Thoracic kidney presenting as a mass in the base of the lung.

The comments of Drs. Jay Block and Nancy Caroline about my chicken soup expertise (Chest 69:572, 1976) were so kind that I hasten to rewarm the subject to issue a caveat, lest we get carried away by subacute disseminated mavenism. In reviewing the extended discussion, no one has referred to what must be extensive FDA files on this unique subject (which bridges the “F” and the “D”) to insist on packaging inserts which emphasize “accept no substitutes.” The Germans tried this in desperation during the war, but, as usual, they made their one mistake: they backed the wrong Semites. The sad saga of that contretemps can be found in the following reference: