investigate, for they are satisfied. They know or should know that
ninety per cent of all the surgery practiced to-day has no excuse
for its existence--no more right to be protected by the laws that
weld society together than has any other graft that exists by the
grace of public ignorance and credulity. This operation has for some
time been the largest single item of revenue for the profession.

Thirty-four years ago I was called in consultation to see my first
case of what was then generally recognized as perityphlitis or
typhlitis--inflammation of the connective tissue about the cecum. It
was a typical case of what is today called appendicitis. I advised
the doctor to cease his fruitless endeavors at securing relief by
giving drugs, and give the patient nothing but water. As I remember
now, it took about four weeks for this patient to recover. This
plan--positively nothing but water--has since been a part of my
treatment in all such diseases.





CHAPTER III




_Etiology: _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