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Lest the title of my paper should lead to the impression that I have made observations of a practical nature on this grave condition, calculated to serve as a guide to the practitioner, let me announce at the outset that my inquiry is directed to the discussing of means for the clearing away of the doubts that cluster around perforation of the vermiform appendage.
It is highly probable that many of the cases which run the ordinary course of typhlitis may originate in a slight yielding of the coats of the appendix, that allows an exudation of its contents and sets up a local inflammation in the neighboring tissues, with a shutting in of the pus by adhesive inflammation between the serous membranes around. Such cases having the effects confined to a limited area of the abdominal cavity do not present the phenomena of general peritonitis, but retain the characteristics