Mr A. B. Wallace, C. B. E.

RETIRING EDITOR Mr A. B. WALLACE, C.B.E. A LITTLE over twenty-one years ago Alister Burns Wallace, as one of the Founders

of our Association, was the prime mover in persuading the newly formed Council to take a momentous and far-sighted decision. It was resolved that a journal devoted to our specialty should be brought into being forthwith. This was a courageous decision and one not made with unanimous confidence, because there was obvious doubt whether an association, whose full membership amounted to 56, with associates numbering only I8, could support an undertaking of this magnitude. Alister Wallace, a firm believer in the unifying influence which a journal could foster, undertook the burden of Editorhip, and as midwife he brought No. i of Volume I of the British Journal of Plastic Surgery into the scientific world in March I948. He was determined that from the outset the Journal should be of the highest possible quality both in format and content, and that such standards should be maintained. There can be little doubt that the early creation of the Journal at a time when the National Health Service was coming into being played a major part not only in achieving cohesion in the newly formed Association but also in the establishment of plastic surgery as a specialty in its own right in this country. Our Association was fortunate indeed in the choice of Editor. It seems now superfluous to comment on the success of the venture, maintained by the unflagging industry and enterprise of A. B. After twenty-one years the Journal is now so firmly established, not only as an integral part of the activity of our Association, but also in its high repute throughout the world, being in circulation in 65 countries, with a list of subscribers that has increased nearly fivefold since first publication. The twenty-one bound volumes of the Journal will be to him a lasting satisfaction of work well done and to others a continual reference source for original work in every branch of plastic surgery. Many will carry the memory of this modest but forthright man rising to deliver his meticulous annual report, always showing progress, expressing his hopes or fears for the future, and with a keen and canny eye on profitability and financial stability. His duties have demanded his attendance at Council meetings in London and elsewhere for a period of over twenty years, no mean task in itself for one established north of the border. A. B. has, however, always been an inveterate traveller, and must be one of the best-known British plastic surgeons around the world today. This in turn has helped to give the Journal an international status. Alister Wallace is retiring after all these years of unstinted service as Editor of the Journal for which he, with Miss Gardner and Charles Macmillan of Livingstone's have done so much. However, he is not retiring from his other activities, which he continues with unabated enthusiasm, ranging over the International Society for Burn Injuries, Accident Prevention, and his important function as one of the two Royal College representatives on the Advisory Committee on Higher Specialist Education. As an expression of their gratitude for all that he has done for the Association, members have subscribed to give him a high-quality record reproducer from which it is hoped he will receive many pleasurable hours. He is succeeded as Editor by Mr Thomas Gibson, whose headquarters will be in the University Department of Surgery at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow. The Journal has passed on into capable hands ; we offer Tom Gibson our thanks for accepting this onerous task, our best wishes for the future and our continued support. JOHN WATSON