The potentially high curability of basal-, squamous-, and basosquamous-cell epitheliomas of the skin is generally accepted, but there is a singular lack of unanimity of opinion as to the best means of achieving results. This paper presents the procedure which was worked out and used in the treatment of these tumors at the Ellis Fischel State Cancer Hospital, Columbia, Mo., and a statistical analysis of the results obtained in 492 patients treated there between September 1939 and September 1942. One assumption forms the basis of the rationale of the method; namely, that either radiation or surgery, properly used, can cure any of these lesions. The support for the assumption lies in the large number of articles reporting almost equally good results from the use of each method. The widely varying technics of irradiation used by different workers, all again claiming favorable results, also indicate that there is little or no difference in radiosensitivity between the three types of tumor. The conclusion is that the histology of a lesion is no criterion for the choice of treatment. Rather should one base his selection upon the size and location of the growth, using that method which can be most effectively employed, which will give the best cosmetic result, and impose the least hardship upon the patient. Inasmuch as this deduction holds good for almost no malignant skin tumors except the epitheliomas, accurate diagnosis is necessary. This can be established only by biopsy, and that procedure was carried out on all of the cases in this series. The size of an epithelioma is the first factor to be considered in determining treatment. If it is less than 3 mm. in diameter, an adequate biopsy will remove practically all of the tumor. If the location of the lesion presents no contraindication to extension of the excision for another few millimeters, immediate excision should be done. It should, perhaps, be emphasized that in these instances the pathologist bears a responsibility for more than the diagnosis; he must examine the specimen in such a way as to determine whether the growth has been actually completely excised. If it has, there is no necessity for any further treatment. If not, re-excision or irradiation must be carried out. At the other extreme from these tiny lesions are the extremely large ones. Here, the combined knowledge and judgment of the radiologist and the surgeon may be taxed to the limit. These cancers have always destroyed large amounts of tissue and have usually involved bone. Bone invasion makes permanent arrest by radiation extremely difficult, if not impossible. On the other hand, complete removal of the lesion by surgery may mean creation of an irreparable defect which is incompatible with essential function or with life itself. In such a case, of course, one should attempt as much as can be accomplished with radiation and hope that the arrest will last for the duration of the patient's life.