During the last thirty years many significant facts have been ascertained relative to the growth and to the development of the child. Particular attention has been given to the status of the tonsils and adenoids as one of the factors that may influence the child's physical progress. In this period an increasing number of children have been classified as possessing hypertrophied or diseased tonsils resulting in the surgical treatment of the tonsils in nearly 50 per cent of urban children in the United States and England. This situation invites a survey of the tonsil problem and an evaluation of the tonsils as a factor in the child's development. It is of interest to note that in 1888 W. Franklin Chappell5surveyed 2,000 children in New York to determine the frequency of certain abnormal conditions of the tonsils. He concluded that 3 per cent of the children had tonsils sufficiently