The medical literature is particularly lacking in studies of the formation of edema in the eyelids of man, a subject of much clinical interest, especially in acute hemorrhragic nephritis, in which edema of the eyelids often precedes clinical evidence of edema elsewhere. The reasons for the uneven distribution of edema in this condition have only been conjectured. Fishberg1and Landis2mentioned the looseness of the tissues of the lids as a possible significant factor responsible, at least in part, for the early presence of edema in that area. They pointed out, however, that other important factors must exist, since in patients with acute hemorrhagic nephritis edema is not likely to develop in other areas of the body where the tissues are loose, such as the abdominal wall of a multipara. Peters3stated that "tissue tension, if this is defined loosely as the pressure which resists deformation or