Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 211, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1916 — Smiling Away Appendicitis. [ARTICLE]

Smiling Away Appendicitis.

Specialists at Johns Hopkins university have Joined the “Keep on Smiling” cult. “Worry, and you will get a pain in the side,” they say. Appendicitis is the medical term for one kind of pain in the side. These thoughtful and Inquiring doctors, indeed, have reached the conclusion that mental depression Is one of the most frequent causes of appendicitis, since worry and faulty mastication usually blend, and bolting one’s food leads directly to disorder in the appendix. So they recommend smiling and similar lightminded diversions. The public in general welcomes such admonitions. For the public does not particularly enjoy going to a hospital to permit a surgeon to explore and readjust its interior appurtenances or fixtures. Almost everyone would prefer smiling away appendicitis to being tinkered with and whittled by a busy surgeon. One suspects that there is a great deal of good sense In the Johns Hopkins doctors’ free and wholesome advice, which ought to be well-digested by everyone.