In the course of routine clinical work with excited patients I found that a dose of 3 drm. of paraldehyde with 3 gr. of dial (2 tablets) often produced a long and sound sleep where other powerful narcotics were relatively ineffective. It therefore seemed worth while to try the combination for prolonged narcosis. At the outset it was attractive in that it was cheap, was given by mouth, and that both drugs had a good reputation for efficiency and safety. Paraldehyde has also the special advantage of not being a cardiac depressant (Edmonds and Gunn, 1936; Sollman, 1937). Both drugs have been used before for prolonged narcosis, but not in this combination, and usually in much higher doses. [For references, see reviews of Palmer (1937) and Gillespie (1939).]