In this presentation, the author describes his 1958 visit to Kiev, Moscow, and Leningrad (now again St. Petersburg), where he observed the use of stapling in pulmonary surgery by Dr. N.M. Amosov in Kiev and bought a UKB-25 instrument for bronchial closure in a store for surgical instruments on the Nevskii Prospect, located in Leningrad. Dr. Ravitch describes the early development of various instruments by the first American manufacturer and the influence of Hultl (1908), von Petz (1921), Friedrich-Neuffer (1934), and Nakayama (1954). The author's ideas on life and philosophy as a surgeon, opinions on education and training in surgery, and personal views on the role of instrumentation in the overall skills of the surgical craftsman are evident throughout his presentation.