April 3, 1928, a man, aged 29, was sent to the U. S. Marine Hospital at Cleveland for tonsillectomy. Because of a full schedule it was impossible to care for him the following day and it was planned to remove his tonsils, April 5. On this date, however, the house surgeon reported that the patient's tonsils were inflamed, his throat was slightly edematous, and there was an apparent abscess of the lower pole of the left tonsil.
Examination showed a large and somewhat injected left tonsil which seemed to be pushed slightly forward. The right tonsil was somewhat injected, and the uvula and the posterior pillar of the left tonsil were slightly edematous. At the lower pole of the left tonsil there was a mass of whitish yellow material which seemed to be tonsillar secretion. When an attempt was made to wipe this out, the applicator encountered some resistance. It was