The tonsil as a portal of entry for the tubercle bacillus has been a subject of considerable inquiry and conjecture. That the primary lesion in some forms of tuberculosis, notably in many cases of cervical lymphadenitis, may be located in the faucial tonsil has been considered probable for some time. Certainly, to judge from the number of reports which have been published, there is little doubt of the not infrequent occurrence of tuberculosis of the tonsils in individuals otherwise presenting evidence of tuberculosis, especially in those having tuberculous lymph nodes of the neck. Probably most of these tonsillar lesions are secondary to tuberculous processes elsewhere, but a certain proportion are apparently primary in the tonsil.
Metcalf,1 in 1917, and Mitchell,2 in the same year, recorded summaries of most of the series of cases bearing on the subject of tuberculosis of the tonsil which have been reported in the