This analysis deals with selected questions regarding the status of pathology in the United States. For a long time, the number of pathologists, both in practice and in training, had been deemed inadequate, but present trends indicate the existence of a considerable surplus of specialists in this discipline. The autopsy is still an important field of endeavor for the American pathologist even tbhough autopsy rates have drastically declined everywhere and the exact role of this procedure is being reevaluated. The concept of "clinical pathology" which seeks to encompass a whole conglomerate of heterogeneous disciplines and still dominates the practice of pathology in North America has come under attack; some observers plead for the total separation of laboratory medicine from pathology as well as for the systematic and intensive development of subspecialties within the field of pathology.