In the examination of a patient with an apparently severe digestive condition, the first essential point is to determine which part of the digestive tract is particularly to blame for the symptoms. This can be accurately ascertained only by means of a most searching roentgenologic examination. Diagnosis by symptoms, as well as by many of the clinical tests, has been found very misleading. In a large number of cases a general visceroptosis can be diagnosed in the course of a physical examination, especially in multiparas with lax abdominal walls and protuberant abdomens, but even here mistakes can be made, as proved by roentgenograms. There are two theories of ptosis generally accepted: 1. Glenard's theory, according to which it is a nutritional disease and "hepatic diathesis" with atrophy and prolapse of the small intestine. This would practically condemn the sufferer to everlasting invalidism. 2. Stiller's theory, according to which it is a universal asthenia, characterized by degeneration. Surgical procedure would, therefore, be useless. Against this theory