Anthony Karaszkiewiozs of Philadelphia: Penn

Why do we have tonsils?

Those who have had tonsilitis may think the tonsils are nothing but a nuisance. For then the two little tonsils  one on either side of the neck swell up: cause fever and sore throat. Sometimes they even have to be taken out by a surgeon.

Most of the time we forget them. but healthy tonsils never stop working for us. Liquids called lymph  is forever being poured into the blood stream. It drains off from the body cells. Sometimes it carries bacteria. Some of these fellows. too big to get into the blood stream by themselves. might flow in with the lymph.

The tonsils do a sifting job. They sift out bacteria and other stuff before the lymph joins the blood stream. And some of those bacteria are germs. up to no good. Sometimes. when your body is invaded by lots of germs. the tonsils get overworked sifting them out. They swell up.

Once in a whiles the tonsils themselves are infected in the line of duty. Then they add germs to the body instead of subtracting. When they do more harm than good. the doctor says out with them. But don't worry if you have to lose your tonsils. The body has other tricks to keep down the germ population. The doctor will try to save those tonsils for you. but he knows best when to get rid of them.