[From aviation medicine to space medicine].

S PACE M E D I C I N E appears with a special program of papers, for the first time, on the public platform of a scientific society--the Aero Medical Association. For this reason, it would seem that a few introductory remarks are appropriate. It is a privilege, and indeed a source of great pleasure, that this task has been delegated to me. Space medicine, at first glance, undoubtedly appears to many people as a capricious or whimsical idea in aviation medicine. However, upon closer examination, it proyes to be a very logical step in development. When we view it froln a historical standpoint, starting with the predecessors of aviation medicine, we gain a better understanding of its scope and meaning. Aviation medicine, throughout its forty years of development, has benefited by the experiences gained in high mountain physiology. As a science, high mountain physiology is nearly one hundred years old. Mountain sickness, however, was first described by Jos6 de Acosta in 1588. The first mention of this uncomfortable effect of thin air can be traced back to Greek literature, since it was Aristotle who observed that men could not live on the top of the 10,000 foot Mount Olympus in Thessaly without breathing through