Esophagitis is probably the commonest disease of the esophagus. 1 There are many varieties of esophagitis: acute, subacute, and chronic, with a wide variety of etiological agents. Early in the 1930's, we became interested in one special group of these cases, those of peptic esophagitis. In 1934, one of us (A. W.) discussed before the American Medical Association a new clinical entity, peptic esophagitis, previously undescribed. 2 The association of this lower esophageal lesion with hyperchlorhydria and peptic ulcer of the duodenum or stomach led to the idea that these cases were peptic in origin, i. e., they were due to the action of pepsin and hydrochloric acid on a susceptible mucosa. At the same time,Hamperl, the Viennese pathologist, delivered a paper before the Deutschen Pathologischen Gesellschaft entitled "Peptische Osophagitis" in which he described the pathological features of a group of cases with an erosive, stenosing inflammation of the lower