Considerable evidence is at hand to convince one of the relationship of infected tonsils to disease in individual children. Removal of the tonsils and adenoids in such children has been followed by striking improvement in the child's general condition or by cessation of recurrent infection which had been attributed to the diseased tonsils. In spite of these outstanding favorable results following tonsillectomy, there still remains in the mind of the critical observer considerable doubt as to the value of this procedure in the great mass of children subjected to this operation. The popularity of this procedure is well known. In urban communities, approximately 50 per cent of the older children have had their tonsils and adenoids removed. No other medical procedure, with the exception of vaccination against smallpox and diphtheria, is as freely offered to the child as tonsillectomy. One is justified in the query Is this procedure wise and