A double-pointed object requires no definition ; its name is definitive. The reason it requires separate classification arises from the peculiar and enormously greater difficulties of safe endoscopic removal as compared with those of removal of single-pointed objects. Staple is the name applied to a double-pointed nail used for fastening wires to wood Double-pointed tacks are used chiefly for laying floor matting. Doublepointed wires used in machine-made baskets, automobile upholstery pins, some kinds of paper-clips, metal fasteners and some kinds of hairpins belong in the same category. From the all-important point of view of the solution of the mechanical problem of peroral bronchoscopic removal there are two classes of bodies, the bendable and the unbendable. Figures 1, 2 and 3 give a good example of the bendable class. Figures 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 are good illustrations of the unbendable and unbreakable type. INCIDENCE AND