Removal of a Tumor From a Man's Brain

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 119, 24 March 1885, Page 3

Removal of a Tumor From a Man's Brain

Tfce tmttoril of a tumor from the brain, too ft rat*p*rarto* «f its kind, hat Wen MeensfvM/ peiformt4 by Mr Godlee, uk tk(i guidanci- of Dr Hagher Bennett? Th« jwtient W been ■offering f ros4 «pit«|W7 and psnl jf|s, aad the skill •f the surgeon had ; ' to be txwassd in order to leealite tke source of the aischief to the brain »o that aa ineisiom might be made at the precise spot when the tumor could be; reached. The tuaor reaored was the sise of a.Wahut. Th« relief war iaaWisto, sad ©onTaletcenee ensued j without *•? supervening bad •vaptoas • The moral of th«, case lies in the fact that the; skill of the doctor and operator was derived from previous experiments in »iviieetioe of the iafcrior animali. Profeikot Ferrier was the first to endeavor by Mfh rxperiaentt to map out the seat •f esrtsiav piiholoitie&l changes in the neaiepherei of; the brain with nieoty and certainty, and it was by following up the* mweitigattbni that Dr Hnghef Bennett was enabled to place his finter oa the precise spot where the attack •hould be made. The patient was duly warned that the operation was a matter of kill or cure. The disease was beyond the rraeh of even alleviating medicine, •ad it wa« eertaia to end in death in a few abbthi at lateit. The alternative wat poMibly an earlier death under the eurteca'S'knifa, or possibly a complete cure with life prolonged to the u«ual term. Theaan had faith in hi* doctor, and 'eagerly dceii«i in favor of th • operation, this ««bmi(tinK himwlf to bo •xpenaented appa, although he wax told that aaeh an operation had mefer before} b«en attempted. ,