Appendicitis | Page 4

hence the
following suggestion:
As my regular readers know, I do not favor the use of protein and
starchy foods in the same meal. The only exceptions that I ever made to
this combination was the use of potatoes with meat in the same meal
and the serving of milk with starch. I still allow the occasional use of
potatoes with meat for well people, for the potash content of the potato
helps with the digestion of these two foods. _But the combination of

milk with starch I discontinued some years ago._
In some of my former writings this correction has not yet been made,
therefore we are asking our readers to keep this in mind when studying
those particular works. Where you find milk in combination with starch,
change the milk to teakettle tea, which means hot water with a little
cream (which is fat, not protein) and a small amount of sugar.
In some of my former writings this correction has not yet been made,
therefore we are asking our readers to keep this in mind when studying
those particular works. Where you find milk in combination with starch,
change the milk to teakettle tea, which means hot water with a little
cream (which is fat, not protein) and a small amount of sugar.
*(This notice was slipped inside the book, printed on a small, glossy
sheet. Editor)

THE ROAD OF ILL HEALTH

To understand the cause of appendicitis we must go back to the
beginning, and when we do we find that it starts just where all diseases
start, namely, _where health leaves off! _When the laws of health are
broken for the first time, it can be said that the individual has started on
the road of ill health. How fast he will travel and just what will be the
character of the disease he meets with will depend upon his constitution,
inheritance, environment and education.

APPENDICITIS

CHAPTER I.

This cut represents the back view of the cecum, the appendix, a part of
the ascending colon, and the lower part of the ileum, with the arterial
supply to these parts.
"A, ileo-colic artery; B and F, posterior cecal artery; C, appendicular
artery; E, appendicular artery for free end; H, artery for basal end of
appendix; 1, ascending or right colon; 2, external sacculus of the cecum;
3, appendix; 6, ileum; D, arteries on the dorsal surface of the
ileum."--Byron Robinson.
The reader will see how very much like a blind pouch the cecum is, 2.
The ileum, 6, opens into the cecum, all of the bowel below the opening
being cecum, the opening of the appendix, 3, is in the lower part of the
cecum.
The arterial supply to these parts is great enough to get them into
trouble in those people who are imprudent eaters, and it is also great
enough to save the parts when diseased if the patient has the proper
treatment.
For the benefit of the lay reader I will say that the blood-vessels
represented in the cut are the arteries; there are also veins, nerves, and
lymphatics imbedded in the folds of the peritoneum, accompanying and
paralleling the arteries, but they are not shown in the cut.
The peritoneum is the lining membrane of the peritoneal cavity. It is
well to remember that there is nothing in the peritoneal cavity except a
little serum. The layman will say that the bowels are in this cavity, but
they are not; they project into the cavity, and their outside covering is

the lining membrane of the peritoneal cavity, but they are truly on the
outside of the cavity, and to enable the layman to understand the
anatomy so that he can apply it when reading of the disease, I shall
describe the course of an ulcer: If an ulcer starts in the bowel it first
eats through the mucous coat which is the lining membrane of the
bowel then through the submucous coat, which is the second layer or
coat of the bowel, then through the muscular coat, which is the third
layer of the bowel; this brings the ulcer to the serous coat or
peritoneum. When the peritoneum is eaten through it is called
perforation, for it means that there is an opening into the peritoneal
cavity, and, unless the cavity is cut into, cleaned and properly drained
death will take place in a very short time. I say death is inevitable
without surgical treatment. In this I appear to be more radical than the
most radical, for the best authors have much to say about perforation,
diffuse peritonitis, and of patients who live after perforation, as though
it were a common occurrence; I say they are mistaken.






CHAPTER II

_History: _Appendicitis did not