WHAT ARE THE TONSILS FOR?

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1180, 4 December 1913, Page 4

WHAT ARE THE TONSILS FOR?

Duriug the last fifteen or twenty years (says the medical correspondent of the Daily Telegraph) surgeons have pursued a persistently offensive policy against those two round bodies in the throat which we know as the tonsils ? But it is a curious fact that although so accessible to observation even now very little is known as to the exact part these glands play in the working of the human system. Indeed, as no ill-result follows from their removal, and in a great mauy people they are a source of numerous distressing ailments, it is not surprising that a cynical observer should have said that the sole function of the tonsils is to give us sore throats. Oue of the most important advances made in our knowledge of child hygiene during the past half century has been the understanding ot the importance of clear breathing for proper development, and there are many thousands of people who owe health to the operation for the removal of tonsils being carried out in childhood. No one has yet discovered why in early life these glands often become so large as to prevent breathing, and indirectly impair the growth of the mental faculties.

Some interesting researches on this subject has been carried out at University College Hospital, and recently reported to the British Medical Association, from which it has been concluded that in the first five years of life the tonsils certainly have an important function, although we are ignorant of its nature. On the other hand, after that period it would appear that these organs are apt to be more harmful than good for us and in healthy persons should have shrivelled to an insignificant size by middle life. From these researches in which many thousands of patients suffering from tonsillar troubles were examined, it seems to be certain that the average adult would do well to have his tonsils removed should he be subject to severe sore throats, bad colds or other troubles clearly traceable to these glands. An important point is that it has been definitely proved that after the first year of childlife the tonsils may become the seat of chronic forms of inflammation, which lead to poisonings that upset the whole system, and may lead to headaches, anaemia, rheumatic pains and periodical attacks of feverishness. Any investigations that show definitely that we can very well do without the organs which are so commonly the starting points of these troublesome throat ailments are of great importance to the

community for there are many people who shrink from having their tonsils removed. Fortunately, modern surgical technique has reduced the necessary operation to a process of a minor character, causing but very slight inconvenience and little disturbance to general health in the average case.