Medicine: Tonsils

Dutifully the five sons of the late Arthur Cromwell, New York farmer, filed into a Manhattan hospital last week and had their tonsils removed. Thus they carried out his deathbed wish. He died from an infection, cf which severe tonsillitis was the first recognizable stage.

The function and importance of tonsils are much mooted points. Some physiologists claim that the tonsils supply a secretion necessary for the body yet their being cut out causes no unusual symptoms. Others maintain that the tonsils catch bacteria and prevent them getting into the system. Still others show that the tonsils are excellent breeding places for germs. Most agree that their removal does good in many instances, harm in few.