From 1915 to 1920, as a result of the war and the dreadful epidemic of influenza, thoracic surgery developed to a greater extent than it had in all previous time. A sufficient period has now elapsed for those of us who have been more closely interested in observing these patients to have arrived at certain definite conclusions as to the merits of the methods of treatment employed, the results obtained, and the future scope and possibilities of thoracic surgery generally.
This society should be the proper judicial body to decide and broadcast the standard methods of diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and aftercare of diseases of the thorax and its contents, including affections of the chest wall, the lungs, the heart and pericardium, the mediastinum and its contents, the diaphragm, and diseases of the organs adjacent to the latter demanding a thoracic abdominal approach.
It is from a desire to stimulate discussion