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Show 3 Foreign Bodies in the Appendix Mpre! t OME years ago there was a very gen- Lerest eral impression among physicians and ycagj 1 6urgcons that appendicitis was frc- 3!& queutly due to the presence of foreign ' X?? ; bodies in the appendix. The swallowing iar& I of grape and raibin seeds, even larger fig fru't weds, small pieces of wood, portions 5li5 ': of tllc snc11 nuls ami smn11 p'lccest oi liBgfiE bone Avas supposed to be particularly d'an- r ' Bcrous, ior if by any chance they found hi5 ' lodgment in' the appendix inflammatory 'j31 .', changes were set up and the results were ram!? oflcu an "bicess or what is called puru- -'sj ':' 'cat appendicitis. The rupture of this oW& might easily lead to fatal peritonitis. Ab o sto? t. a consequence of th'i6 Impression a great ndl many people were solicitous, if not ahso- Jtj lutcly anxious, lest they should fiwnllow 8jrR grape seeds or the seeds of any fruit or jjjfor f any other small objects that might be htjffi ' llkely l0 fimI its way Inl tnc aPrendix. nok I' 'oft' phye'u'iaufj know that th solici- p8j 'J tudc and anxiety is almost, If not qiiltc, itdoftj j ilnucccssary. While occasionally foroign otlt I bodies have been found In the appendjx, CTolSJ erv often in these cases no particular in- j'pjS ,; ttammatory result has followed their pros- Jv? encc. Even a pin ha? been found in an JaS I appendix in the dissecting room -wljere iCyg 'l there wore no signs of auy inflammatory j' & ' changes. The suppod seeds of plants abW 'f lat ,vore ount n tuc aPPcudixes In ccr- ' fiS in cases hnvc procd on examination to M , ba nearly always local concretions, which, Pr elti is owing to the dzc and shape of the lumen Mil tno aPPcn',x c on the forn; of seeds k ntel at len6t "' Deln5 somewhat ellipsoid. or "I'Brjji I gg shaped. Sf'S'l 1 'ircful investigation lias been mad in 'rSffil ' recent years Into the presence of foreign bodies in the appendix. Dc John D. Robertson, of Chicago, collected sonic statistics iu the matter, which were published pub-lished in the Jou'rual of Surgery, Gyn a ecoogr and Obstetrics. Dr. Kelly, jn 1,000 operations upon the appendix found only three foreign bodies, one in Zoo.1 lie collected from the literature more thuti 2,300 cases of appendicitis, iu but ten of which were foreign bodies found in that organ. JJr. Murphy, of Chicago, has found them more frequently, that is. iu a little more than three per cent- Altogether Alto-gether it Is probable that in not much more than one in two hundred cases of appendicitis appen-dicitis is a foreign body present, and it is doubtful whether even in these cases the foreign body .a the most serious causative caus-ative factor, for in n large number of reported re-ported casea foreign bodies have bi-en found in appendixes in the disspcting room where otherwise normal conditions wore present. Foreign bodies seem to lodge by preference In appendixes already al-ready uffecled iu some wuy. It would seem, theu, Hint those who carp to swallow grape seeds with their jjrapes may continue to do so with impunity. im-punity. The seeds of other fruits if thej , should by chauce be swullowed need not give- rise to any serious solicitude- Then i is perhaps somewhat more than oui . chance iu three liundrcd that they niaj i lead to roiiic dial urba nee of the nppen , dlx, but apy ono who lives in a large i city takes 'ever so many more cIiuiiccj 5 of being qhitc as aerioutly hurt as lie r would be h,y appendicitis every time lie goes out into the streets. Thorc is no i u,8f of worrying about a danger so dis-3 dis-3 tnnt-nnd -improbable us this. |