The sudden and dramatic way in which sulfanilamide was launched as a cure for gonorrhea prompted the formation of a committee to study the effectiveness of this drug. A committee composed of five representatives of the American Neisserian Medical Society and representatives from the U. S. Public Health Service initiated a prospective study to evaluate this drug in the treatment of gonorrhea in the male. The collection of records began in May 1939 and was completed in January 1940. A history form for recording clinical observations was furnished the twenty-six cooperating clinicians who offered to pool their records for this study. General instructions were issued to each clinician regarding the uniform execution of the records. In order to compare the effectiveness of sulfanilamide in the treatment of gonorrhea with the results obtained with local therapy only, it was necessary to secure a control series. Existing clinic records were found inadequate