“If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out, and if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell”.
Two thousand years have passed but the members still offend.
Since the advent of modern anaesthesia and aseptic surgery enucleation of the eye and amputation of the hand and foot have largely given place to radical extirpation of the appendix, the teeth, tonsils, adenoids, thyroid, prostate, gall-bladder, uterus, tubes and ovaries, together with frequent attacks and raids on the nose, sinuses and other suspected offenders. These supposed foci of infection, like the “hide-outs” of the gangsters and high-binders are not easy to spot and even when duly located, attacked and cleaned up, the big fellows generally slip out from under and the “gang” continues its underworld activities to the detriment of either the patient or the community.
The human body is a wondrous mechanism possessing a truly marvelous range of adaptability. It is capable of withstanding ignorant abuse and mismanagement to an almost unbelievable degree, but there is a limit, and time will tell the sad old story – with variations for each and all.
Surgery labors under a tremendous disadvantage in not being able to replace cracked, defective and worn out tissues and organs. Every surgeon should have access to, and every hospital should be equipped with a complete parts department. A good beginning in this direction has been made and we have only the highest praise for the wonderful achievements of plastic surgery and considering the many hazards of daily life we are thankful for the blessings of false teeth, glass eyes and artificial limbs.
Not, however, until new hearts, kidneys, lungs, livers, brains and some other more or less hearts, kidneys, lungs, livers, brains and some other more or less embarassing organs can be installed either by contract or on a time and material basis, will the surgical clinics be raised to the level of automobile service stations. Were it not for the HALO surgeons and surgery would be in a bad way.
Inasmuch as we are considering the subject of surgical suppressions, nothing that follows is to be constructed as applying to orthopaedic or plastic operations, nor to other mechanical conditions which can only find their true similimum through mechanical methods of treatment.
The human form has reached its present development through evolutionary processes slowly but ceaselessly progressing for countless ages and destined no doubt to continue as the cycles run their courses through aeons of time.
There are said to be certain vestigial structures in the human body – remnants of organs that performed definite functions in the past but which are thought to be useless at present. The pineal gland and the appendix are regarded as such vestigial remains. Away with them then if they are nothing more than souvenirs of ancient times. But just a minute! Why is the appendix kidnapped so frequently and the pineal gland almost never abducted? There are plenty of people “off their nut” and it would be easy to blame something on the pineal gland, but it isnt done and the little old relic stays right with us. If the appendix were only as inaccessible as the pineal gland we wouldnt read of so many deaths following operation for appendicitis.
Moreover, if every patient suffering from acute appendicitis were put to bed, given the indicated remedy, no food whatever and plain tepid enemas – in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it would prove to be nothing worth mentioning – just a little indigestion. To be sure there is such a thing as a ruptured appendix and operation may in such a condition, save a life. It is the writers opinion however, that surgery in appendicitis has caused more deaths than it has ever prevented but even in this there is some compensation (other than financial) – the dead are immune to recurrent attacks.
Patients recovering without operation are possible candidates for either recurrent or chronic appendicitis but these can almost certainly be prevented by the constitutional remedy and intelligent case management. If the appendix has been removed and the patient remain untreated constitutionally this particular type of disease manifestation is henceforth denied expression and when the next attack occurs it will not be appendicitis but perhaps something more insidiously violent.
Like the surgeon I am loath to leave the appendix without calling attention to one more point. In recent years three important functions have been ascribed to this erstwhile vestigial remnant. First, that of regulator, to some extent, or peristalsis; second, that of an abdominal tonsil with a definite detoxicating action; third, that of a gland of internal secretion – possibly linking up the organ with endocrine system.
Foreign bodies and faecal concretions are occasionally though rarely found in the appendix, but there is commonly money in it requiring operation for its removal.
Just a word of caution at this point. Differential diagnosis is highly important in all EXPECTANT surgical conditions. A safe rule is to make sure the alleged organ has not, to the patients knowledge been already removed, then be governed accordingly. Find out first what is missing, then diagnose, advise and operate on what remains. Such careful and logical methods are not only important in the interest of exact science but may save possible embarrassment and help to avoid unnecessary delay in getting the patient to the operating table.
Having removed the appendix let us now examine the tonsils. Yes, they are badly shot. What could the family doctor have been thinking of that he did not advise their removal long ago! They have been poisoning the entire system for years – possibly even causing that attack of appendicitis. To get rid of the anaemia and all the other troubles we simply must clean up these foci of infection.
To make the long story short, the patient underwent the operation and made an uneventful recovery.
He consulted us again the following Spring. It was the first winter he had been free from sore throat and tonsillitis for years although he had been troubled off and on with a mean bronchial cough and had been laid up a couple of weeks with influenza. Following the influenzal attack a purulent rhinitis supervened and persisted despite the use of sprays and medicines prescribed by the local doctor. He began to experience dull frontal and supra-orbital headaches. At night he suffered from obstinate nasal obstruction at times compelling mouth breathing. His days were made miserable and embarassing by the thick, purulent coryza filling handkerchief after handkerchief.
Examination revealed a deflected nasal septum and a severe sub- acute hypertrophic rhinitis. The x-ray showed marked infection of the right maxillary sinus with beginning involvement of the ethmoid, and the sphenoidal and right frontal sinuses. Immediate operation was advised. Grateful relief was experienced following drainage of the right maxillary sinus, septum resection and removal of the inferior turbinates.
The next time we saw him he had had all his teeth extracted. For years there had been some evidence of pyorrhoea. Soon after his last operation the trouble had become very acute and had spread rapidly, involving practically all the teeth on both the upper and lower jaw. Complete x-ray studies of the mouth decided the dentist to advise removal of all the remaining teeth. Although the extraction was not all undertaken at one time, quite a severe reaction was, nevertheless, experienced by the patient. However, he finally cleared up and was very satisfactorily fitted with complete upper and lower dentures.
But to return to his new complaint – sure enough it was a rapidly advancing case of polyarthritis. Our patient said, “doctor, I dont suppose you treat this kind of trouble but I thought I would see what youd have to say” – but why continue – we all know the sad, sad story almost by heart.
Each surgical suppression is followed sooner or later, by a new manifestation of the internal disorder – the same disease in another role, bearing a new name and attacking a different part of the organism to the ever increasing detriment of the patient.
And a certain woman which had an issue of blood twelve years and had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she heard of Jesus came in the press behind and touched His garment and straightaway the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
In its highest expression the true similimum is capable of working a miracle of cure. When homoeopathy is completely unfolded and correlated, when the physician becomes in fact both scientist and artist, then will those sublime acts of healing of two millenniums ago be rendered more fully comprehensible.
Eugene passed away at his country home on Spring Hill, Tuscarora Township, Bradford County, PA. He had been in ill health for several months. His wife, the former Caroline Davis, whom he had married in Philadelphia in 1910, had passed away in 1961. They spent most of their marriage lives in Swarthmore, PA.
Dr. Underhill was a member of the United Lodge of Theosophy, a member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. He was also the editor of the Homœopathic Recorder.