Fractures of the neck of the femur in aged people in poor general condition have in many cases continued to offer a poor prognosis. It is not the purpose of this paper to present the various mechanical factors that serve to fracture a hip, nor is it to call to attention the methods of diagnosis of a fractured neck of the femur. All this is very well known. Our primary purpose is to report our experiences in 45 selected cases of fresh fracture of the neck of the femur treated by the insertion of an intramedullary metallic stem prosthesis. In most of our cases the patient was considered too old or too feeble or too fragile and the fracture to be such that in our opinion the interest of the patient would best be served by not treating him by the conventional hip-nailing. A few of the patients were treated