Appendicitis,
a disease caused by
inflammation,
suppuration, and consequent
gangrene in the tissue of the
vermiform appendix, usually due to insufficient
circulation of blood in the part itself.
Appendicitis usually occurs between the ages of 10 and 50 years. It is rare above or below those ages. It is more frequently among males than females, the exact proportion being unknown. The probable cause of this difference is of very recent discovery and is not even known generally among the medical profession. Dr. Clado, a French surgeon and investigator, sought an explanation of the comparative immunity of the female sex from the malady and discovered that the appendix in woman has an extra blood vessel (a branch of the ovarian artery) that does not exist in man. This discovery was not only a bit of new knowledge of great value, but was an additional proof of the theory that disease of the appendix is often due in part to its want of vital resistance.
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.