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writings on the subject, nor is it so long as many of the text books 

 assert. In describing the appendix the length is usually stated as 

 varying from 8 to 15 centimetres and nothing whatever is said as to 

 the relations of length to age, to sex or to caecum. All these points 

 are of importance, as bearing upon the possible functional activity of 

 the appendix; but hitherto they have been neglected by the majority 

 of writers. 



With regard to the absolute length of the vermiform appendix 

 I found it to be on the average 8,3 cm. As this result was based 

 upon 100 cases only I then compared it with the writings of others, 

 and struck and average over the whole as follows, thereby hoping to 

 reduce error to a minimum: 



Table 1. Combined Average Length of Appendix. 



1. Clado (1) 8,0 cm 



2. RiBBEKT (2) 8,3 „ 



3. Bekkt 8,3 „ 



4. Steutheks (3) 9,0 „ 



5. Kelynack (4) 9,0 „ 



6. FowxEE (5) 9,0 „ 



7. Bryant (6) 9,0 „ 



8. Smith (7) 9,0 „ 



9. Ransohoff (8) 10,2 „ 



10. Tbbves (9) 10,2 „ 



11. Fekgusson (10) 11,5 „ 



By this means the average length of the appendix would be 9,2 cm 

 which may be accepted as much more accurate and certainly more 

 constant than the vague and uncertain figures hitherto given. 



The longest appendix I met with measured 13,3 cm. I found 

 such an appendix twice, once in a boy aged 5 years and once in a 

 female aged 45 years, other abnormally long appendices are mentioned 

 by Ransohoff (8) ; one of his own cases from a "large adult" measur- 

 ing 19 cm in length, while there is another in the Pennsylvania hos- 

 pital museum 23 cm in length. The longest appendix described by 

 Treves (9) was 15 cm, while Ribbert (2) met with one 21 cm in 

 length. 



The shortest appendix I found was one 3,1 cm long and which 

 occurred in a female aged 44 years. Some authors have described 

 total absence of the appendix. I do not believe, however, that the 

 appendix is ever absent unless as the result of a previous excision. 



Secondly as regards the relations of the length of appendix to 

 sex, in my series I found it distinctly longer in the male sex; the 

 exact figures being: 



