Pioneering research in surgical shock and cardiovascular surgery. Vivien Thomas and his work with Alfred Blalock

is part of that broader field of experimental pathology to which all medical sciences belong". This is reflected in the thirty important years Hardy spent as Chairman and Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Mississipi in Jackson, where he divided his activities among surgical practice, teaching, and research. The period of his memoirs saw advances in surgical pathology and anaesthesia. Also arterial surgery, open-heart surgery, organ transplantation, and the artificial heart and other prostheses were developed. Following extensive research, including a study of the moral problems, his team undertook and recorded the first human lung and heart transplants, in 1963 and 1964 respectively. Hardy was not only an active surgeon, but as an author contributed much to surgical literature. His wide reading, too, he regarded as a form ofeducation. His most gratifying honour was his election as President of the American College of Surgeons in 1980. It is ironic that James Hardy, vascular surgeon, should undergo in 1982 and 1985 carotid endarterectomy. His well-earned retirement allowed him professional rest to enjoy his "closely knit" family life. Valentine Swain Chigwell, Essex