1 JUNE 1934, Page 19

KING EDWARD'S APPENDIX

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

SIR,—With reference to the mention by " Janus " in your last week's number of the operation for appendicitis performed upon H.M. King Edward VII, it may not be generally known to your readers that at this operation the appendix was not

removed. My authority is Sir James Berry (Lancet, May 14th, 1932, p. 1029), who writes as follows : " All the world knew that it was an operation for appendicitis, that the King made a good recovery and that he lived nearly eight years longer and that he never had any recurrence. Few reople knew even at that time that the appendix was not removed, that no search for it was ever made, that it was neither seen nor felt. A careful incision was made low down until an abscess was reached and opened ; tubes and gauze were inserted and nothing more was done." —I am, Sir, &c.,