I have been privileged to work with Dr. Esslen for more than ten years and to have witnessed howsurgical progress combinedwith accurate clinical and electrophysiological investigations have revolutionized the diagnostic and therapeutic approach to the para- lysed face. The longjourneyofthe VIIth nerve through the temporal bone has been consid- ered for years responsible for the particular liabilityofthis nerve to acute palsies. The disappointing results obtainedwith surgical decompression confined ofnecessity to the mastoid and tympanic segmentsofthe fallopian canalled us in the sixties to...