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72
1904]
APPENDICITIS.
The disease known by this name may be described as inflammation of the
appendix ccecnm vermiformis, which is a long worm-shaped tube or process, the
rudiment of the lengthened ctzcum* (a cul-de-sac almost two inches and a half
long, situated at the commencement of the large intestine). The cause of the
disease has not been too well defined; but it is more than probable that all
attacks of true appendicitis are the result of the action of bacteria, while its
severity depends upon the virulence of the microbe, as well as upon the power
of resistance possessed by the patient. It may be ascribed frequently, to a
faecal concretion, or to foreign bodies, such as fruit stones or other small
particles which have gained access to the intestine. Special prominence has
been given to the disease during the last few years owing to the illness of His
Majesty the King. The disease is now more generally and more certainly
diagnosed than formerly, and, therefore, mention is more frequently made of it.
It was frequently confounded with peritonitis, and when death ensued it was
usually registered under this heading.
During the past three years more frequent entries have been made of it
in the local registers, where it has been returned as the cause of 20 deaths in
1902 (12 males and 8 females), 8 in 1903 (3 males and 5 females), and 27 in
1904 (13 males and 14 females).
SEPTIC DISEASES.
Altogether 67 deaths, equal to a death-rate of o-ig per 1,000 of the
population, were caused by diseases, the best known of which are Erysipelas,
Pyaemia, Septica;mia, and by those included under the term Puerperal Fever.
Twenty-five deaths from Septic Diseases were registered in the first quarter,
8 in the second, 9 in the third, and 25 in the fourth.
Erysipelas.—Erysipelas was credited with 23 deaths, or ii more than
the corrected average of the preceding ten years.
It was fatal to 3 infants, the remaining 20 deaths occurring among
p rsons whose ages ranged from 25 to 75 years.
Of the deaths 18 were among males, and 5 among females.
* Lat.: cacutn intestinum, blind intestine.