The training of the surgeon : the annual address in medicine delivered at Yale University, June 27, 1904 / by William Stewart Halsted. The first edition. This lecture emphasized that surgical skill must be built through rigorous, systematic training rather than quick apprenticeship. He argued for long, carefully supervised residency programs, where surgeons-in-training would gradually assume responsibility while mastering both technical skill and scientific inquiry. This lecture laid the foundation for the modern surgical residency system in the United States.