Lesions of the Pharynx in Acute Rheumatism.

Shawl, in his examination of the tissues from a girl aged 15 who died of rheumatic fever and chorea, found a few Aschoff nodules in the outer layers of the fibrous capsule of the tonsil. There was no evidence of any damage to the nearby fibres of the superior constrictor muscle of the pharynx. Graff2 has described rheumatic lesions in the peritonsillar tissues of a man aged 22 who died 16 days from the commencement of a first attack of acute polyarthritis. The essential nature of the lesions 'i-as degeneration of the collagen fibres and increase of fibroblasts. Lymphocytes and plasma cells played only a slight part and multinucleated cells were very scarce. Polynuclear cells were seldom seen. The lesions were numerous and were found in the tonsillar capsule and in the connective tissue of the superior constrictor muscles. No damage to muscle tissue was observed.