Although rupture of the stomach in a newborn infant is rare, it is a condition in which early diagnosis and prompt treatment can be lifesaving. In 1943 Herbut1found 15 cases in the literature and reported the 16th case, the first in which a congenital defect of the musculature of the stomach wall was described and considered responsible for the perforation. Pendergrass and Booth,2in 1946, reported an infant 3 days old with two perforations of the stomach. One of the perforations was closed surgically, but the other, on the posterior wall of the stomach, was not found until autopsy, after the infant died on the fifth day of life as a result of a fibropurulent peritonitis. According to the authors, the appearance at autopsy suggested that the "latter perforation was present at the time of operation and was overlooked due to its position and the fact that