Most clinicians appear to doubt that tracheotomy could be useful in bulbar poliomyelitis, although Wilson1 has stated that "in very carefully studied instances tracheotomy may save life." The results with 3 patients seen in the past two months have convinced me that the operation may be a very important procedure in this disease. Two were undoubtedly saved by it, and the third might have been had intervention been done ten minutes earlier. The first of these illustrates most of the points to be raised and most of the difficulties encountered: Case 1.— A white man aged 36 had been admitted on Aug. 26, 1943 to the Evanston Hospital with a history of fever and malaise for four days, dizziness and stiffness of the neck for two days and difficulty in swallowing for one and one-half days. Spinal puncture with findings of 70 cells per cubic centimeter made the diagnosis