CHAPTER XVIII. 



Therapeutic Bearing. 



A GENERAL acceptance of the theory of the immunising 

 function of the subepithelial lymphatic glands would 

 probably have the following two effects: — 



(1) It would lead to a more conservative surgery of 

 the subepithelial lymphatic glands. 



(2) It might stimulate further attempts at securing 

 Immunity by the administration of bacterial cultures 

 by the mouth. 



With regard to the practical bearing on surgery, it 

 may be declared at the outset- that the excision of the 

 tonsils and appendix can never be abandoned. There 

 has, however, at times been a tendency to remove the 

 faucial tonsils solely because the nasopharyngeal tonsil 

 (adenoids) is being curetted, or to remove the appendix 

 as a routine measure in any laparotomy for other cause. 



The ruthless advocates of the indiscriminate ''massa- 

 cre" of subepitheHal lymphatic glands would urge with 

 perfect truth that no satisfactory proof has ever been 

 presented showing disability following removal. But 

 the question has never been scientifically studied. What 

 is required is to take many thousands of healthy chil- 

 dren living under similar conditions, in half of whom 

 the healthy tonsils had been enucleated and the ade- 

 noids completely cut off within the first two or three 

 years of life, and then to compare the susceptibility 



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