The mortality in cancer of the esophagus is 100 per cent. if left untreated. It is also 100 per cent, with conservative measures and with the treatment by radium and roentgen ray. Surgery, on the other hand, has a few successful cases to its credit, and it would therefore seem that in any given case the decision would be in favor of operating. With the high mortality of the present time, however, many physicians decide in favor of inactivity, of doing nothing, or at most a gastrostomy, in order to have the patient live as long as possible. This attitude of pessimism is shared by many surgeons, who have become discouraged in the face of repeated failures. In certain cases, this attitude is no doubt justifiable, cases in which the prolongation of life is of great value, even though it be but a few months, and in which it is