=Enlarged Tonsils.=--I have said that quinsey or acute inflammation of the tonsils is unusual in early childhood; but a sort of chronic inflammation of those glands which leads to their very considerable enlargement is far from uncommon; and is sometimes the cause of very serious discomfort. It is seldom traceable to any acute attack of sore-throat, but usually comes on imperceptibly in children who are feeble or out of health, or takes place slowly during the cutting of the first set of grinding teeth; the irritation which that produces being in some cases its only apparent exciting cause. Not seldom the enlargement has become considerable before it attracts attention; one of the first symptoms that indicate it being the loud snoring of the child during sleep, who is compelled by the obstruction at the back of the nostrils to breathe with its mouth open. The voice at the same time becomes thick, and this and the snoring breathing are both greatly aggravated when the child catches cold. A greater degree of enlargement of the tonsils occasions deafness from pressure on the passage leading to the internal ear, and is also apt to give rise to a troublesome hacking cough which sometimes excites apprehension lest the child's lungs should be diseased. When still more considerable the enlarged tonsils block up the passage through the nostrils, and air consequently enters the lungs but very imperfectly. The nostrils thus disused become extremely small, narrow, and compressed, the upper jaw does not undergo its proper development, the teeth are crowded and overlap each other, the palate remains narrow and unusually high-arched, and the face assumes something of a bird-like character. Besides this the child grows pigeon-breasted, owing to the lungs not being filled sufficiently at each inspiration to overcome the pressure of the external air on the yielding sides of the chest. When any considerable enlargement of the tonsils exists, each cold that the child may catch aggravates it, and if diphtheria, scarlatina, or severe sore-throat should occur, the temporary increase of the swelling may become the occasion of serious danger. The question arises, what are the chances that a child whose tonsils are enlarged will outgrow the condition, or when is it necessary to have the enlarged tonsils removed?