It is no longer a matter of controversy whether needle biopsy of the liver is a justifiable procedure in clinical medicine. Most authorities agree that the advantages of its discriminative use outweigh its dangers, and in experienced hands with proper precautions the risk to the patient is almost negligible. The number of excellent reports on liver biopsy that have appeared in recent years, particularly those by Sherlock,1Gillman and Gillman,2Hoffbauer,3Schiff,4and Popper and co-workers,5underline the increasing importance of this procedure and its contribution to the study of liver disease. It has so far had its widest application clinically and has become one of the main diagnostic tools in the differential diagnosis of a wide range of liver diseases. Zamcheck and Sidman6have recently listed a number of other diseases not primarly hepatic in origin in which liver biopsy has been usefully