During the last few years, an increasing interest has been taken in the form of food poisoning known as botulism. The condition is by no means a new one, as it has been recognized and described for almost 200 years. In this country, however, numerous outbreaks have occurred recently, and these, on account of certain characteristics, have served to call the attention of both the profession and the laity to the seriousness of the intoxication. That the condition appears in widely separated districts, that it frequently attacks several members of a family, and that its appearance is sudden and its mortality high are all facts which combine to give the outbreaks somewhat of a spectacular nature. With all this interest, however, it has not been possible to arrive as yet at an agreement as to the pathologic foundation for the clinical manifestations of the intoxication. In one of the most