The occasional presence of cervical ribs in human skeletons was known to Galen, but the first description of a case must be ascribed to Hunauld in 1742. Operative resection of a cervical rib was first carried out by Coote in 1861. Between 1861 and 1895 only eight cases were reported in which operation was performed. Since that time each year has brought increasing numbers of case reports and successful operative results, so that at present cervical rib can hardly be considered a clinical rarity. Of the recognized complications, however, aneurysmal dilatation of the third portion of the subclavian artery is rare. In 1907 Deitmar1 attempted to collate the literature on this subject and collected reports of five cases, one a doubtful one. Streisler's2 monograph on cervical rib in 1913 did not add reports of any new cases despite a complete review of the literature. In 1916 Halsted3