So much has been written and spoken on this subject in the last decade that one might suppose that all had been learned as to its management, but the wide diversion of opinion between the surgeon and internist as to its treatment in general, and the different views maintained by surgeons themselves as to the management of the different stages when encountered, would indicate that many questions are as yet to be settled before the happy mean is reached.
STAGES OF THE DISEASE.
For the convenience of discussion I have divided appendicitis into six arbitrary stages, with very liberal lines of demarcation, as follows: First, inceptive stage, first forty-eight hours; second, rapidly progressing stage, third, fourth and fifth days; third, non-progressing or stationary stage; fourth, interval or chronic stage; fifth, the abscess stage; sixth, the diffuse peritonitis stage. Before taking up the various stages of appendicitis which I have outlined