Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1896 — WAS ONCE USEFUL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAS ONCE USEFUL.

•Th&t Disease-Breeding: Hum&n V cmi a form Appendix. A great deal is heard nowadays about appendicitis. y - There hs no doubt that very many persons are badly scared about it. The number of persons who will not eat fruit containing seeds is very large—this notwithstanding the face that medical opinion has agreed that not more than 6 per cent of the cases of appendicitis are due to the swallowing of seeds. \ The contents of the appendix usually consist of mucus. The appendix has abundant muscular ability to empty itself, and It has at its point of connection with the intestine a good fixed point for muscular action. But a very ■iktlß.-awcElng-wlll.eo ■contract the tubeas to prevent the escape of the concre-

tions. It is the bacteria that do the business. They attack the affected appendix, and the inflammation extends" thence to the adjacent organs. Although now apparently useless, it Is believed that the appendix once formed an important part of the alimentary tract. This was in the days when we needed a wisdom tooth for crushing palms and ferns and a large absorbing surface with which to extract their scanty nutriment. The wisdom tooth, with its insufficient calcification, perishes easily when attacked by bacteria, and the appendix shows the same want of resisting power ~ - The vermiform appendix was recognized lu the sixteenth century. As compared with the size of the intestine, it Is largest at birth and smallest after 70 years of age. It is of very variable'dimensions, for the reason, says the writer, th'at It is one of the structures' which, in the descent of man, “flutters before going out.” Its average length In a young adult Is not far from three and three-quarters incbes.New York World.

THE USELESS VERMIFORM APPENDIX WHICH GIVES YOU THE DREADED APPENDICITIS.