Knowledge of the pathogenesis of lobar pneumonia has reached a point that offers unusually promising angles for continued attack. That these possibilities are not being neglected is attested by three recent articles emphasizing different phases of the problem. Moreover, wide dissemination of the advances in knowledge of pneumonia are necessary, since most practitioners see relatively few cases during the course of a year. Thus, Sutliff and Finland1 state that the number of cases of lobar pneumonia reported annually in Massachusetts is from 4,080 to 5,544, making perhaps one case a year for each of 6,595 practicing physicians.
Smillie and Leeder,2 investigating the spread of pneumonia, have studied this problem by taking cultures of the nasopharynx in 264 contacts of 64 patients with lobar pneumonia due to types I and II pneumococci. The results indicate that about 20 per cent of the immediate family contacts of the patients harbored