At a clinical meeting of the Pacific Coast Surgical Association held at the University of California Hospital in February, 1926, I showed a specimen of a dilated ureter and hydronephrotic kidney which had resulted from transfixing a dog's ureter and intestinal mucosa while an anchor suture was being placed in the course of a ureteral transplantation operation. The suture had cut the lumens of the viscera together and a permanent fistula had resulted. Being proximal to the valve, the fistula had short-circuited and nullified the valve. In another case, the transfixing suture which had produced a fistula had been near the distal end of the incision. No harm had resulted because there was sufficient membrane proximal to the fistula to form an efficient valve (fig. 1). The point of interest in these two specimens at that time was the effect of short-circuiting the valve. A few months ago when I