The VIth World Congress of Anaesthesiology, held in Mexico City in 1976, offered several European participants the opportunity of discovering their community of views. The idea was then launched of establishing a forum for regular exchanges among academic anaesthetists from Europe. After many preliminary discussions, some thirty delegates or observers from the Societies of Anaes thesia of Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, German Federal Re public, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Yugoslavia met in Paris on 12 March 1977. They agreed to found a European Academy of Anaesthesiology. After a second meeting in Dublin, the Academy was officially created by a general assembly in Paris on 5 Septem ber 1978. Election of members took place for the first time on that date. Since then, the Academy has been functioning regular ly. Its membership presently stands at 180 from 26 European countries. Associate members will be elected for the first time this year. The total number of full members is limited by the statutes to five hundred. The Academy also has two other categories of members: hon orary and patrons. Five honorary members have so far been elec ted: Mrs. N. du Bouchet (France), Mr. H. Killian (German Federal Republic), Sir Robert Macintosh, Prof. W. W. Mushin (United King dom) and Dr. E. M. Papper (United States).