It has been said that accidents account for one-third of all deaths in children and that one of the leading causes of accidental death in the very young is poisoning. Bain (1) has stated that 25 per cent of all poisonings in children under the age of five are due to the consumption of petroleum products. Of the petroleum oils, kerosene is responsible for the great majority of poisoning incidents, but a number of other hydrocarbons, both aliphatic and aromatic, have been ingested in the form of various items available in the average home, as furniture polish, lighter and cleaning fluid, insecticides, and similar materials. Hydrocarbon poisoning is of considerable economic importance for, even though the mortality rate is low (of the order of 1 per cent), hospitalization is always required. This gains added significance when one considers that it is principally in the indigent household that kerosene is still used as a source of light and heat. The pediatrician is familiar with the various clinical patterns displayed in hydrocarbon poisoning; these include all variations between the alert, asymptomatic patient and the vomiting, lethargic one, who may be febrile and exhibit obvious physical signs of pneumonic infiltration. Management following hydrocarbon ingestion begins with gavage if there is good reason to believe that there is still unab-sorbed material in the stomach. Further treatment includes the administration of oxygen and moist air, together with broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy. Other symptomatic and supportive measures are employed as needed. In general, response to this regime takes the form of rapid improvement but, if intake of the poisonous hydrocarbon has been massive, there may be residual central nervous system, pulmonary, or liver damage (2). The finding of chief interest to radiologists is the rapid development of a pneumonitis of rather typical appearance, which may be appreciable on films made as early as twenty minutes after ingestion and may persist for weeks after symptoms have disappeared. The mechanism of production of this infiltrate has been a matter for lively discussion, and two theories still have many adherents (3–7). One possibility is that the development of an infiltrate is dependent principally upon aspiration of the toxic substance into the lungs, with or without vomiting. The second is that the sub-stance is absorbed through the upper gas-trointestinal tract and reaches the lungs blood-borne, there to cause an infiltration by a process of local irritation. A good deal of animal experimental work has been done on the etiology of hydrocarbon pneumonitis, much of it appearing to favor the aspiration school of thought. Clinical Material During the four-year period of this study (1952 through 1954 and 1956), 65 patients were observed in the emergency facility of Parkland Memorial Hospital (Dallas) because of ingestion of kerosene or other hydrocarbons.