Between the acute hepatic injury arising from various causes, and cirн rhosis resulting from scars following hepatic injury, is a gray area of perн sisting signs and symptoms called chronic hepatitis. The purposes of reн viewing this much discussed but little understood area are:(a) to try to find what leads to cirrhosis;(b) to try to explain the clinical manifestaн tions; and (c) to estimate the prognosis of the various functional and structural abnormalities encountered. Since the chief characteristic of chronic hepatitis is its persistence, usually in the absence of an apparent reason, a search has been made for a comparable experimental model of self-perpetuation of liver disease. Because this has so far been futile, this review must be confined to human studies. For the past few years abstracts of the world literature have appeared in Gastroenterology Abstracts and Citations published by the National Inн stitute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. The reader desiring a more panoramic view of the conflicting welter of claims is referred to these. In this review, some of the related topics such as various posthepatitic synн dromes and cirrhosis have only cursorily been considered insofar as they may be confused with or complicate chronic hepatitis. Many classifications of chronic liver disease have been devised, based on symptomatology, laboratory findings, and structural changes (1-3), and none is satisfactory. Adding yet another or reviewing the old ones is pointн less. Instead, each of the forms encountered clinically will be examined in the light of the three stated purposes of the review.