A great deal of controversy still persists as to the method of choice in treatment of shaft fractures of the humerus. This, no doubt, proves that the ideal form of management still has to be found. In order to bring systems of treatment up to date and to better our results at Beekman-Downtown Hospital, we have reviewed our methods of care in 50 consecutive unselected fractures of the shaft of the humerus from 1947 through 1957. This study involved 49 cases, since 2 fractures at different times occurred in the same humerus of a patient who had Paget's disease. The treatment was carried out by different attending staff surgeons,supervising various surgical residents, and took place during the antibiotic era. Incidence and Cause The incidence as to sex, age, and occupation is shown in Table 1. The male to female ratio was 2 to 1. The majority of the fractures