Intestinal intubation1 may now be regarded as an established clinical procedure. It has been employed in more than five hundred instances in the clinic of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and to a less extent in a number of other institutions in this country and abroad. The technic is time consuming and may be difficult even for the experienced worker. The results obtained in the management of intestinal obstruction alone, however, seem to justify its inclusion among the procedures available in all large general hospitals. The employment of the method in 16 cases of acute obstruction has previously been described (Abbott and Johnston2), but further experience has indicated in more detail the various ways in which the method is therapeutically and diagnostically helpful in such cases. It may be utilized advantageously throughout the acute phases of the patient's illness and its beneficial effects include, in chronologic