Reflection in respect to reasoning by the Officers of the Section on Pediatrics and more specifically by the Selection Committee for the eighth Abraham Jacobi Award has led to considerable anxiety on the part of this recipient. Concern of first order came as I recalled the importance of the accomplishments of Abraham Jacobi at a time when any medical innovation in the care or treatment of disease in the infant and child represented departure from the past with a bold courage. Such a man was Dr. Jacobi. Of second order, scanning the writings of Jacobi reveals an amazing number of papers covering a wide variety of subjects. In neither of these categories have I made worthy contributions. From the writings of Dr. Jacobi and in the historical accounts of his activities, it is apparent that "this bandy-legged man with the slight body and oversized head"1 had a very active