PERITONITIS AS A COMPLICATION OF TONSILLITIS.

Peritonitis results most commonly by extension from adjacent disease, especially of the abdominal viscera. Less commonly it arises as a result of infection transmitted by way of the blood stream from some more or less remote point. The tonsils have been pointed out as possible sources of danger in this connection. The function of these glandular structures is involved in some obscurity. They are known to act as absorbents and also to take part in the production of lymphocytes. By reason of their exposed situation, they are often the seat of disease, and there is a considerable volume of evidence that they serve as portals of entry for various pathogenic micro-organisms, at times, without being themselves seriously involved. Thus there is a growing belief that the micrococcus that is supposed to be the cause of acute rheumatism gains access to the interior of the body by way of the tonsils,