It was with very much pleasure that I accepted the invitation to chair this workshop on Glucagon in Gastroenterology. Not least among the reasons for my accepting was the fact that it would get me out from behind my administrator's desk at the univer­ sity and enable me to spend what promised to be a few refreshing hours in a field where so much is apparently happening. Another reason for my accepting was the attractiveness of the format planned for the workshop. It was to be a working event. The programme had been carefully planned to ensure that all aspects of the subject were covered and a very tight schedule was drawn up for we had to deal with the whole field in just one day. There was to be a small, truly international, list of participants, and, apart from those presenting papers, only two or three specially invited observers were to be present. Above all, perhaps, was the fact that the meeting was to be a multi­ disciplinary one.