIS.

Therefore it is resolved, that as nothing positive is known of the
trouble in the location above described, it is guessed that it is a
disease of the vermiform appendix. Therefore they etherize and dissect
down for the purpose of exploring, to ascertain if the guess is right or
wrong. In the diagnosis this is a well-defined case of appendicitis; the
surgeon's knife is driven through the quivering flesh in great eagerness
in search of the vermiform appendix. The bowels are rolled over and
around in search of the appendix. Sometimes some substances are found in
it; but often to the chargrin of the exploring physician, it is found to
be in a perfectly healthy and natural condition, and so seldom is it
found impact with seeds or any substance whatever, that as a general
rule it is a useless and dangerous experiment. The per cent of deaths
caused by the knife and ether, and the permanently crippled, will
justify the assertion that it would be far better for the human race if
they lived and died in ignorance of appendicitis. A few genuine cases
might die from that cause; but if the knife were the only known remedy,
it were better that one should occasionally die than to continue this
system, at lea