When we think of adenoids, a picture appears of a childish face, devoid of expression, dull eyes, thick lips and open mouth. This familiar face is so constantly before us that we almost recognize the listless type across the street. We are liable, however, to fail to recognize the disease when it occurs in a well-developed, apparently healthy adult, of age anywhere up to 50, giving a history like this: Catarrh was present during childhood, accompanied by the well-known symptoms of nasal obstruction. Perhaps there was also an attack of scarlet fever with a prolonged recovery. With the change from adolescence to maturity the symptoms of obstruction gradually lessened and troubles of a different type were noticed, for which the patient now seeks relief.
In order to make the clinical course clear I will diverge into the pathology. The reason that these patients frequently date the disease to an