If every patient suffering from acute appendicitis were put to bed, given the indicated remedy, no food whatever and plain tepid enemas-in ninety nine case out of a hundred it would prove to be nothing worth mentioning- just a little indigestion. To be sure there is such a thing as a ruptured appendix and operation may in such a condition, save a life. It is the writers opinion however, that surgery in appendicitis has caused more deaths than it has ever prevented but even in this there is some compensation (other than financial) the dead are immune to recurrent attacks.
Patients recovering without operation are possible candidates fro either recurrent or chronic appendicitis but these can almost certainly be prevented by the constitutional remedy and intelligent case management. If the appendix has been removed and the patient remain untreated constitutionally this particular type of disease manifestation is henceforth denied expression and when the next attack occurs it will not be appendicitis but perhaps something more insidiously violent.
Having removed the appendix, let us now examine the tonsils. Yes, they are badly shot. What could the family doctor have been thinking of that he did not advise their removal long ago! They have been poisoning the entire system for years-possibly even causing that attack of appendicitis. To get rid of anaemia and all the other troubles we simply must clean up these foci of infection.
To make a long story short, the patient underwent the operation and made an uneventful recovery.
He consulted us again the following Spring. It was the first winter he had been free from sore throat and tonsillitis for year although he had been troubled off and on with a mean bronchial cough and had been laid up a couple of weeks with influenza. Following the influenzal attack a purulent rhinitis supervened and persisted despite the use of sprays and medicines prescribed by the local doctor.
He began to experience dull frontal and supra-orbital headaches. At night he suffered from obstinate nasal obstruction, at times compelling mouth breathing. His days were made miserable and embarrassing by the thick, purulent coryza filling handkerchief after handkerchief.
Examination revealed a deflected nasal septum and a severe sub- acute hypertrophic rhinitis. The X-ray showed marked infection of the right maxillary sinus with beginning involvement of the ethmoid, and the sphenoidal and right frontal sinuses. Immediate operation was advised. Grateful relief was experienced following draining of the right maxillary sinus, septum resection and removal of the inferior turbinates.
The next time we saw him he had had all his teeth extracted. For years there had been some evidence of pyorrhoea. Soon after his last operation the trouble had become very acute and had spread rapidly, involving practically all the teeth on both the upper and lower jaw.
Complete X-ray studies of the mouth decided the dentist to advise removal of all the remaining teeth. Although the extraction was not all undertaken at one time, quite a severe reaction was, nevertheless, experienced by the patient. However, he finally cleared up and was very satisfactorily fitted with complete upper and lower dentures.
But to return to his new complaint-sure enough it was a rapidly advancing case of polyarthritis. Our patient said, “Doctor, I dont suppose you treat this kind of trouble, but I thought I would see what youd have to say” but why continue-we all knew the sad, sad story almost by heart.
Each surgical suppression is followed sooner or later, by a new manifestation of the internal disorder-the same disease in another form, bearing s new name and attacking a different part of the organism to the ever increasing detriment of the patient.
Eugene passed away at his country home on Spring Hill, Tuscarora Township, Bradford County, PA. He had been in ill health for several months. His wife, the former Caroline Davis, whom he had married in Philadelphia in 1910, had passed away in 1961. They spent most of their marriage lives in Swarthmore, PA.
Dr. Underhill was a member of the United Lodge of Theosophy, a member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. He was also the editor of the Homœopathic Recorder.