[The Spanish Association of Surgeons (1935-1992). Origin and evolution of a scientific society]

The Spanish Association of Surgeons was founded in Madrid in 1935, although the first effective meeting of its members did not take place until march 1936. The initiation of the Civil War (1936-1939) and the difficult conditions immediately following the same impeded the cristalization of the initiatives projected by the founders. In 1949, there was such a great reactivation of the society that it could be said that there was a refounding of the association. Thereafter the activity of the society has been directed at the organization of conferences and meetings and the maintenance of its own journal. The association is constituted by most of the Spanish surgeons and over the years the pressure of the Spanish society and the crisis which general surgery and the new specialities have undergone in our country have been felt.