BENIGN hypertrophy of the prostate is a frequent cause of disability in men over fifty years of age. The mortality rate directly or indirectly attributable to it is high. The only method of treatment generally accepted at the present time is surgical. The results obtained in selected cases by skillful experienced surgeons using the modem pre-operative measures are excellent, so excellent, in fact, that under these conditions prostatectomy is admittedly the proper procedure in those cases that require operation. There are, however, many patients with symptoms resulting from hypertrophy of the prostate who for one reason or another will not submit to prostatectomy; there are many with symptoms hardly sufficient to warrant it; and furthermore, there are patients who for various reasons are left in the category of unselected cases, not fit for the radical operation. Most of these patients need, and would welcome, an efficient non-operative method of relief. We have obtained very beneficial results from roentgen radiation in some of these cases, and are led to believe from our own experience and from a survey of the literature, that in high voltage roentgen therapy we have a very valuable method not only of affording relief from symptoms in most of these cases, but also of diminishing the size of the prostate. It is essential, however, that the possibilities of this method for good or harm be carefully evaluated, lest it be discredited by the untoward result of indiscriminate employment. Such an evaluation will require the study of a large series of cases and observations covering a period of years. Such a study has not yet been made, as far as we can find out from the literature. It obviously will be difficult for one man to acquire a large series until the method is more generally accepted as a rational method of treatment. In the meantime, reports of isolated cases will blaze the way. This brief survey of the subject is, therefore, frankly presented with the purpose of arousing more interest in, and critical discussion of, a method which we believe is entitled to more consideration on the part of the medical profession than it has apparently received. It is generally agreed that there are two pathological types of benign hypertrophy of the prostate that give rise to urinary symptoms in men beyond fifty years of age. The more common type consists of a disproportionate increase in the size of the prostate due to the formation within the organ of tumor-like masses which are composed of tissue whose elemental structure is identical with the gland itself. According to most pathologists this is a true hyperplasia of the glandular tissue. The other type consists of a diffuse growth of connective tissue with islands or strands of smooth muscle. The fibrous growth may be fairly dense in structure. Cases of this type are not common. Those in which there is a distinct myoma are rare. These cases may be complicated by the presence of stones or calcified matter in the substance of the gland.