Cancer ranks second only to cardiovascular disease as the commonest cause of death in this country. Of all deaths due to carcinoma, one fourth to one third are due to gastric cancer. As the age of the population increases, the number of persons who die from gastric carcinoma will also grow larger, so that by 1960 it has been estimated that 40,000 patients will succumb to gastric carcinoma annually.1 The very frequency of gastric cancer suggests that any approach to the problem of reducing the death rate from malignant growths must include a serious consideration of how the number of persons who die from gastric cancer may be diminished. In the course of outlining a study to determine likely precursor groups of gastric carcinoma,2it was considered that the results of therapy of this disease at this institution during the preceding ten years should be determined so as