The disease which occasions the particular form of obstruction, prone to result in the series of deformities about to be described, is variously known as "adenoid hypertrophy in the naso-pharynx," "adenoid vegetations" and "hypertrophic naso-pharyngitis;" and in multiplicity of cases, gravity of consequences, facility of operative treatment, and the brilliancy of results, it may be said to outrank any other affection of the upper respiratory tract.
At the vault of the pharynx a number of muco-lymphoid follicles are grouped together forming a compound gland, analagous to the tonsils and known as the third tonsil, the pharyngeal tonsil or the tonsil of Luschka. In the normal state this is not of sufficient size to deserve such appellation, but when hypertrophied, as it frequently is, it bears some resemblance to the faucial tonsil in a state of enlargement.
In form, contour, and consistency the growth presents many gradations from the soft