In 1904 and 1905, when Alexis Carrel was associated with me in Chicago, we made some experiments, forming a union between the esophagus and the stomach for the purpose of studying an operative procedure for the cure of obstruction of the esophagus near the cardia by scar or carcinoma. We had the idea that the large curvature of the stomach offered good material for making a well-nourished flap of sufficient length to permit the formation of a tube with which to connect the stomach with the esophagus above. The upper part of the new esophagus was formed by cutting the esophagus across, as low as possible, and drawing it forward until it joined the tube formed from the flap. We called it the "prethoracic esophagus," and demonstrated the result before the Chicago Medical Society. 1 About eight years later Jianu of Bucharest (after Wullstein and others had done some work