For many years it has been known that diabetic patients frequently have marked vascular disturbances, particularly of the lower extremities. Heitz1 has recently shown that all of fifty-three diabetic patients showed some definite vasomotor changes, such as cold feet, edema or cyanosis, while thirty-five, or 66 per cent. of the same group, had beginning arteritis, as shown by oscillometry. Joslin2 states that 15.1 per cent. of diabetic patients in his series of 3,000 cases died of cardiovascular changes, while 2 per cent. of this number developed gangrene. He quotes Buerger's3 statement that diabetic gangrene shows typical lesions of atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis. "These lesions differ in no way from the lesions of the arteries in arteriosclerotic or senile gangrene, and justify the conclusion that diabetic gangrene is due to an atherosclerotic or arteriosclerotic process." This statement has been generally accepted, but no statement has been found in the literature as to