MAC KENZIE,1 in 1884, defined spontaneous rupture of the esophagus as being a "sudden bursting of the gullet during prolonged and violent vomiting, giving rise to acute pain in the course of the tube with extreme dyspnea, sometimes even to orthopnea, subcutaneous emphysema and to collapse generally ending in death." By qualifying the gullet as normal such definition is applicable today. We wish to present a review of the literature on this subject and to report a case complicated by cardiac arrest in which treatment was successful. From the literature we have collected 85 cases which we feel fulfill the criteria of spontaneous rupture of the esophagus. The report included herein will make a total of 86. We are also including seven probable instances of spontaneous rupture of esophagus which for one reason or another did not completely fulfill the criteria set down.2 The details of these have