We have come to a time in our program to which I have been looking forward. We are instituting today what will be a tradition in the affairs of the New England Surgical Society. Samuel J. Mixter was elected president of the newly formed New England Surgical Society in 1917. This appointment was followed in one year by the presidency of the American Surgical Association. Educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts General Hospital, he was chief of the West Surgical Service at this hospital. He was active in the development of many new frontiers of gastrointestinal surgery. Two sons and one grandson have been, and are, members of this Society. It is, therefore, entirely fitting that this series of distinguished lectures should be named the Samuel Jason Mixter Lecture. Since this is the New England Surgical Society, i[ill] is likewise fitting that a