The Morphology and Pathology of the Pharyngeal Pouch of Rathke

The pharyngeal pouch or bursa pharyngea was first described by Rathke in 1838.1 It is now a place of great interest both to the surgeon and to the scientist: here post-nasal adenoids have their birthplace, and probably the oesophagus has its ancestry. The pouch of Rathke is a tubular recess at the upper and posterior wall of the pharynx, not at all infrequent in the adult, commoner in children, and we may say constant in the foetus. Though veiled as a rule from sight, where there is cleft-palate the pouch can often be seen as a vertical depression, perhaps with well-marked pillars on either side. Fig. 1 shows the pouch in a little boy, aged 3, who was recently under my care. Sometimes the condition is more conspicuous, as in Fig. 2, which is taken from a young woman. It shows a well-marked pharyngeal tonsil of Luschka corresponding to the entrance of the pouch, with deep recesses on either side ; and it exemplifies the tendency for the pharyngeal tonsil to be bilobed. Fig. 3 shows the same recess