List of some of the contributions to surgical literature by William Macewen, Lecturer on Surgery, Glasgow Royal Infirmary School of Medicine, and Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow : with comments by the medical press, and other published statements by surgeons on the ideas advanced and the work done by him.

  • Macewen, William, Sir, 1848-1924.
Date:
[©1888?]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: List of some of the contributions to surgical literature by William Macewen, Lecturer on Surgery, Glasgow Royal Infirmary School of Medicine, and Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow : with comments by the medical press, and other published statements by surgeons on the ideas advanced and the work done by him. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Extracts from the Cameron Lecture delivered at Edin- burgh University, by Dr. D. Ferrier, on Cerebral Localisation in relation to Therapeutics. Feb. 26, 1892. “ I might quote numerous examples, . . . but a single one reported by Macewen will suffice.” (Here follows precis of case on which Dr. Ferrier makes the following comments.) “ No more triumphant vindication than this could be given of the surgical value of cerebral localisation; for a reliance merely on external indications would in all probability have sacrificed the life of the patient or resulted in incurable infirmity. The necessity and value of prophylactic cerebral surgery have also been emphasized and accentuated.”—Edin. Medical Journal, April, 1892, p. 890. “ Surgeons who had trephined for traumatic epilepsy had con- tented themselves with merely opening the skull, and had shrunk from opening the dura mater or operating on the brain itself. This which constitutes the new departure in cerebral surgery is the direct result of the new cerebral physiology. Though I had on purely experimental grounds—the result of special researches on this subject in conjunction with my colleague. Professor G. F. Yeo (Brit. Med. Assoc., 1880)—strongly advocated this procedure (Marshall Hall Oration, Med. Chir. Society, 1883), the honour of having actually led the way in human surgery belongs to our countryman, Macewen of Glasgow. In his brilliant address at the meeting of the British Medical Association in 1888 he gave the details of many cases in which, during several years previously, he had performed operations on the brain, guided by the principles of cerebral localisation. Out of 21 cases he had operated success- fully in 18, and of those who had died all were in extremis when operated upon. The example set by Macewen has been followed by surgeons in every part of the world, and cases are being continually reported in the medical journals at home and abroad.” —Edin. Med. Journal, April, 1892, p. 892.