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91
[1906
APPENDICITIS.
Under this heading are included those affections which were formerly
comprised under the terms typhlitis, peri-typhlitis, epi-typhlitis, paratyphlitis,
&c., all of which, however, have their origin in that part of the
bowel known as the appendix. It attacks both males and females, but
apparently the former more than the latter, for in the report of the RegistrarGeneral
for 1905 the mortality appears to have been 60 per million of the
population among men and 40 per million among women. It assails persons
of all ages, but more particularly those between twenty and thirty. It may
occur in an infant or a person eighty years old. The reason it is more
frequent among males than females is probably that they are more subject to
traumatism, which is a condition of the system resulting from an injury, to
which persons who undergo much muscular exertion or lift heavy weights are
liable. Recent investigations, too, seem to indicate that heredity has some
influence, for it is not uncommon, according to a recent writer, to find "two,
three, or even four cases in one family." Errors in diet may lead to an attack,
as also fœcal concretions, and, occasionally, foreign bodies as apple pips
and other fruit seeds (causes which are greatly exaggerated), while also microorganisms
play an important part, for there is now no doubt that when
bacilli coli collect in the appendix they become virulent and set up
inflammation.

Of these 20 cases 12 were males and 8 females.