Fenwick,1 in 1877, was the first to discover gastric atrophy in association with severe anemia. Cahn and von Mering,2 in 1886, were the first to notice the absence of free hydrochloric acid in pernicious anemia. Since that time much has been written regarding the occurrence of achlorhydria in pernicious anemia. The statistics of various authors differ considerably as to the incidence of free hydrochloric acid in this disease. It is now the consensus that practically all cases of pernicious anemia are accompanied by achlorhydria, The statistics of Levine and Ladd3 on 143 cases probably represent the present opinion as clearly as possible. They found achlorhydria in all except three of their 143 cases of pernicious anemia, and, in two of these three, the diagnosis of pernicious anemia was somewhat doubtful. This leaves only one of the 141 definite cases in which there was free hydrochloric acid. The