Although the subject of cerebrospinal rhinorrhea was referred to in English medical literature in the early part of the nineteenth century, it was not until 1899 that it was brought to medical attention by Sir St. Clair Thomson.
This condition is a symptom per se but is to be considered with apprehension by both the patient and the physician since it is often the forerunner as well as the concomitant of serious intracranial abnormality. The fluid presents the character of spinal fluid, being odorless, tasteless and colorless, and when it is boiled with Fehling's copper sulfate solution reduction occurs with deposit of cuprous oxide. It is further differentiated from the fluid of ordinary rhinorrhea by its lack of mucin and practically of albumin. It leaves a handkerchief unstiffened and dry in due course. Chemical examination of the fluid in the fresh state is important as alteration and absorption of the