From time to time for twenty-five years or more it has been suggested to me that I write a history of the coronary artery and its diseases. Among those who have most strongly urged this have been Dr. Joseph A. Capps of Chicago, Dr. Frank N. Wilson of Ann Arbor, and Dr. Fred M. Smith of Iowa City. On Dec. 18, 1935, a direct personal appeal was made by Dr. Wilson. In his letter he said that I was chiefly responsible for impressing upon the medical profession the importance of coronary occlusion. He felt that a small book giving “details that never get into the concise reports written for publication in a medical journal... would be of great value.’’I replied that I had decided not to write the book. It seemed unwise to do what would lead students and practitioners, who in the future might be seeking information on the subject, to depend. upon an abstract,, even though it was made by the author himself. It was much better for them to consult the original articles. Moreover, it was doubtful whether today I could accurately depict my mental processes of twenty-five years ago; unconsciously, the ideas of later years would creep in. Besides, there would be no freshness about writing such a book; it would be little more than a repetition of what I had already said. At 74 years of age the task would be onerous and irksome. Nor was I as competent as manJ others to discuss adequately certain features that were involved, eg, the electrocardiogram and some physiologic principles. His letter had, however, opened up the whole question as to whether I ought to tell the story of how I “got onto” the clinical features of acute coronar) occlusion.