Many reports of tumors arising within the sympathetic nervous system have appeared during the past few years. Many of the tumors were described early. Virchow, in 1864, described an undoubted tumor of the sympathetic system, designating it a glioma. Wright, in 1910, gave one of the best descriptions of one variety of these tumors, such a one as was described by Virchow, and placed these on a sound pathologic basis. The paragangliomas or chromaffin tumors were first described by Manasse in the suprarenal gland in 1893. Frankel (1886) and Perley (1890) apparently described tumors of this type. The third type, ganglioneuromas, were first described by Loretz in 1870. The literature on these tumors has been reviewed several times during recent years. The number of cases studied by any one person has been relatively small. There are one hundred and three case records of these tumors in the Johns Hopkins Hospital