By using common sense and ordinary judgment one must conclude that the percentage of cases of chronic purulent otitis media in the population is much less now than it was two or three decades ago. There is room for improvement. Otologists agree that the chronically suppurating ear should be kept clean and little has been added to this one principle in a decade or two or three. During this time radical mastoidectomy, zinc ionization, treatment with silver nitrate and other procedures were at different times hailed as the answer. Hett, Wells and Levick1 reported 75 per cent of cures with zinc ionization. Perhaps nearly as great a percentage could be obtained by keeping these same ears clean with dry cotton followed by the insufflation of boric acid powder. Lederman2 laid great stress on thorough cleansing of the ear before iodine powder is used. To my mind, cleansing is the most