sentences:  The formation of the ABS was the result of a committee formed a year earlier by the American Surgical Association with representatives from the American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association and the Southern, Western, Pacific Coast and New England Surgical Associations.The leaders of these organizations, including such figures as Drs.Edward Archibald, Evarts Ambrose Graham and Allen Whipple, had recognized for some time the need to differentiate well-trained surgeons who had limited their practice to surgery from doctors in general practice.