The recognition of the interdependence of the tonsils and pathologic conditions in other, sometimes remotely situated parts of the body, represents one of the important advances in medicine during recent decades. A variety of diseases have been traced to a primary involvement of the tonsils, and among them are rheumatism, septic infection, tuberculosis, and in a recent report1 appendicitis and infectious jaundice.
The anatomic structure of the tonsil predisposes to the entrance of the bacilli, for the covering epithelium is always porous, owing to the constant migration of leucocytes, and may be absent over small areas. Microbes usually invade the tonsils through the crypts, which constitute good hiding places and breeding spots. The enlargement and the surface irregularities associated with chronic hypertrophy greatly favor infection, and the resistance of the tissues under these conditions is diminished by the accompanying catarrh and the loosening and casting off of the epithelium.
The