Because tonsillectomy is such a common procedure in America today, the surgeon and layman are apt to lose sight of the fact that certain complications, such as abscess of the lung, not infrequently occur. Since Richardson's1 first description of a pulmonary abscess following tonsillectomy in 1912, the cases reported in the literature have reached an alarming number. In 1921 Fisher and Cohen2 collected 71 reported cases, to which number they added 5 of their own. Chipman,3 in 1922, brought up the reported number to 124, of which 24 cases were his own. In 1922, Moore4 collected 202 unreported cases of pulmonary abscess following tonsillectomy by sending questionnaires to 1,020 laryngologists in the United States and Canada. In 1924, Hedblom5 added 48 cases observed in the Mayo Clinic; at that time he stated that the cases reported since 1922 bring the total of the published