THE SYMPOSIUM, "The Battered Child Syndrome," held at the American Academy of Pediatrics meeting in Chicago in October, 1961, brought into focus the increasing professional recognition of a new significance to an old problem. The phrase "the battered child" was, of course, arresting and accounted in part for the large audience. The interest shown, however, was not simply a response to the sensational but rather an expression of the need to clarify a vague and ill-defined area that had long troubled many physicians. The presentation recalled to the memories of many of the participants cases never fully solved to their satisfaction, and defined an entity into which many of these would fit.