In accordance with the criteria employed in previous reviews, I have limited this summary of the literature published during 1926 on acute and chronic otitic disease and infections of the blood stream resulting therefrom to articles which contain original matter based on scientific observation. Despite this limitation, the literature in 1926 was richer than in other years.
BASIC OBSERVATIONS
The persistent permeability of the eustachian tube after radical surgical treatment of the mastoid has long held the interest of surgeons because of its apparent effect on the end-results obtained from that operation. The aim is to get a closed eustachian tube, as surgical experience has shown that more rapid healing occurs after mastoidectomy with a closed eustachian tube. Since the conception has become general that a "dry" ear is not the ultimate goal sought by radical surgical treatment of the mastoid, the persistent permeability of the eustachian tube has