Among the many good and wise rules laid down by that master 1. "Cry over spilled milk enough to memorize how YOU 2. "Let your mistakes worry you enough to prevent repetition." It is in the spirit of the above injunction that after an endoscopic experience of some ten years and approximately 300 foreign body cases, the mortality arising during this period will be reviewed. Attention will be focused on those factors which it would seem had a direct influence upon the unfavorable outcome in each of these cases.A total of fifteen cases have come under observation during this time. Of these, five were not operated upon, for reasons that will be set forth in the individual case reports. Ten cases were operated upon. Of these, the foreign body was removed in six cases. In the case of one very small infant with a very large, open safety pin, the pin escaped downward into the stomach; in another it was purposely guided into the stomach (Case 10). In two cases, the foreign body was not recovered a t the first operation, and the patient expired before another attempt was thought advisable. In two cases, a foreign body was removed, but another one remained hidden deep in a secondary bronchus.From a rather close study of the above, we hope to point out that the following factors play a predominant part in the mortality arising from foreign bodies in the upper air and food passages. endoscopist, Chevalier Jackson, are the two following aphorisms: spilled it."