The frequent necessity for removing the tonsils has given opportunity for the invention of a variety of instruments. Many of these are clumsy and others are inefficient, as I know from personal experience. The most popular instruments are the tonsillotome and the scissors.
The scissors operation, if rightly done, is effective, but the difficulty in operative manipulation is considerable. The tonsillotome is the most desirable instrument for the average operator to use, but the trouble with the tonsillotomes on the market has been heretofore that only a partial removal of the tonsil was possible, in that only as much of the tonsil as projected beyond the faucial pillars was removed. All beneath that plane was left, and this is usually the most dangerous part of the tonsil. The dictates of modern teaching is to the effect that all of the tonsil should be removed.
With the idea of utilizing the