ADENOIDS, or adenoid growths, masses of soft, spongy tissue between the back of the nose and throat, occurring mostly in young children; blocking the air-way, they prevent the due inflation of the lungs and the proper development of the chest. The growths are apt to keep up a constant catarrh near the orifice of the ventilating tubes which pass from the throat to the ear, and so render the child dull of hearing or even deaf. They also give rise to asthma, and like enlarged tonsils—with which they are often associated—they impart to the child a vacant, stupid expres sion, and hinder his physical and intellectual development. They cause him to snore at night, his voice is "stuffy," thick, and unmusical. Though, except in the case of a cleft palate, they cannot be seen with the naked eye, they are of ten accompanied by a visible and suggestive granular condition of the wall at the back of the throat.
If the child continues to breathe with his mouth open and to snore at night, if he remains deaf and dull, and is troubled with a chronic "cold in his head," the question of thorough exploration of the naso-pharynk and of a surgical operation should most cer tainly be considered. The comparatively simple operation for their removal results, as a rule, in marked benefit, but this treatment should always be followed by a course of instruction in respiratory exercises.