"Opium at first decidedly influenced the condition; the patient took
daily 0.5 to 1.8, and since yesterday morphin subcutaneously 0.02 at
a dose."

[Of course, anyone acquainted with opium knows that it loses its
effect, but it never fails to do its damage. The daily intake of
7-3/4 grains to 27.5 grains must lead to trouble.]

"Ice bags were not well borne, and Priesslitz compresses were used
continuously. The intake of food was reduced to almost nothing."

[Not one teaspoonful of food should have been given; under such
treatment this case would have been very comfortable. Foods and
drugs were the cause of the discomfort.]

"With a sharply circumscribed perityphlitic abscess there could be
no doubt of the diagnosis of diffuse peritonitis nor of the
indication for operation on account of the long continuance of the
severe symptoms. But neither this proposition nor that of an
exploratory laparotomy, the result of which might have induced the
patient to yield, was accepted."

[It is an evidence of professional officiousness to say positively
that there was a "sharply circumscribed perityphlitic abscess." How
was it possible with meteorism as described, to say that there was a
sharply circumscribed perityphlitic abscess? It was tacitly assuming
a diagnostic skill that must test the strength of every American
physician's credulity to the utmost. The long continuance of the
severe symptoms was no fault of the disease. The worst case should