Mitral stenosis is one of the rare causes of paralysis of the left recurrent laryngeal nerve, the association between these conditions being first described by Ortner1in 1897. From the date of Ortner's original publication until 1920, Garland and White2found forty-four references on the subject, with the report of sixty-one cases. Illustrating the frequency of the occurrence of this association, Hall,3in 1913, reported sixty-four cases of unilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis, the left nerve being affected forty-seven times. Of this number only two cases were caused by dilatation of the left side of the heart. Hall further stated that among fifty-two cases of unilateral paralysis reported in the proceedings of the Laryngological Society from 1893 to 1907, the left vocal cord was affected thirty-five times, mitral stenosis and an enlarged left auricle being the cause in two instances. Garland and White2found nine cases