The title of this paper might imply that I have discovered something new in otolaryngology, but I have no such conceit. There are, however, some obscure and exceedingly dangerous complications attendant on the most usual and apparently innocent infections with which laryngologists have to deal. These are all too frequently discovered only when the patient is on the autopsy table. These are infections of the great vessels of the neck secondary to infection in and about the tonsils and the retropharyngeal spaces and spreading by way of the pharyngomaxillary fossa.
I shall not review the anatomy, as this has been done in almost every article written on this subject. I was asked to present a paper at the meeting of the American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society just after I had observed two cases of infection of the jugular vein and one of spontaneous (?) hemorrhage following infection of the