Abstract
THE author took this structure as an illustration in reply to those who are not yet satisfied that structures exist which are useless to the animal body containing them. Referring first to the case of the appendix vermiformis of the great intestine, a survey of the anatomy of the cæcum in various animals, and of the stages of its development in man, leads to the inference that this worm-like appendage is a rudimentary and virtually a useless structure. It has, however, beets generally supposed that, being present, it must have some function; and as it was manifest that a thing of this kind at the otherwise closed end of the great intestine is a source of danger by admitting foreign bodies which it could not expel, it has been argued that contrivances designed to avert this danger might be recognised. That it opens at the back instead of at the bottom of the cæcum; that its opening is oblique; that it has a kind of valve; that it is directed more or less upwards; and so on. On the contrary, the worm-like appendix is a vestige, the rudimentary representative of the true cæcum, and all these supposed contrivances by which the danger is lessened are simply the result of the forward and downward development of the great intestine away from the resisting wall of the abdominal cavity against which the appendix and back of the intestine lie. Although from this cause the appendix vermiformis is not nearly so dangerous a structure as it might have been, it is, notwithstanding, occasionally the cause of death. The author knew of several cases of this, and every experienced pathologist must have met with it. Foreign matters get impacted, causing ulceration, and perforation takes place, followed after a few hours by death.
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The Diverticulum of The Small Intestine Considered as A Rudimentary Structure * . Nature 8, 540–541 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/008540b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/008540b0