In 1854, T. B. Peacock noticed in the _Transactions of the London Pathological Society_ 34 cases collected from European sources; Biermer in 1867 increased the number to 58; Kretschy in 1874 added 10, and Chevstok 4 more cases--making in all 72 cases in Europe. In 1879, W. C. Glasgow of St. Louis read to the medical section of the American Medical Association an interesting report on the subject of plastic bronchitis, in which he notices 23 cases which had occurred in this country, accounts of which were obtained from an extensive correspondence with leading physicians in all parts of the United States, as well as from reference to our periodical medical literature.[6] These statistics are certainly sufficient to justify the statement that the disease is of rare occurrence both in this country and in Europe. [Footnote 6: See _Transactions of the American Medical Association_, vol. xxx. p. 177, 1879.] The statistics thus far collected show a much greater prevalence of the disease in males than in females, and that the larger number of cases occur between the ages of fifteen and fifty years, although one case is reported by T. G. Simons of Charleston, S. C., as quoted by Glasgow, at four years of age, and Goumoens one at seventy-two. In a large proportion of the cases reported the disease existed in a chronic form. When acute, and affecting a large portion of the bronchial membrane, it is liable to lead to an early fatal termination from obstruction to the ingress of air to the air-cells of the lungs. But in many cases the disease has extended to only a limited number of the bronchi, and recovery has generally taken place in from two to three weeks.